Breakdown of É possível que haja muita poeira ao limparmos a ruína.
ser
to be
muito
much / very
haver
to be (there is / there are)
limpar
to clean
que
that (conjunction)
possível
possible
ao
upon / when (doing something)
a ruína
the ruin
a poeira
the dust (dirt, earth)
Questions & Answers about É possível que haja muita poeira ao limparmos a ruína.
How does ao limparmos translate to "when we clean"?
The structure ao followed by an infinitive is a very common way to express "when doing" or "upon doing" an action. Because we want to specify that "we" are the ones doing the cleaning, we use the personal infinitive form limparmos rather than the basic infinitive limpar.
Could I just say ao limpar here?
You could, but it would sound more generic. Using the uninflected infinitive ao limpar just means "when cleaning" in a general sense. Adding the -mos ending makes it the personal infinitive, clarifying that the action is specifically done by "us".
Where does the o in ao come from if it is in front of a verb?
Ao is a contraction of the preposition a and the masculine definite article o (the). In Portuguese, infinitive verbs can act like masculine nouns. So, ao limparmos functions a bit like saying "at the act of our cleaning".
Why do we use haja instead of há?
The sentence starts with É possível que (It is possible that). This phrase sets up a scenario of uncertainty or possibility, which triggers the subjunctive mood. Haja is the present subjunctive form of the verb haver (to exist / there is).
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