Breakdown of A previsão cósmica mostrar-lhe-á o futuro.
lhe
to him / to her / to you (formal)
mostrar
to show
o futuro
the future
a previsão
the prediction
cósmico
cosmic
Questions & Answers about A previsão cósmica mostrar-lhe-á o futuro.
How exactly is mostrar-lhe-á formed?
It uses a structure called mesoclisis, which splits a future tense verb in half to insert a pronoun. We take the infinitive mostrar, add the indirect object pronoun lhe (to him), and then attach the future ending á (from mostrará). The result is mostrar-lhe-á (will show him).
Why must the pronoun go inside the verb instead of before or after it?
In European Portuguese, you cannot attach a pronoun to the end of a verb in the future or conditional tense (so mostrará-lhe is strictly incorrect). Because there are no 'magnet' words earlier in this sentence to pull the pronoun before the verb (like não or que), the pronoun is forced into the middle.
Why do we use lhe instead of o for 'him'?
The verb mostrar (to show) takes a direct object for the thing being shown (o futuro) and an indirect object for the person it is shown to. Since 'him' is the indirect object here, we must use lhe rather than the direct object pronoun o.
Is it okay to avoid this complex structure and just say vai mostrar-lhe?
Yes! In everyday spoken Portuguese, people generally prefer the informal future tense (ir + infinitive). Saying A previsão cósmica vai mostrar-lhe o futuro is perfectly natural and much more common. The split verb form (mostrar-lhe-á) sounds more formal, written, or poetic.
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