Breakdown of O facto de vocês manterem a imparcialidade evita a difamação.
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
vocês
you (pl)
manter
to keep (maintain)
evitar
to avoid
o facto
the fact
a imparcialidade
the impartiality
a difamação
the defamation
Questions & Answers about O facto de vocês manterem a imparcialidade evita a difamação.
Why do we use the personal infinitive "manterem" here instead of the regular uninflected infinitive "manter"?
Because the action is being performed by a specific subject (vocês). The expression o facto de ends in a preposition (de), which forces the following verb to be an infinitive. By using the personal infinitive manterem, we add the -em ending to clearly link the action to the plural subject vocês.
Could I just say "o facto que vocês mantêm" instead of using this infinitive structure?
It is best to avoid that. In European Portuguese, o facto de followed by the personal infinitive is the standard and most elegant way to express "the fact that". Using o facto que or o facto de que with a conjugated verb sounds less natural and is often considered poor style.
Why do "imparcialidade" and "difamação" need the definite article "a" when English just says "impartiality" and "defamation"?
English drops definite articles before abstract nouns when discussing them in a general sense. Portuguese enforces the opposite rule: abstract concepts and general ideas almost always require their definite articles (a or o) to be grammatically correct.
I learned that "evitar" means "to avoid". Why is it translated as "prevents" in this sentence?
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