Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Para reduzir o desperdício, eles passaram a reciclar e a reutilizar tudo. - To reduce waste, they started recycling and reusing everything.

Para reduzir o desperdício, eles passaram a reciclar e a reutilizar tudo.

To reduce waste, they started recycling and reusing everything.

Breakdown of Para reduzir o desperdício, eles passaram a reciclar e a reutilizar tudo.

Questions & Answers about Para reduzir o desperdício, eles passaram a reciclar e a reutilizar tudo.

Why does this sentence use passaram a instead of começaram a to mean "they started"?

While começaram a simply means an action began, passar a specifically highlights a transition or a change in habits. Because they shifted their lifestyle to reduce waste, passaram a perfectly captures this transition into a new phase of behavior.

Why is there a second a before reutilizar (a reciclar e a reutilizar)? Could I just say e reutilizar?

You can drop the second a, but repeating it is very common and often sounds more natural in European Portuguese. Repeating the preposition reminds the listener that the new habit (passaram a) applies equally to both actions: recycling and reusing.

Why isn't the verb reduzir conjugated at the beginning of the sentence?

When you use the preposition para to mean "in order to" or "for the purpose of", the verb that follows must stay in the infinitive (the base, unconjugated form). So, para reduzir translates exactly to "in order to reduce".

Can I leave out the word eles and just say passaram a reciclar?