Breakdown of Não acho que ele tenha feito a transferência.
não
not / no
ele
he
ter
to have
fazer
to do
achar
to reckon / to find
que
that (conjunction)
a transferência
the transfer
Questions & Answers about Não acho que ele tenha feito a transferência.
Why does this sentence use the subjunctive form tenha instead of the indicative?
The phrase Não acho que (I do not think that) expresses doubt or uncertainty, which triggers the subjunctive mode. If the sentence were affirmative, like Acho que (I think that), it would express a stated belief and use the normal indicative mode instead.
What tense is tenha feito and what time frame does it refer to?
This is the Perfect Subjunctive. It is used here to express doubt in the present about an action that was supposedly completed in the past. You form it by combining the present subjunctive of the helping verb ter (in this case, tenha) with the past participle of the main verb (feito).
Why is the past participle feito instead of a regular ending?
The verb fazer (to do or to make) has an irregular past participle. Instead of following the regular rule of adding "-ido" for "-er" verbs, it changes completely to feito. This is a common irregularity you just have to memorize.
Could we drop the pronoun ele from this sentence?
While European Portuguese often drops subject pronouns, keeping ele is highly recommended here for clarity. The subjunctive form tenha is identical for the first-person (eu) and third-person (ele, ela, você). Without ele, the sentence could mistakenly be understood as "I do not think that I have made the transfer."
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