Breakdown of É difícil garantir a entrega daqui a duas semanas.
ser
to be
dois
two
a
to / at (direction)
difícil
difficult
a semana
the week
garantir
to guarantee
a entrega
the delivery
daqui a
in (time from now)
Questions & Answers about É difícil garantir a entrega daqui a duas semanas.
Why do we use daqui a for "in" instead of just em?
Daqui a is a fixed phrase used to say that something will happen a certain amount of time from now. It literally means "from here to". While English says "in two weeks", Portuguese uses daqui a to measure forward from the present moment. If you used em, like em duas semanas, it sounds more like the delivery will take two weeks to complete, rather than happening two weeks from today.
What is the exact difference between daqui a and dentro de in this sentence?
Daqui a duas semanas means the delivery is expected to happen exactly two weeks from today. If you swapped it to dentro de duas semanas, it would mean the delivery happens within the next two weeks (meaning it could arrive tomorrow, next week, or in two weeks).
Does the a in daqui a change if the time period is masculine, like "dois meses"?
No, it stays exactly the same! The a here is a preposition meaning "to" (remember that daqui is de + aqui, so the phrase literally means "from here to"). Because it's not the feminine article meaning "the", it never changes to match the gender of the time word. You will always say daqui a duas semanas and daqui a dois meses.
Why isn't there a word for "to" after difícil? English says "difficult to guarantee".
In Portuguese, impersonal expressions that start with É + [adjective] — like É difícil (it is difficult), É fácil (it is easy), or É possível (it is possible) — link directly to an infinitive verb like garantir. You don't need to add a connecting preposition like de or a between the adjective and the verb.
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