Breakdown of O homem impaciente acaba por pedir ajuda à parteira.
o homem
the man
a
to / at (direction)
a ajuda
the help
pedir
to ask for
acabar por
to end up (doing)
a parteira
the midwife
impaciente
impatient
Questions & Answers about O homem impaciente acaba por pedir ajuda à parteira.
I know this lesson is about imminent actions like estar para, but what kind of verbal periphrasis is acaba por pedir?
While estar para describes an action that is about to happen, acabar por followed by an infinitive verb describes the final outcome of a situation. It translates perfectly to the English phrase to end up doing something. Here, acaba por pedir means ends up asking, showing the final result of the man's impatience.
Why does the sentence say pedir ajuda without a preposition like por or para in the middle?
In English, you ask for help, but in Portuguese, the verb pedir directly takes the thing being requested. You do not need a preposition to say what you are asking for, so it is simply pedir ajuda.
Why is there an à with an accent before parteira?
When you ask someone for something in Portuguese, you use the preposition a to indicate the person you are asking. Since parteira is a feminine noun, it uses the feminine definite article a. The preposition and the article combine to form the contracted word à (a + a = à).
Learn O homem impaciente acaba por pedir ajuda à parteira and more in Portuguese
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free