Breakdown of O nutricionista mandou que evitasses a gordura da carne?
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
a carne
the meat
que
that (conjunction)
o nutricionista
the nutritionist
mandar
to order
evitar
to avoid
a gordura
the fat
Questions & Answers about O nutricionista mandou que evitasses a gordura da carne?
Why is evitasses in the imperfect subjunctive?
This sentence is an example of reported speech. The nutritionist originally gave a direct command, likely using the imperative: "Avoid the fat!" (Evita a gordura!). Because the reporting verb is in the past tense (mandou, meaning "ordered"), the command shifts into the imperfect subjunctive (evitasses) to match the past context.
Who is the subject of evitasses?
The subject is tu (informal "you"). You can tell by the -sses ending, which is the standard tu ending for the imperfect subjunctive. If the speaker were addressing the person formally (você), the verb would be evitasse.
Since nutricionista ends in -a, why does it use the masculine article O?
Words ending in -ista (like dentista, artista, or nutricionista) are usually invariable, meaning they do not change their spelling based on gender. To show whether you mean a man or a woman, you only change the article. O nutricionista refers to a male nutritionist, while a nutricionista would be a female nutritionist.
Could I use the infinitive here instead of que plus the subjunctive?
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