Breakdown of Ao ligar para o pós-venda, o cliente pediu a devolução.
para
to / for
o cliente
the client
ligar
to call
pedir
to ask for
a devolução
the refund, the return
ao
upon / when (doing something)
o pós-venda
the after-sales
Questions & Answers about Ao ligar para o pós-venda, o cliente pediu a devolução.
How does the prefix pós- work in pós-venda, and what are the rules for the hyphen?
The prefix pós- means "after" (post-). Because it is a stressed prefix (indicated by the acute accent), Portuguese spelling rules dictate that it must always be connected to the following word with a hyphen. Other common examples include pós-guerra (post-war) and pós-graduação (postgraduate studies).
Why is it masculine (o pós-venda) if the base word venda is feminine (a venda)?
Ao ligar is translated as "Upon calling". Could I just use a phrase with quando (when) instead?
Yes, but you would need to conjugate the verb. You could say Quando ligou... (When he called...). However, using ao + infinitive is an incredibly common, elegant, and concise way in Portuguese to express two actions happening simultaneously. At a B2 level, confidently using ao + infinitive will make your Portuguese sound much more native.
In English we say the client "asked for the return", but here it's just pediu a devolução. Why is there no preposition?
When you ask for a noun (a physical thing or a concept), the verb pedir takes a direct object in Portuguese. You do not translate the English "for"—you just say pediu plus the thing requested (a devolução). You generally only use a preposition (like para) with pedir when asking someone to do an action, such as pediu para falar (asked to speak).
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