Breakdown of Eles têm de suportar o frio e chegam a desmaiar.
e
and
eles
they (m)
ter de
to have to
o frio
the cold
chegar a
to even / to go so far as to
suportar
to endure
desmaiar
to faint
Questions & Answers about Eles têm de suportar o frio e chegam a desmaiar.
Why does chegam a translate to "even" here? Doesn't chegar mean "to arrive"?
You are right that chegar usually means "to arrive". However, when you use the structure chegar a followed by an infinitive verb (like desmaiar), it describes an extreme or culminating action. It means a situation went so far that a specific event happened. In English, we usually translate this as "even [doing something]" or "going as far as to [do something]". Here, it means they went as far as fainting.
Is suportar a false friend? Can I use it to say I "support" my friends?
Yes, it is often a false friend! While suportar can mean "to support" in a physical sense (like a wall supporting a roof), it usually means "to endure", "to bear", or "to tolerate" when talking about hardship, like o frio (the cold). If you want to talk about supporting a friend emotionally or supporting a sports team, you should use the verb apoiar.
Why does the sentence use têm de instead of têm que for "have to"?
In European Portuguese, ter de is the standard, grammatically preferred way to express a strong obligation or necessity ("have to" or "must"). You will often hear native speakers say ter que in everyday informal speech, but ter de is what you will typically see in writing and is considered more correct. They mean exactly the same thing.
Do I need to make desmaiar reflexive and say chegam a desmaiar-se?
No, desmaiar (to faint) is not a reflexive verb in Portuguese. Just like in English, you simply faint; you don't "faint yourself". So, leaving it as chegam a desmaiar is completely correct.
Learn Eles têm de suportar o frio e chegam a desmaiar 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