Breakdown of O monstro roubara a coroa antes de destruir o trono.
antes de
before
roubar
to steal
destruir
to destroy
o monstro
the monster
a coroa
the crown
o trono
the throne
Questions & Answers about O monstro roubara a coroa antes de destruir o trono.
How is roubara formed here to mean "had stolen"?
It is in the simple pluperfect tense (Pretérito Mais-Que-Perfeito Simples). To form it for a third-person singular subject like the monster, take the "eles" form of the simple past (roubaram), remove the -am, and add -a, leaving you with roubara.
Could I say tinha roubado instead of roubara in this sentence?
Yes, they mean exactly the same thing. The simple form (roubara) seen in this sentence is almost exclusively used in literature, journalism, and formal writing. In everyday spoken Portuguese, you will almost always hear the compound form (tinha roubado).
How do I pronounce roubara without confusing it with the future tense?
The spoken stress must fall on the second-to-last syllable: rou-BA-ra. If you stress the final syllable, it becomes roubará (which requires a written accent). That is the future tense, which would completely change the meaning to "the monster will steal".
Why is the infinitive destruir used here rather than a past tense conjugation?
In Portuguese, prepositions like de (as part of the phrase antes de, meaning "before") are naturally followed by an infinitive verb. Because the monster is the subject of both actions, the basic uninflected infinitive destruir works perfectly.
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