Breakdown of Há muito tempo que eu investigava a árvore genealógica.
eu
I
muito
much / very
a
to / at (direction)
o tempo
the time
que
that (conjunction)
há
ago / for (a period up to now)
investigar
to investigate
a árvore genealógica
the family tree
Questions & Answers about Há muito tempo que eu investigava a árvore genealógica.
Why is the imperfect tense (investigava) used here instead of the present tense?
If you are still doing something that started in the past ("I have been investigating"), you use the present tense: Há muito tempo que investigo. Because this sentence uses the imperfect (investigava), it means the action was ongoing in the past but has since ended or was interrupted by another past event. In English, we translate this as "I had been investigating".
Could I put the time expression at the end of the sentence instead?
Why does the word genealógica have a written accent mark?
The word genealógica has its spoken stress on the third-to-last syllable (ló). In Portuguese, any word stressed on the third-to-last syllable (known as a "palavra esdrúxula") must have a written accent mark to show you exactly where to place the emphasis.
Does the sentence imply "my" family tree even without a possessive word?
Yes. Although you could explicitly say a minha árvore genealógica (my family tree), Portuguese often drops the possessive when the context makes it obvious whose family tree is being investigated. The definite article a is enough here.
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