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O médico proibiu-o de fumar.

O médico proibiu-o de fumar.
The doctor forbade him to smoke.
From Lesson 315:Verbos com preposição fixa (insistir em)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Breakdown of O médico proibiu-o de fumar.

o médico
the doctor (m)
fumar
to smoke
proibir
to forbid

Questions & Answers about O médico proibiu-o de fumar.

Why is it proibiu-o instead of proibiu-lhe?
The verb proibir (to forbid) is commonly used in the structure proibir alguém de fazer algo (to forbid someone from doing something). In this structure, the person being forbidden is the direct object, which is why we use o for him rather than the indirect object pronoun lhe.
Why isn't the attached pronoun changed to -lo or -no?
Object pronouns change to -lo only if the verb ends in -r, -s, or -z, and they change to -no if the verb ends in a nasal sound like -m or -ão. Because proibiu ends in a standard vowel sound, the pronoun simply remains -o.
Why does the pronoun attach to the end of the verb (proibiu-o) instead of going before it?
In European Portuguese, object pronouns normally attach to the end of the verb in affirmative sentences using a hyphen. You would only put the pronoun before the verb if there was a magnet word (like não, já, or a question word) pulling it to the front.
Why do we need the word de before fumar?
While English simply says forbade him to smoke, Portuguese requires the preposition de to link this specific verb to an action. The set pattern is proibir alguém de followed by an infinitive verb. Whenever you state the action someone is forbidden from doing, you must connect it with de.

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