Breakdown of Se eles desobedecerem ao professor, o castigo vai ser rigoroso.
ser
to be
o professor
the teacher (m)
eles
they (m)
a
to / at (direction)
ir
to go
se
if
rigoroso
strict
o castigo
the punishment
desobedecer
to disobey
Questions & Answers about Se eles desobedecerem ao professor, o castigo vai ser rigoroso.
Why does this sentence use desobedecerem instead of the present tense desobedecem?
Because of the word se (if). When setting up a condition that might happen in the future, Portuguese uses the Future Subjunctive tense. The present tense desobedecem would only be used for stating a definite fact, such as complaining that they disobey every day.
How is the future subjunctive desobedecerem formed here? It looks exactly like the personal infinitive!
You have a good eye! For all regular verbs like desobedecer, the Future Subjunctive is completely identical to the Personal Infinitive. You just add the ending -em to the infinitive to match eles. Keep in mind that highly irregular verbs will look different in this tense.
Why is there an ao before professor? Doesn't 'disobey the teacher' translate directly?
In Portuguese, the verb desobedecer requires the preposition a (essentially, you disobey 'to' someone). When you combine the preposition a with the masculine article o (the) for the teacher, it contracts to form ao.
The translation says 'will be', but the sentence uses vai ser. Could I use the future tense será instead?
Absolutely! You could say o castigo será rigoroso. Using the verb ir plus an infinitive (vai ser) is simply the most common and natural way to express the future tense in everyday spoken Portuguese. Both work perfectly in the main half of a 'se' conditional sentence.
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