Breakdown of Depois de ter escrito o rascunho, pus uma vírgula e tirei um ponto final que estava a mais.
Questions & Answers about Depois de ter escrito o rascunho, pus uma vírgula e tirei um ponto final que estava a mais.
This is a very common Portuguese structure:
- depois de = after
- ter escrito = having written / having finished writing
So depois de ter escrito literally means after having written.
Portuguese often uses depois de + infinitive after a preposition. Here it uses the compound infinitive (ter + past participle) to show that the writing was completed before the next actions happened.
So the sequence is:
- write the draft
- add a comma
- remove a full stop
Yes. Depois de escrever o rascunho is also grammatical and natural.
The difference is mainly one of emphasis:
- depois de escrever = after writing
- depois de ter escrito = after having written / after I had written
The version with ter escrito makes the completed action a bit more explicit. In many contexts, both are possible.
Because escrever has an irregular past participle:
- infinitive: escrever
- past participle: escrito
This past participle is used with ter:
- tenho escrito
- tinha escrito
- ter escrito
Many common verbs in Portuguese have irregular past participles, so this is something learners usually just have to get used to.
Portuguese often leaves out subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb form.
Here:
- pus = I put
- tirei = I removed
Because those verb forms already show the subject is I, Portuguese does not need eu.
You could say eu pus or eu tirei, but that would usually add emphasis, contrast, or clarity.
Pus is the 1st person singular preterite of pôr.
So:
- pôr = to put
- eu pus = I put
This verb is irregular, so the form is not predictable from the infinitive in the way many regular verbs are.
A few useful forms are:
- pôr
- ponho = I put / I am putting
- pus = I put
- posto = put
The infinitive pôr has a circumflex to distinguish it from the preposition por.
But that accent is not simply kept in all forms of the verb. Each conjugated form has its own spelling, and pus is just written pus.
So:
- por = by / through / for
- pôr = to put
- pus = I put
Rascunho means draft.
It is something like a first version, rough version, or preliminary version of a piece of writing.
So escrever o rascunho means to write the draft.
Depending on context, rascunho can also suggest something not yet polished or not yet final.
This is about articles.
o rascunho = the draft
This sounds like a specific draft already known in the context.- uma vírgula = a comma
- um ponto final = a full stop / period
These two are introduced as individual items being added or removed, so the indefinite article is natural.
In other words:
- the speaker had a particular draft in mind
- they added a comma
- they removed a full stop
Yes, coloquei uma vírgula is also possible.
But pôr is very common and natural in Portuguese for adding something to text, punctuation, or a page:
- pôr uma vírgula
- pôr um ponto
- pôr um acento
So pus uma vírgula is a very normal way to say I put/added a comma.
In European Portuguese, ponto final is the standard term for the punctuation mark at the end of a sentence.
It is equivalent to:
- British English: full stop
- American English: period
You may also hear ponto in some contexts, but ponto final is clearer because ponto can mean other things too, such as point, dot, or stop.
Tirei comes from tirar, which often means to remove, to take out, or to take away.
So here:
- tirei um ponto final = I removed a full stop
This is very natural Portuguese. In writing-related contexts, tirar is commonly used for removing letters, words, punctuation, and so on.
Estar a mais is an idiomatic expression meaning:
- to be extra
- to be unnecessary
- to be more than needed
- to not belong there
So um ponto final que estava a mais means:
- a full stop that was unnecessary
- a full stop that should not have been there
- an extra full stop
This is a very useful expression in Portuguese.
Examples:
- Há uma palavra a mais. = There is an extra word.
- Esse comentário estava a mais. = That comment was unnecessary.
No. It just happens to look similar.
In:
- estava a escrever
the structure is estar a + infinitive, which expresses an ongoing action in European Portuguese.
But in:
- estava a mais
a mais is a fixed expression meaning extra or unnecessary.
So here, mais is not a verb, and this is not a progressive construction.
Because estava describes a state or condition, not a completed event.
The speaker is saying that the full stop was unnecessary. That is background information about the full stop.
So the tenses work like this:
- pus = completed action
- tirei = completed action
- estava = state/condition of the full stop
This contrast is very common in Portuguese:
- preterite for the main finished actions
- imperfect for description, background, or ongoing state
It refers to um ponto final.
So the structure is:
- tirei um ponto final
- que estava a mais
Together: I removed a full stop that was unnecessary.
The relative clause que estava a mais gives extra information about um ponto final, identifying which full stop is meant: the extra one.