Breakdown of Há anos que as novas gerações investigavam a origem delas.
novo
new / young
o ano
the year
dele
his (forms: dela, deles, delas)
a
to / at (direction)
que
that (conjunction)
há
ago / for (a period up to now)
investigar
to investigate
a geração
the generation
a origem
the origin
Questions & Answers about Há anos que as novas gerações investigavam a origem delas.
Why is investigavam in the imperfect tense instead of a past perfect tense?
In Portuguese, you use há + time expression + que + the imperfect tense to express an action that started in the past and was still ongoing at a certain point in the past (translated as 'had been doing'). If the action were still happening now ('have been investigating'), you would use the present tense: Há anos que investigam.
Is the word que required in Há anos que?
Yes, in this structure it is required to connect the time expression at the beginning of the sentence to the main action. However, you can drop the que if you move the time expression to the end: As novas gerações investigavam a origem delas há anos.
I learned that há means 'ago'. Why does it mean 'for' here?
It depends on the tense of the main verb! When used with the simple past, há indicates a completed action in the past and means 'ago' (for example, Investigaram há anos means 'They investigated years ago'). When paired with the present or imperfect tense to describe an ongoing action, it translates to 'for' or 'since'.
Why does the sentence use a origem delas instead of the possessive a sua origem?
Both mean 'their origin'. While a sua origem is grammatically correct, Portuguese speakers often prefer delas (a contraction of de + elas, meaning 'of them') to avoid ambiguity. The word sua can mean his, her, your (formal), or their. Using delas makes it clear that the origin belongs to a feminine plural noun mentioned earlier.
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