Breakdown of Ao começarem a escavação, eles encontram uma ruína.
ele
he
um
a / an / some (all forms)
começar
to begin
encontrar
to find
ao
upon / when (doing something)
a escavação
the excavation
a ruína
the ruin
Questions & Answers about Ao começarem a escavação, eles encontram uma ruína.
Why does this sentence use começarem instead of the normal infinitive começar?
This is the personal infinitive. Because the subject performing the action is eles (they), we add the corresponding ending -em to the infinitive. We use the personal infinitive here to make it perfectly clear who is starting the excavation.
How does the word ao work in this sentence?
Ao is the contraction of the preposition a and the masculine article o. When you combine ao with an infinitive verb (like começarem), it creates a time clause meaning "upon [doing something]" or "at the time of [doing something]". Here, it means "upon starting".
Is the a before escavação the preposition we normally use with começar?
No, it is just the feminine definite article "the", matching the noun escavação. You might be remembering that começar requires the preposition a when it is followed by another verb (for example, começarem a trabalhar - to start working). However, when it is followed directly by a noun, it does not need a preposition.
If I wanted to say "Upon starting the excavation, they FOUND a ruin" in the past tense, would I need to change começarem?
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