Breakdown of Se eu cumprir a promessa, vais dar-me a mesada?
eu
I
ir
to go
me
me
dar
to give
cumprir
to fulfill
se
if
a mesada
the allowance
a promessa
the promise
Questions & Answers about Se eu cumprir a promessa, vais dar-me a mesada?
Why does cumprir look exactly like the normal infinitive here?
In this sentence, cumprir is actually in the future subjunctive, which we use after se (if) to talk about possible future events. For regular verbs like cumprir, the future subjunctive forms are identical to the personal infinitive. So for the eu form, it happens to look just like the dictionary form of the verb!
The lesson says to use se + future subjunctive + future. Why is vais dar used instead of the future tense form darás?
You can use either! In everyday spoken Portuguese, it is much more common to use the informal future (ir + infinitive, like vais dar) than the formal future tense (darás). Both are grammatically correct in a first conditional sentence.
Why is the pronoun -me attached to the end of dar (dar-me) instead of coming before vais?
When you have a helper verb like ir (here, vais) followed by an infinitive (dar), you usually attach the pronoun to the end of the infinitive with a hyphen. You might sometimes see it placed before the first verb in negative sentences or certain subordinate clauses, but attaching it to the infinitive is the standard rule here.
Is the word mesada related to the word for month (mês)?
Yes! Mesada literally means a monthly payment, which is why it translates to allowance or pocket money in this context.
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