Breakdown of Desde que comprámos o painel solar, não temos essa dependência.
não
not / no
ter
to have
comprar
to buy
esse
that (esse, essa, esses, essas)
o painel
the panel
desde que
ever since (temporal)
a dependência
the dependence
solar
solar
Questions & Answers about Desde que comprámos o painel solar, não temos essa dependência.
I thought desde que required the subjunctive. Why is comprámos in the indicative here?
Desde que actually has two meanings. When it means "provided that" or "as long as" (setting a condition), it triggers the subjunctive. However, when it means "ever since" and refers to a factual point in time in the past, as it does in this sentence, it takes the indicative.
Why is there an accent mark on comprámos?
In European Portuguese, this acute accent distinguishes the past tense (comprámos, meaning "we bought") from the present tense (compramos, meaning "we buy"). The accent tells you to pronounce the 'a' with an open "ah" sound, whereas the present tense 'a' is closed and slightly nasal.
Why did we use essa here instead of esta or aquela?
Essa (that) is used for things close to the listener, or to refer back to something that was just mentioned in the conversation. The speaker is likely referring to a specific dependence they were just discussing. If they wanted to say "this dependence" to emphasize it as something closely tied to themselves right now, they would use esta.
If we bought multiple panels, how would I pluralize o painel solar?
It becomes os painéis solares. For nouns ending in -el, you drop the -l and add -is (and in this case, add an accent to keep the stress on the 'e'). For adjectives ending in a consonant like solar, you simply add -es.
Learn Desde que comprámos o painel solar, não temos essa dependência 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