Breakdown of Além de cortar, o cabeleireiro lava o cabelo.
lavar
to wash
cortar
to cut
o cabelo
the hair
além de
besides
o cabeleireiro
the hairdresser
Questions & Answers about Além de cortar, o cabeleireiro lava o cabelo.
Could I use além disso in this sentence instead of além de?
Not in this exact structure. além de needs to be followed by a noun or a verb (like cortar) to connect the addition directly to the rest of the sentence. além disso means "besides that" or "furthermore" and usually acts as a standalone transition between two complete thoughts. To use it here, you would have to split the sentence: O cabeleireiro corta. Além disso, lava o cabelo.
Why do we use the infinitive cortar here when the English translation says "cutting"?
In Portuguese, prepositions like de are almost always followed by the infinitive form of a verb, not the gerund. Because além de ends in a preposition, you must use the infinitive cortar to say "besides cutting".
Why is cabelo in the singular? Doesn't a person have many hairs?
Is there a trick to remembering the spelling of cabeleireiro?
It helps to break it into pieces. It relates to the word cabelo (hair) and uses the suffix -eiro, which is common for professions (like padeiro for baker). To remember the middle part, notice that it repeats the "eir" combination twice: cabel-eir-eiro.
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