Se arrumarmos a casa agora, podemos descansar depois.

If we tidy the house now, we can rest later.

Breakdown of Se arrumarmos a casa agora, podemos descansar depois.

• a casa: the house
• agora: now
• descansar: to rest
• poder: to be able to
• se: if
• depois: later
• arrumar: to pack

Questions & Answers about Se arrumarmos a casa agora, podemos descansar depois.

Why is it “se arrumarmos a casa” and not “se arrumamos a casa”?

In Portuguese, when you talk about a future condition with se (if), you normally use the future subjunctive, not the present indicative.

• Se arrumarmos a casa agora, podemos descansar depois.
  = If we tidy the house now (when that future action happens), we can rest later.

Here arrumarmos is future subjunctive.
If you said:

• Se arrumamos a casa, ficamos cansados.

that sounds more like a general/habitual statement: Whenever we tidy the house, we get tired. It’s not a single future condition anymore.

What tense/mood is “arrumarmos”, and how is it formed?

Arrumarmos here is 1st person plural of the future subjunctive of arrumar.

For arrumar, the future subjunctive is:

• eu arrumar
• tu arrumares
• ele/ela/você arrumar
• nós arrumarmos
• vós arrumardes
• eles/elas/vocês arrumarem

Formation rule (for regular verbs):

1. Take the 3rd person plural of the simple past (pretérito perfeito):
   
   • eles arrumaram
2. Remove -am: arrumar-
3. Add the endings: (—, -es, —, -mos, -des, -em)

Important detail: these forms look identical to the personal infinitive of arrumar.
So arrumarmos can be future subjunctive or personal infinitive; you know which is which from the structure:

• After se, in an “if-clause” about the future → future subjunctive.
• After prepositions like para, sem, ao, etc. → personal infinitive.

Can I say “Se nós arrumarmos a casa agora…” or is “nós” wrong?

You can say “Se nós arrumarmos a casa agora…”. It’s grammatically correct.

In European Portuguese, the subject pronoun (nós) is often omitted, because the verb ending (-mos) already shows it’s “we”:

• Se arrumarmos a casa agora… = normal, neutral
• Se nós arrumarmos a casa agora… = more emphatic (for example, to contrast with others: if *we tidy the house…*).

So both are correct; leaving out nós is just more common in everyday speech.

Why is “podemos descansar” in the present tense, if the resting happens in the future? Why not “poderemos descansar”?

Portuguese very often uses the present indicative to talk about the future, especially when the future time is clear from context:

• Se arrumarmos a casa agora, podemos descansar depois.
  Literally: If we tidy the house now, we can rest later.
  Meaning: …we’ll be able to rest later.

You can say:

• Se arrumarmos a casa agora, poderemos descansar depois.

This is also correct, but it sounds a bit more formal or slightly more distant/conditional.
In everyday European Portuguese, podemos descansar in the present is very natural in this type of sentence.

Why is there a comma after “Se arrumarmos a casa agora”? Is it always needed?

Yes, in this structure it’s standard.

Rule of thumb in Portuguese:

• If the subordinate clause comes first, you normally use a comma:
  • Se arrumarmos a casa agora, podemos descansar depois.
• If the main clause comes first, you normally omit the comma:
  • Podemos descansar depois se arrumarmos a casa agora.

So the comma you see is just normal punctuation for “if”-clauses placed at the beginning.

Why do we say “a casa”? Could we say “Se arrumarmos casa agora” without the article?

You need the definite article here: a casa.

In Portuguese, common nouns almost always come with an article (or other determiner) unless there’s a special reason not to. English often drops it (clean house, go to school), but Portuguese doesn’t in the same way.

• Se arrumarmos a casa agora… = If we tidy *the house now…* (our house / the house we’re talking about)
• Se arrumarmos casa agora… sounds wrong in this meaning.

There are some fixed expressions without article, like:

• ir para casa – to go home
• estar em casa – to be at home

But arrumar a casa is not one of those; the article a is part of the normal phrase.

What exactly does “arrumar a casa” mean? Is it “to clean the house” or “to tidy up”?

In European Portuguese:

• arrumar a casa: mainly “to tidy up the house”, “put things in their place”, “straighten up”.
• limpar a casa: “to clean the house” (remove dirt, dust, mop, etc.).

However, in everyday speech, arrumar a casa can often imply a mix of tidying and some light cleaning, depending on context. If someone says:

• Tenho de arrumar a casa.

they may mean “I have to sort the house out” (tidy, maybe clean a bit).
If they want to stress actual cleaning (washing, scrubbing), they’ll often say limpar a casa.

Can I move “depois”? For example:
“Se arrumarmos a casa agora, depois podemos descansar.” or “Se arrumarmos a casa agora, podemos depois descansar.”

Yes, you can move depois, and all of these are grammatical:

• Se arrumarmos a casa agora, podemos descansar depois. (original)
• Se arrumarmos a casa agora, depois podemos descansar.
• Se arrumarmos a casa agora, podemos depois descansar.

They all mean essentially the same. The differences are very slight:

• …podemos descansar depois. → most neutral, very common.
• …depois podemos descansar. → gives a tiny bit more emphasis to depois at the start of the clause.
• …podemos depois descansar. → totally correct, but sounds a bit more “careful” or “written” than spoken.

Why is “descansar” in the infinitive after “podemos”? Could it ever be conjugated, like “podemos descansamos”?

After poder used as a modal verb (“can, to be able to”), Portuguese requires the infinitive:

• podemos descansar – we can rest
• podemos sair – we can go out
• posso ajudar-te – I can help you

You do not conjugate the second verb:

• ❌ podemos descansamos (incorrect)
• ✅ podemos descansar

So the pattern is: [poder conjugated] + [main verb in the infinitive].

Could we use “quando” instead of “se” here? For example:
“Quando arrumarmos a casa agora, podemos descansar depois.”

You can switch se to quando, but you must adjust the rest:

• Natural: Quando arrumarmos a casa, podemos descansar depois.
• Not natural: Quando arrumarmos a casa agora… (the “agora” clashes a bit with “quando” here)

Difference in meaning:

• Se arrumarmos a casa… = If we tidy the house… (it’s a condition; maybe we will, maybe we won’t).
• Quando arrumarmos a casa… = When we tidy the house… (it’s taken as something that will happen at some point).

Both still use arrumarmos (future subjunctive) after se and quando when referring to the future.

What’s the difference between “agora” and “já” here? Could I say “Se arrumarmos já a casa…”?

Both agora and já can relate to “now”, but they have different nuances:

• agora = now, at the present time (neutral):

  • Se arrumarmos a casa agora, podemos descansar depois.

• já can mean:

  • “already”: Já arrumámos a casa. – We’ve already tidied the house.
  • “right now / immediately”: Arruma já a casa! – Tidy the house right now!

You could say:

• Se arrumarmos já a casa, podemos descansar depois.

Here já gives a sense of immediacy/urgency: if we tidy the house *right away, we can rest later.
The original with *agora is more neutral: just “if we tidy the house now…”, with less of that “do it this instant” feeling.