Tive de esfregar a frigideira durante cinco minutos para a deixar limpa.

Tive de means I had to.

It comes from the expression ter de + infinitive, which is a very common way to express obligation in Portuguese from Portugal.

• ter de = to have to
• tive de = I had to

So:

• Tive de esfregar... = I had to scrub...

Here, tive is the 1st person singular of ter in the pretérito perfeito (simple past).

Both are possible, but they give slightly different views of the past.

• tive de = I had to in a specific, completed situation
• tinha de = I had to / I was supposed to / I needed to, often describing an ongoing situation, background, or repeated obligation

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about one finished action in the past, so tive de is the natural choice:

• Tive de esfregar a frigideira...
  = In that situation, I had to scrub the frying pan.

If you said tinha de, it would sound more like background information or an ongoing obligation.

Yes. In European Portuguese, ter de is the standard and most recommended form.

Examples:

• Tenho de sair. = I have to leave.
• Tive de esperar. = I had to wait.

You may also hear ter que, but in Portugal ter de is generally preferred, especially in careful or standard language.

Because after ter de, Portuguese normally uses an infinitive.

Pattern:

• ter de + infinitive

So:

• Tive de esfregar = I had to scrub
• Tenho de estudar = I have to study
• Vamos ter de esperar = We are going to have to wait

This works a lot like English to have to + base verb.

Esfregar means to scrub or to rub vigorously.

In this sentence, esfregar a frigideira suggests that the pan was hard to clean and needed effort.

So it is stronger and more physical than a general verb like limpar (to clean).

Compare:

• limpar a frigideira = to clean the frying pan
• esfregar a frigideira = to scrub the frying pan

Frigideira means frying pan.

It is a feminine noun, which is why you get:

• a frigideira = the frying pan

Because it is feminine, any pronoun or adjective referring to it must also be feminine:

• a = it
• limpa = clean (feminine singular)

So in the sentence:

• a deixar limpa

both a and limpa refer to a frigideira.

Portuguese uses definite articles more often than English does.

Here, a frigideira means the frying pan, referring to a specific pan that both speaker and listener can identify from the context.

English learners sometimes want to omit the article, but in Portuguese it is very natural to include it:

• esfregar a frigideira
• not usually just esfregar frigideira

It means for five minutes.

Durante marks duration:

• durante cinco minutos = for five minutes

So the sentence says the scrubbing lasted five minutes.

In many cases, Portuguese can also express duration without durante:

• Esfreguei a frigideira cinco minutos.

But durante cinco minutos is very clear and explicit.

Para here means in order to or to, expressing purpose.

So:

• para a deixar limpa = in order to leave it clean = to get it clean

The structure is:

• para + infinitive

It tells us the goal of the first action:

• I scrubbed the pan for five minutes
• in order to get it clean

That a is a direct object pronoun meaning it.

It refers back to a frigideira.

So:

• a frigideira = the frying pan
• a = it

This gives:

• para a deixar limpa
  literally: to leave it clean

Because frigideira is feminine singular, the pronoun is a.

Compare:

• o copo → para o deixar limpo
• a frigideira → para a deixar limpa

This is a very important point in European Portuguese.

After a preposition like para, it is very common in Portugal to put the object pronoun before the infinitive:

• para a deixar limpa
• para o fazer
• sem o ver

This is very natural in European Portuguese.

You may also see:

• para deixá-la limpa

That is also understandable, but para a deixar limpa sounds especially natural in Portugal. The version with the pronoun attached to the infinitive is often felt to be less typically European Portuguese and is more commonly associated with Brazilian usage.

Because limpa agrees with frigideira, which is feminine singular.

• a frigideira → feminine singular
• therefore limpa → feminine singular

If the noun were masculine, you would use limpo:

• o prato → deixá-lo limpo

So:

• deixar a frigideira limpa = leave the frying pan clean

Because deixar limpa focuses on the resulting state.

• limpar = to clean
• deixar limpa = to leave it clean / to get it clean

So the sentence is not just about the action of cleaning, but about the outcome after all that scrubbing.

Compare:

• Esfreguei a frigideira para a limpar.
  = I scrubbed the frying pan to clean it.

• Esfreguei a frigideira para a deixar limpa.
  = I scrubbed the frying pan to get it clean / to leave it clean.

The second version highlights the final condition of the pan.

Yes, that is grammatically possible.

But it is slightly different in nuance:

• para a limpar = to clean it
• para a deixar limpa = to leave it clean / to get it clean

The original version emphasizes that the pan ended up clean after the effort. It sounds a bit more result-focused.

The sentence breaks down like this:

• Tive de esfregar a frigideira
  = I had to scrub the frying pan

• durante cinco minutos
  = for five minutes

• para a deixar limpa
  = to leave it clean / to get it clean

So the full structure is:

obligation + action + duration + purpose/result

That is a very common and useful pattern in Portuguese.