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Portuguese (Portugal)

Getting called for jury duty can be daunting, and sometimes you simply cannot attend. When you need to get out of a commitment or explain a complicated situation, you will often find yourself making excuses. In conversational European Portuguese, there is a specific, highly common structure used to frame a statement as a justification.

### The Justification Marker: "É que..."

When you want to explain the underlying reason for a situation or offer an excuse, you can start your sentence with **É que...**. 

This phrase acts as a conversational discourse marker. It does not change the grammar of the rest of the sentence; it simply signals to the listener that what follows is an explanation. In English, it translates closely to "The thing is..." or "It's just that...".

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Because this marker is used to justify an action (or inaction), you will frequently hear it used alongside apologies, requests to be excused, or when presenting proof like a medical certificate.

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### Punctuation with "É que..."

Notice that **é que** generally flows directly into the subject or verb of the sentence without a comma. 

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However, if **é que** is immediately followed by a separate subordinate clause—such as a conditional "if" statement (*se...*)—you will use commas to set off that inserted clause.

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Justification marker (é que...)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prefix

prep

preposition

pron

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstratives and the verb to be (isto é, o, a)

Subject pronouns and negation (eu, não)

Yes/no questions and question words (quem, o que)

Plural pronouns, articles, and verbs (somos, são, os, as)

Origin and possession (de, do, da)

Introductions (chamar-se)

Indefinite articles (um, uma, uns, umas)

The verb to be for locations (estar)

Contrasting the two verbs to be (ser vs. estar)

Preposition for locations (em, no, na)

Numbers 0 to 10 (zero, um, dois)

The verb to have (tenho, tem)

Regular -ar verbs (falar, trabalhar)

Regular -er verbs (comer, beber)

Regular -ir verbs (abrir, partir)

My, your, and our (o meu, a nossa)

His, hers, and theirs (dele, dela)

Adjective agreement and placement

Days of the week (segunda-feira)

Months of the year (janeiro)

Counting by tens to 100 (trinta, quarenta...)

Telling time (é uma, são...)

Asking about time (quando, a que horas)

The verb to go (ir)

Prepositions of direction (a, para)

Preposition a contractions (ao, à, aos, às)

Prepositions of place (ao lado de, em frente de...)

Demonstratives (este, esse, aquele)

Contractions with demonstratives (neste, desse, daquele)

Asking which and how many (qual, quanto)

Plurals ending in -ão (-ões, -ãos, -ães)

Plurals ending in consonants (-ns, -is, -es)

The verb to like (gostar de)

The verb to need (precisar de)

The verb to want (querer)

The verb can or may (poder)

Expressing obligation (ter de)

Adverbs of degree (muito, pouco)

Quantifiers (muito, pouco)

Comparatives (mais... do que, menos... do que)

Equality comparisons (tão... como)

The preposition com (comigo, contigo)

Coordinating conjunctions (e, mas, ou, porque)

The preposition por (pelo, pela)

Double negation (nunca, nada, ninguém)

Present continuous (estar a)

Near future (ir)

Past tense of regular -ar verbs

Past tense of regular -er and -ir verbs

Past tense of ser and ir (fui, foi)

Direct object pronouns (me, te, o, a, nos, os, as)

Pronoun placement with negatives and questions

Greetings and courtesy (bom dia, obrigado)

Physical states with ter (ter fome, ter frio)

Asking the way (à direita, sempre em frente)

Colours (vermelho, amarelo, cor-de-rosa)

Money and shopping (custar, a moeda)

Getting around (o motorista, a paragem de autocarro)

Weather and seasons (faz calor, o inverno)

Omitting the subject pronoun

Where things are: ficar (Onde fica...?)

Richer questions: que + noun and é que

Numbers above 100 (cento e vinte, mil)

First-person sound changes (durmo, prefiro)

Advice and ability: dever and saber

Asking why: porquê and porque

When one thing happens: quando-clauses

Here and there: aqui, aí, ali (cá e lá)

Formal and plural possessives: o seu, o vosso

Irregular presents: ver, vir, dar

Present irregulars

Reflexive verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Stem-changing reflexives

Attached object pronouns (-lo, -la, -los, -las)

Nasal attached pronouns (-no, -na, -nos, -nas)

Pronoun placement with adverbs

Past tense of fazer, dizer, and trazer

Past tense of ter, estar, poder, and saber

Past tense of querer and vir

Past tense of ver, dar, and ler

Past tense reflexive verbs (-se)

Time elapsed in the past (há)

Question	Answer
the summons	a convocatória
to attend (to show up)	comparecer
The thing is I didn't receive the summons, otherwise I would attend.	É que não recebi a convocatória, senão comparecia.
to judge	julgar
the defendant	o réu
the trial	o julgamento
The thing is I cannot judge the defendant in this trial.	É que eu não posso julgar o réu neste julgamento.
the medical certificate	o atestado
the justification	a justificação
The thing is I brought a medical certificate so that it serves as a justification.	É que eu trouxe um atestado para que sirva de justificação.
the prejudice	o preconceito
impartial	imparcial
It's just that I have a lot of prejudice and would not be impartial.	É que eu tenho muito preconceito e não seria imparcial.
to excuse	dispensar
The thing is the doctor made the medical certificate so that they excuse me.	É que o médico fez o atestado de modo que me dispensem.
The thing is, if I attended, I would lose my job.	É que, se eu comparecesse, perderia o meu trabalho.
The thing is it is impossible to judge impartially.	É que é impossível julgar de forma imparcial.
The thing is the defendant said that I have a prejudice against him.	É que o réu disse que eu tenho um preconceito contra ele.
It's just that I do not have another justification to miss the trial.	É que eu não tenho outra justificação para faltar ao julgamento.
The thing is I asked that they excuse me when I received the summons.	É que eu pedi que me dispensassem quando recebi a convocatória.