The perfect personal infinitive
The perfect personal infinitive (o infinitivo pessoal composto) is used to express a completed action that happened before another event. Like the regular personal infinitive, it changes its ending to tell us exactly who performed the action.
Formation
To form the perfect personal infinitive, use the personal infinitive of the auxiliary verb ter followed by the past participle of the main verb. The past participle does not change to match the subject or gender.
Here is the conjugation of ter in the personal infinitive:
| Pronoun | Form of ter |
|---|---|
| eu | ter |
| tu | teres |
| ele / ela / você | ter |
| nós | termos |
| eles / elas / vocês | terem |
Let's look at how these forms combine with past participles to describe completed wedding events.
| It was very early for the bride to have arrived at the wedding reception. | Foi muito cedo para a noiva ter chegado ao copo-d'água. |
| The best man and the maid of honor are happy for having hired the photographer. | O padrinho e a madrinha estão felizes por terem contratado o fotógrafo. |
| The best man is sad because you have remained single. | O padrinho está triste por teres continuado solteiro. |
Sequence of events
You will frequently use the perfect personal infinitive after prepositions like por (because of / for having), antes de (before), depois de (after), and apesar de (despite) to establish a timeline of events.
Notice how the subject of the infinitive can be different from the subject of the main clause.
| He was still single before we had hired the florist. | Ele ainda era solteiro antes de termos contratado a florista. |
| The bride cried, despite us having prepared the honeymoon. | A noiva chorou, apesar de termos preparado a lua de mel. |
| The maid of honor needs the certificate after we have made this official. | A madrinha precisa da certidão depois de termos oficializado isto. |
| The civil wedding was beautiful, despite them not having hired the florist. | O casamento civil foi lindo, apesar de não terem contratado a florista. |