Breakdown of Eles estão felizes por terem oficializado o casamento civil ontem.
eles
they (m)
ter
to have
estar
to be (temporary / location)
feliz
happy
por
through / by / for / because of
ontem
yesterday
o casamento
the wedding
oficializar
to make official
civil
civil
Questions & Answers about Eles estão felizes por terem oficializado o casamento civil ontem.
Why do we use terem oficializado instead of just ter oficializado here?
Because Portuguese uses the personal infinitive after prepositions like por when we want to specify who is doing the action. Here, terem matches the subject Eles (they). Together with the past participle oficializado, it forms the Perfect Personal Infinitive, expressing an action they already completed: "for their having made official."
Why do we use the preposition por after felizes?
When expressing the reason for an emotion, Portuguese typically uses por. In this case, por connects the feeling (happiness) to the action that caused it. Whenever you use por followed by a verb to show a cause or reason, that verb must be in the infinitive or personal infinitive.
Does the past participle oficializado need to change to match the plural subject Eles?
No. In compound tenses formed with the auxiliary verb ter (like this Perfect Personal Infinitive), the past participle always stays in its default masculine singular form ending in -o. It does not change to agree with the subject or the object.
What exactly does casamento civil refer to?
It means "civil marriage" or "civil wedding." In Portugal, it is very common to distinguish between a casamento civil (the legal union performed by a registrar) and a casamento religioso (a church wedding).
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