Breakdown of Vejo o dossiê a arquivar em cima da mesa.
a mesa
the table
a
to / at (direction)
em cima de
on top of
ver
to see
Questions & Answers about Vejo o dossiê a arquivar em cima da mesa.
Why do we use a arquivar instead of just the verb by itself?
Using a followed by an infinitive directly after a noun creates a descriptive phrase. It tells us the purpose or pending action of that noun. Here, o dossiê a arquivar means the dossier that needs filing or the dossier to be filed.
Does a arquivar mean the dossier is doing the filing?
No, it has a passive meaning in this context. Even though arquivar is an active verb meaning to file, when placed after a noun with the preposition a, it describes an action that will happen to the noun.
Could I just say na mesa instead of em cima da mesa?
Why does dossiê have a circumflex accent on the last letter?
Dossiê comes from the French word dossier. In Portuguese, the circumflex accent on the ê shows that the final syllable gets the spoken stress and is pronounced with a closed e sound. Without the accent, normal pronunciation rules would put the stress on the wrong syllable.