Breakdown of Para reduzir o desperdício, eles passaram a reciclar e a reutilizar tudo.
e
and
eles
they (m)
para
to / for
tudo
everything
reduzir
to reduce
passar a
to start to (do) / to turn into (change into)
reutilizar
to reuse
o desperdício
the waste
reciclar
to recycle
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"?
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?
Yes, you can absolutely drop eles. The verb ending in passaram already tells us that the subject is "they" (or "you all"). Including eles here just makes it slightly more explicit or adds a little bit of emphasis to who is making the change.
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