Breakdown of Ele também aconselhou que evitássemos as calorias vazias.
ele
he
também
also / too
vazio
empty
que
that (conjunction)
aconselhar
to advise
evitar
to avoid
a caloria
the calorie
Questions & Answers about Ele também aconselhou que evitássemos as calorias vazias.
Why do we use the imperfect subjunctive form evitássemos here instead of the present subjunctive?
Because the main reporting verb aconselhou (advised) is in the past tense. Verbs of advising or commanding trigger the subjunctive. If he were advising us right now (Ele aconselha que...), we would use the present subjunctive (evitemos). Since the advice happened in the past, the verb backshifts to the imperfect subjunctive (evitássemos).
What would the original direct quote have been before it was reported?
The original advice was likely an imperative (command), such as Evitem as calorias vazias! (Avoid empty calories!). When we turn this direct command into reported speech in the past, the imperative evitem backshifts to the imperfect subjunctive evitássemos because the speakers are now reporting the advice as applying to themselves (we).
Why does evitássemos have a written accent mark?
In the imperfect subjunctive, the nós (we) form always has the spoken stress on the third-to-last syllable, as in e-vi-tás-se-mos. In Portuguese, any word stressed on the third-to-last syllable must have a written accent mark to show the correct pronunciation.
Why do we need the article as before calorias when the English translation just says empty calories?
In Portuguese, definite articles like as are required when talking about general concepts or categories as a whole. Since the sentence refers to the general category of empty calories, the plural feminine article as is used, even though we drop the word the in English.
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