Breakdown of O suspeito é que terá escondido o dinheiro.
ter
to have
o dinheiro
the money
esconder
to hide
é que
is that
o suspeito
the suspect
Questions & Answers about O suspeito é que terá escondido o dinheiro.
Why does the sentence use the future tense (terá escondido) when translating to "must have hidden"?
What is the purpose of é que in this sentence?
The phrase é que acts as an emphatic particle. It puts focus on the noun that comes just before it—in this case, o suspeito. It changes the sentence from "The suspect must have hidden..." to "It is the suspect who must have hidden...". If you remove é que, the sentence remains grammatically correct but loses this emphasis.
Could terá escondido also mean "will have hidden" in a future context?
Yes. Grammatically, this is the exact same tense used for actions that will be completed before a certain point in the future. Without context, it could mean "By tomorrow, he will have hidden the money". You have to rely on context to know if the speaker is making a guess about the past or talking about a future deadline.
Can I use haverá escondido instead of terá escondido?
You might see the auxiliary verb haver used instead of ter to form compound tenses in older literature or formal writing. However, in modern everyday European Portuguese, ter is the standard auxiliary verb for these structures. Using terá escondido is the natural choice here.
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