Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Se visses a desigualdade, protestarias. - If you saw the inequality, you would protest.

Se visses a desigualdade, protestarias.

If you saw the inequality, you would protest.

Breakdown of Se visses a desigualdade, protestarias.

Questions & Answers about Se visses a desigualdade, protestarias.

Why does Portuguese use the prefix des- for desigualdade when English uses "in-" for "inequality"?

Prefixes don't always translate one-to-one between English and Portuguese. While Portuguese does use in- for many negative words (like injustiça or invisível), des- is extremely common for reversing a state or expressing the exact opposite. With the root igualdade (equality), the language naturally takes des-.

How exactly is the word desigualdade built?

It is built from the root adjective igual (equal). You can think of it in two steps: either adding the prefix des- to get desigual (unequal) and then the suffix -dade (which works like English "-ity") to make it a noun, or taking the noun igualdade (equality) and adding des- to negate it.

Why is visses used here instead of the regular past tense viste?

The word Se (If) introduces a hypothetical, unreal situation. In Portuguese, stating "If X happened, Y would happen" requires the Imperfect Subjunctive in the "if" clause (Se visses...) and the Conditional tense for the result (...protestarias).

I always mix up the subjunctive forms of ver (to see) and vir (to come). How can I be sure visses means "saw"?