Breakdown of Eles terão projetado o novo arranha-céus até dezembro.
ele
he
novo
new / young
ter
to have
dezembro
December
o
him/it (m)
até
until
projetar
to design
o arranha-céus
the skyscraper
Questions & Answers about Eles terão projetado o novo arranha-céus até dezembro.
Why do we use terão projetado instead of the simple future tense projetarão?
Terão projetado is the Futuro Composto (Future Perfect). We use it here to emphasize that the action of designing will be completely finished before a specific deadline in the future (até dezembro). The simple future projetarão would just mean they will design it at some point, without focusing on the completion before the deadline.
The lesson says this tense can be formed with haver. Would it be normal to say haverão projetado?
Why does the word for skyscraper, arranha-céus, end in an 's' if it is singular in this sentence (o novo arranha-céus)?
Arranha-céus is a compound noun made from the verb arranha (scrapes) and the plural noun céus (skies). Because of how it is built, the word always ends in 's', even when referring to just one building. You can tell it is singular here because it uses the singular article o and the singular adjective novo. To say 'the new skyscrapers', you would say os novos arranha-céus.
I usually translate até as 'until'. Why does it mean 'by' in this sentence?
The meaning of até shifts slightly depending on the context. With a continuous action, it means 'until' (for example, 'They will work until December'). However, when paired with a tense like the Futuro Composto that describes a completed action before a deadline, até marks that deadline and is best translated as 'by' or 'no later than'.
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