Breakdown of A combinação é secreta, mas deves escrevê-la.
ser
to be
mas
but
escrever
to write
dever
should / ought to
Questions & Answers about A combinação é secreta, mas deves escrevê-la.
In this verbal complex (auxiliary + infinitive), why is the pronoun attached to escrever instead of deves?
When using an auxiliary verb like deves with an infinitive like escrever, you have a choice. You can attach the object pronoun to the infinitive, which gives us deves escrevê-la. This is very common and natural in European Portuguese. Alternatively, you can attach it to the auxiliary verb (deves-a escrever), but attaching it to the infinitive is often preferred.
Why does the verb change to escrevê-la instead of just being escrever-a?
Whenever a verb form ends in -r, -s, or -z, and you need to attach a direct object pronoun like -a (meaning "it" for the feminine word combinação), a special spelling change happens. You drop that final consonant and add an l to the pronoun. Here, the infinitive escrever drops the -r, and the pronoun -a becomes -la.
Why is there a circumflex accent on escrevê-la?
Dropping the -r from escrever changes how the word would normally be read according to Portuguese stress rules. To keep the stress on the final syllable of the verb where it belongs, we have to add an accent mark. For verbs ending in -er, we use the circumflex (ê) to show it maintains that stressed, closed vowel sound.