The repudiation infinitive

The Repudiation Infinitive

When someone suggests something so absurd, shocking, or ridiculous that you simply cannot accept it, Portuguese offers a dramatic way to react: the Repudiation Infinitive (Infinitivo de repúdio).

In English, this is similar to exclaiming, "Me do that?!". To form it in Portuguese, use the subject pronoun (like eu) directly followed by the unconjugated infinitive of the verb. It is spoken with heavy emphasis and almost always written with a combination of a question mark and an exclamation point (?!).

Reacting to Nonsense

You can easily pair the repudiation infinitive with follow-up phrases that declare how impossible or foolish an idea is—perfect for rejecting a charlatan's wild predictions.

Using Other Pronouns

You can use this structure to express shock at what someone else is expected to do. If the subject is ele or ela, the verb remains in its standard infinitive form.

However, if the subject is nós (us), you must conjugate the verb into the personal infinitive. For nós, this means adding -mos to the end of the infinitive.