Breaking the News
When you want to announce that something has just happened, Portuguese uses a simple phrase: acabar de followed by an infinitive verb.
| to have just (done something) | acabar de |
To show that an action just finished, conjugate acabar in the present tense, add de, and leave the second verb in the infinitive. Here is a quick reminder of how to conjugate acabar:
| Subject | Acabar |
|---|---|
| eu | acabo |
| tu | acabas |
| ele / ela / você | acaba |
| nós | acabamos |
| eles / elas / vocês | acabam |
Let's see this in action with some breaking news announcements:
| The government has just announced the decision. | O governo acaba de anunciar a decisão. |
| The journalist has just published the article on the internet. | O jornalista acaba de publicar o artigo na internet. |
For plural subjects, use acabam:
| The employees have just declared the strike. | Os funcionários acabam de declarar a greve. |
This structure works for events, too:
| The strike has just started! | A greve acaba de começar! |
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