Breakdown of Se a aplicação me distrair demasiado, eu acabo por desinstalá-la.
Questions & Answers about Se a aplicação me distrair demasiado, eu acabo por desinstalá-la.
In Portuguese, after se in a real conditional that refers to the future, you normally use the future subjunctive.
- Infinitive of the verb: distrair
- Present indicative (3rd person singular): distrai
- Future subjunctive (3rd person singular): distrair
For many verbs, the future subjunctive looks identical to the infinitive, and that’s what is happening here.
So:
- Se a aplicação me distrair demasiado…
literally: If the app distracts me (in the future) too much…
(future subjunctive of distrair)
Using distrai here (Se a aplicação me distrai demasiado…) would sound off in European Portuguese; for a future-looking condition with se, you want the future subjunctive.
In European Portuguese, certain words force the pronoun to come before the verb (proclisis). The conjunction se is one of those words.
In this sentence:
- Se a aplicação me distrair demasiado…
the structure is:
- se (subordinating conjunction)
- a aplicação (subject)
- me (clitic object pronoun)
- distrair (verb in future subjunctive)
Because the clause is introduced by se, the standard rule is: the pronoun must come before the verb. So:
- ✅ Se a aplicação me distrair demasiado…
- ❌ Se a aplicação distrair-me demasiado… (non‑standard in EP; sounds archaic or Brazilian-like)
In European Portuguese, distrair-me would be normal in a main clause without a “trigger” for proclisis:
- A aplicação pode distrair-me. – The app can distract me.
But with se, proclisis (me distrair) is the correct, natural choice in Portugal.
Acabar por + infinitive means “to end up doing something”, often after some process, hesitation, or accumulation of events.
- Eu acabo por desinstalá-la.
≈ I (end up) uninstalling it / I end up uninstalling it.
Nuance:
- It suggests this is the result you tend to arrive at, not just a simple, direct decision.
- In context: if the app keeps distracting you too much, the ultimate outcome is that you uninstall it.
Compare:
- Eu desinstalo a aplicação. – I uninstall the app.
(plain statement of action) - Eu acabo por desinstalar a aplicação. – I end up uninstalling the app.
(focus on the eventual result, often after some time or after trying not to)
They are quite different:
acabar por + infinitive
- Means to end up doing something (final outcome).
- Ex.: Ela acabou por aceitar. – She ended up accepting.
acabar de + infinitive
- Means to have just done something, very recent past.
- Ex.: Ela acabou de aceitar. – She has just accepted / She just accepted.
In your sentence, acabo por desinstalá-la = I end up uninstalling it, not I’ve just uninstalled it.
Several rules combine here:
The object is feminine singular: a aplicação
- Direct object pronoun = a (unstressed form), which becomes -la when attached to a verb ending in -r, -s, or -z.
With desinstalar + a you must:
- Drop the final r of desinstalar.
- Attach the pronoun a as -la.
- Add a hyphen: desinstalá-la.
So:
- desinstalar + a → desinstalá-la
Desinstalar a is possible if you keep the noun:
- acabo por desinstalar a aplicação – I end up uninstalling the app.
But when you replace a aplicação with a pronoun and attach it to the verb, you get:
- acabo por desinstalá-la
Desinstalar-la is never correct in Portuguese.
The accent is there to preserve the original stress pattern of the verb when you drop the final r and add the pronoun.
- desinstalar: stressed on the last syllable – desins-ta-LAR
- When you remove -r and add -la, the spelling becomes desinstalala if you ignore the accent; you need to show where the stress goes.
- So you write desinstalá-la, with á stressed: desins-ta-LÁ-la.
The acute accent á tells you that this syllable is stressed, keeping the same stress as in desinstalar.
In European Portuguese:
- aplicação (an “app”) is feminine: a aplicação.
- Therefore, any pronoun that replaces it must also be feminine singular.
Object pronouns (direct, singular):
- Masculine: o → after verb: -lo
- Feminine: a → after verb: -la
So:
- desinstalar + a (aplicação) → desinstalá-la
If it were a masculine noun, you’d have:
- o programa → desinstalá-lo (uninstall it – masculine)
In European Portuguese:
demasiado = too (much), excessively.
It clearly signals that the amount is more than what is acceptable.muito = a lot / very / much.
Doesn’t by itself mean “too much”, just “a lot”.
So:
- Se a aplicação me distrair demasiado…
= If the app distracts me *too much / excessively…*
If you say:
- Se a aplicação me distrair muito…
= If the app distracts me a lot…
This doesn’t necessarily mean “too much”, only that the distraction is strong.
Demais is more frequent in Brazil for “too much” in this kind of sentence. In Portugal you’ll hear demasiado more often in this context.
Portuguese is a pro‑drop language, so subject pronouns are often optional because the verb ending already shows the person.
- (Eu) acabo por desinstalá-la.
Both are correct:
- Eu acabo por desinstalá-la.
- Acabo por desinstalá-la.
Including eu:
- can add emphasis on I, as in “I (for my part) end up uninstalling it.”
- sometimes just reflects a slightly more explicit or careful style.
In neutral speech, many speakers would naturally drop eu: Se a aplicação me distrair demasiado, acabo por desinstalá-la.
In Portuguese, especially in conditional sentences, it’s very common to use the present tense with a future meaning, where English would use will.
Structure here:
- Se a aplicação me distrair demasiado, eu acabo por desinstalá-la.
literally: If the app distracts me too much, I end up uninstalling it.
But it naturally refers to the future: If this ever happens, my reaction will be to uninstall it.
So:
- Portuguese often uses future subjunctive in the if‑clause (se… distrair)
and present indicative in the main clause (acabo),
where English uses present + will:
If it distracts me too much, I *will end up uninstalling it.*
Yes, you can, and it’s correct:
- Se a aplicação me distrair demasiado, vou desinstalá-la.
= If the app distracts me too much, I’m going to uninstall it.
Nuance:
- vou desinstalá-la: focuses on a decision or intention
(“That’s what I’m going to do.”) - acabo por desinstalá-la: focuses on the eventual outcome
(“That’s what I end up doing in the end, as a pattern or consequence.”)
So with acabo por, you’re emphasizing what typically happens as a result, not just a one‑off planned action.
Yes, mainly a Portugal vs Brazil difference:
- In Portugal, for a mobile app, people normally say a aplicação (often shortened to a app, from English).
- In Brazil, the common word is o aplicativo.
So:
- European Portuguese: a aplicação → desinstalá-la
- Brazilian Portuguese: o aplicativo → desinstalá-lo
Both mean app, but the noun (and gender) changes by variety of Portuguese.
Yes, that’s also correct and natural:
- Se me distrair demasiado, acabo por desinstalar a aplicação.
= If I get too distracted, I end up uninstalling the app.
Difference:
- Se a aplicação me distrair demasiado… – focuses on the app as the agent that distracts you.
- Se me distrair demasiado… – focuses on you getting distracted (maybe by the app, but the subject is now implicit “I”).
So the grammar is fine; you’re just changing who is grammatically responsible for the distraction.
In standard European Portuguese (rough approximation with English sounds):
distrair: /diʃ.tɾa.ˈiɾ/ or /dis.tɾa.ˈiɾ/
- Think: dis-tra-EER, with the stress on the last part -ir (actually on the -air sound).
desinstalá-la: /dɨ.zĩʃ.tɐ.ˈla.lɐ/
- Think: d’zinshta-LA-la, with the main stress on -lá-.
Key points:
- The á in desinstalá-la is clearly stressed.
- In distrair, don’t say it as two equal syllables like “DIS-trair”; the stress is on the -trair part.