Breakdown of Importa-se de repetir, por favor?
por favor
please
repetir
to repeat
importar-se de
to mind (doing)
Questions & Answers about Importa-se de repetir, por favor?
Why does the sentence use the present tense Importa-se instead of a conditional form to mean "Would you mind"?
In Portuguese, the present tense is frequently used to make polite requests where English would use "would" or "could". You could technically use the conditional form, but the present tense Importa-se is much more common and sounds perfectly polite in everyday spoken Portuguese.
Why do we need the word de before repetir?
The reflexive verb importar-se (to mind or to care) requires the preposition de when it connects to another action. Whenever you want to say "to mind doing something", the set structure is always importar-se de followed by an infinitive verb.
Why does the English translation say "repeating", but the Portuguese sentence uses the infinitive repetir?
In Portuguese, prepositions like de are always followed by the infinitive (the basic, unconjugated form) of a verb. While English uses the "-ing" form after prepositions, Portuguese uses the infinitive, so you use repetir here.
How would I change this sentence to ask a friend informally?
Why is there no word for "it" or "that" after repetir?
You could say repetir isso (repeat that), but it is not necessary. Portuguese frequently drops direct objects when the context makes it completely obvious what is being discussed. Just ending the phrase with repetir sounds completely natural.
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