Breakdown of Duvidávamos que o tratado tivesse garantido a independência da nação.
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
ter
to have
que
that (conjunction)
a nação
the nation
garantir
to guarantee
duvidar
to doubt
o tratado
the treaty
a independência
the independence
Questions & Answers about Duvidávamos que o tratado tivesse garantido a independência da nação.
How exactly is tivesse garantido formed in this sentence?
This is the Pluperfect Subjunctive (Pretérito Mais-Que-Perfeito do Conjuntivo). It is a compound tense formed by using the auxiliary verb ter in the Imperfect Subjunctive (tivesse, matching o tratado) plus the past participle of the main verb (garantido).
Why do we need the subjunctive here, and specifically the Pluperfect Subjunctive?
The verb duvidar (to doubt) strongly triggers the subjunctive in the following clause because it expresses uncertainty. We use the Pluperfect Subjunctive (tivesse garantido) because the main verb is in the past (duvidávamos) and the doubted action supposedly happened even further in the past.
I have learned that the verb duvidar takes the preposition de. Why is there no de before que here?
When duvidar is followed by a noun or pronoun, it does take de (for example, duvidávamos do tratado - we doubted the treaty). However, when introducing a full subordinate clause starting with que, the preposition de is dropped, making it simply duvidar que.
Why does Duvidávamos have an accent mark?
In Portuguese, words stressed on the third-to-last syllable always require a written accent. Without it, the stress would naturally fall on the second-to-last syllable (the va). The accent ensures we maintain the correct stress for the first-person plural of the Imperfect tense.
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