Breakdown of Eles acabam por apurar a verdade pelo comunicado.
eles
they (m)
pelo
through the (m.sg, pela, pelos, pelas)
a verdade
the truth
acabar por
to end up (doing)
apurar
to ascertain
o comunicado
the press release
Questions & Answers about Eles acabam por apurar a verdade pelo comunicado.
Why do we use acabam por apurar instead of just acabam apurar?
In Portuguese, the structure acabar por followed by an infinitive verb (like apurar) means "to end up doing something". If you leave out por, the sentence is grammatically incomplete. You will hear this phrasing constantly when talking about the final result of a situation.
Could I use descobrir instead of apurar here?
Yes, descobrir a verdade (to discover or find out the truth) works perfectly. However, apurar is a slightly more formal or investigative word, often used in journalism or legal contexts, meaning "to ascertain", "to clear up", or "to verify the facts". It fits perfectly with formal terms like comunicado (press release or official statement).
Why is it pelo comunicado rather than através do comunicado?
Both are perfectly correct. Através de means "through" in the sense of "by means of". However, the preposition por (which combines with o to make pelo) is very often used to express the medium or method by which an action is completed. It is shorter and sounds very natural in this context.
If I wanted to connect this to our current lesson and say "The fact that they ended up ascertaining the truth...", how would I form that?
You would say: O facto de eles acabarem por apurar a verdade... Because o facto de requires the personal infinitive when the subject is specified, the auxiliary verb acabar conjugates to acabarem to agree with eles. The main verb, apurar, remains in the standard impersonal infinitive.
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