Breakdown of O emprego temporário ajuda a pagar a propina.
Questions & Answers about O emprego temporário ajuda a pagar a propina.
Both are grammatically correct, but the nuance changes.
O emprego temporário (definite article) often:
- Refers to a specific temporary job already known in the context, or
- Refers to temporary employment in a general way, like a category (Portuguese often uses the definite article for general statements).
Example idea: “That temporary job (which we’ve been talking about) helps pay the tuition.”
Um emprego temporário (indefinite article) suggests “a” temporary job, any one job, not a specific one:
- More like: “A temporary job (one such job) helps pay the tuition.”
So the given sentence is likely talking about a particular job situation, or about “temporary employment” as a type of work, not just any random job in the abstract.
Emprego temporário can be translated as either “temporary job” or “temporary employment”; Portuguese doesn’t force you to choose between those nuances in the same way English does. Context will decide whether we imagine one specific job or the idea of temporary work in general.
About word order:
The usual order in Portuguese is noun + adjective:
- emprego temporário = temporary job
- casa grande = big house
Putting the adjective before the noun is possible but marked, and usually adds some special nuance (emphasis, subjectivity, style). With emprego temporário, the normal, neutral order is exactly what you see: emprego temporário.
The meaning of propina is very different between European and Brazilian Portuguese.
In Portugal (European Portuguese):
- In an education context, a propina almost always means tuition (fee), i.e. the money you pay to attend a course, especially at university.
- Example: pagar a propina = to pay the tuition fee.
- It can also mean tip in some contexts, but gorjeta is more common for “tip” nowadays.
In Brazil (Brazilian Portuguese):
- propina commonly means bribe, money paid illegally to someone (e.g., a corrupt official).
- For tuition the usual word is mensalidade or taxa de matrícula, not propina.
So in this sentence from Portugal, a propina = the tuition (fee), not a bribe.
In European Portuguese, the verb ajudar normally takes the preposition a before another verb in the infinitive:
- ajudar a + infinitive
So we say:
- ajuda a pagar (helps to pay)
- ajuda a estudar (helps to study)
- ajuda a cozinhar (helps to cook)
Without the a (ajuda pagar) would sound incomplete or non‑standard in European Portuguese. In Brazilian Portuguese you may often hear both ajudar a fazer and ajudar fazer, but in Portugal ajudar a is the standard form.
No, they are different grammatical words that just look the same:
In ajuda a pagar, a is a preposition that links ajuda to the infinitive pagar.
- Function: “helps to pay”.
In a propina, a is the feminine singular definite article:
- a propina = the tuition (fee).
So:
- ajuda a pagar → help to pay (preposition)
- a propina → the tuition (article)
Yes, you can say:
- ajuda a pagar a propina
- ajuda a pagar as propinas
Both are correct, and both can be translated as “helps pay the tuition / tuition fees”.
Nuance:
a propina (singular) can refer to:
- the overall tuition fee for a course or a period, or
- a specific installment, depending on context.
as propinas (plural) often refers to tuition fees more generally, all the payments you owe to the institution.
In practice, Portuguese speakers often use the plural when talking about tuition in a general sense, but the singular (as in your sentence) is also perfectly natural.
You would typically say:
- O emprego temporário ajuda‑me a pagar a propina.
Notes:
In European Portuguese, unstressed object pronouns like me, te, lhe, o, a, etc. normally attach to the end of the verb in affirmative main clauses (this is called enclisis):
- ajuda‑me (helps me)
- dá‑me (gives me)
- explica‑me (explains to me)
In Brazilian Portuguese, you’d more often hear O emprego temporário me ajuda a pagar a propina, with the pronoun before the verb. That word order sounds less natural in European Portuguese.
Also, be careful with putting me after pagar:
- ajuda‑me a pagar a propina = helps me pay the tuition.
- ajuda a pagar‑me a propina would literally be “helps to pay me the fee”, which is a different (and odd) meaning.
A fairly standard European Portuguese pronunciation (IPA) would be:
- [u ẽˈpɾeɣu tẽpuˈɾaɾju ɐˈʒuðɐ ɐ pɐˈɡaɾ ɐ pɾuˈpinɐ]
Very rough English-like approximation:
- O emprego → like “oo em-PREH-goo” (with nasal em-)
- temporário → “tem-poo-RAH-ryu”
- ajuda → “uh-ZHOO-duh”
- a pagar → “uh puh-GAR” (with a light g)
- a propina → “uh pruh-PEE-nuh”
European Portuguese tends to reduce vowels and link words together, so you will often hear the sentence as one continuous flow rather than clearly separated words.
Emprego can cover both ideas:
- a specific job/post; and
- employment/work as a more general concept.
So depending on context, natural English translations include:
- “The temporary job helps pay the tuition.”
- “Temporary work helps pay the tuition fees.”
Portuguese often leaves that slightly vague; English forces you to pick one. Both are acceptable renderings of O emprego temporário ajuda a pagar a propina.
You can say a minha propina (“my tuition fee”), but it’s not required.
In Portuguese, when the owner is obvious from context, it is very common to:
- use just the definite article and omit the possessive, especially with things that are strongly associated with a person (body parts, clothes, obligations, etc.).
So:
- Tenho de pagar a propina.
Literally “I have to pay the tuition,” but naturally understood as “my tuition.”
If you want to stress whose it is, or avoid any ambiguity, you can say:
- Tenho de pagar a minha propina.
The verb ajudar (a) naturally suggests assistance, so the default reading is that it covers part of the cost, not necessarily all of it.
- ajuda a pagar a propina = it helps (contributes) to paying the tuition.
If you wanted to say that it fully covers the tuition, you would be more explicit, for example:
- O emprego temporário paga a propina toda.
“The temporary job pays the entire tuition.”
You need to change the article, noun, adjective, and verb to the plural:
- Os empregos temporários ajudam a pagar a propina.
Changes:
- O emprego → Os empregos (the job → the jobs)
- temporário → temporários
- ajuda (3rd person singular) → ajudam (3rd person plural)
The rest of the sentence (a pagar a propina) stays the same.