Breakdown of A certidão que tu procuravas foi encontrada pelo bisavô.
ser
to be
tu
you
a
to / at (direction)
por
through / by / for / because of
procurar
to look for / to seek to, to try to
encontrar
to find
que
who / which / that (relative)
o bisavô
the great-grandfather
a certidão
the certificate
Questions & Answers about A certidão que tu procuravas foi encontrada pelo bisavô.
Why is the feminine form encontrada used here instead of encontrado?
Because this sentence is in the passive voice. When we use the verb ser (here in the past tense as foi) plus a past participle to make the passive voice, the participle acts like an adjective and must agree in gender and number with the subject receiving the action. Since the subject is a certidão (a feminine, singular noun), the participle becomes encontrada.
Why do we use the imperfect tense for procuravas but the preterite for foi?
Procuravas (were looking for) describes a continuous, ongoing background action in the past, which requires the imperfect tense. The act of the certificate being found (foi encontrada) is a completed, single event that happened during that background search, so it requires the preterite.
The English translation says "was found by". How does the Portuguese sentence express the word "by"?
In passive sentences, the word "by" is expressed using the preposition por to show who performed the action. Here, por combines with the definite article o (for o bisavô) to form the contraction pelo.
In English, we say "looking for", but there is no word for "for" after procuravas. Why?
The Portuguese verb procurar inherently means "to look for" or "to search for". You don't need to add an extra preposition after it because the "for" is already built into the verb's meaning.
Learn A certidão que tu procuravas foi encontrada pelo bisavô 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