Breakdown of A máquina de lavar roupa em que confio estragou-se rapidamente.
em
in / on / at
se
himself / herself / themselves
que
who / which / that (relative)
confiar
to trust
rapidamente
rapidly, quickly
a máquina de lavar roupa
the washing machine
estragar
to ruin (to spoil, damage)
Questions & Answers about A máquina de lavar roupa em que confio estragou-se rapidamente.
Why do we need se in estragou-se? Can't I just say estragou?
In Portuguese, the verb estragar (to damage/break) is transitive, meaning an agent has to break something. If you just said A máquina estragou, a Portuguese speaker would wait to hear what the machine broke. Adding se creates the anti-causative (or middle) voice. It shows that the machine underwent a change of state (it broke down) without focusing on who or what caused it, and it definitely didn't break itself!
Could I say foi estragada instead of estragou-se?
You could, but it changes the meaning slightly. Foi estragada is the true passive voice and strongly implies that a specific external agent broke the machine (for example, a person misused it). Estragou-se is the most natural way to say an appliance broke down through general wear and tear or a mechanical failure.
Why is there an em right before que in em que confio?
In English, we often leave the preposition at the end of the sentence: The machine that I rely on. In Portuguese, you cannot leave prepositions dangling at the end of a clause. Because the verb confiar (to trust/rely) requires the preposition em (confiar em), that preposition must be moved to immediately before the relative pronoun que.
Why is the pronoun attached to the end of the verb (estragou-se) rather than before it?
In European Portuguese, pronouns naturally attach to the end of the verb in affirmative main clauses. While the sentence contains a relative clause (em que confio), the main clause is A máquina de lavar roupa [...] estragou-se. Since there are no magnet words (like negative words, specific adverbs, or conjunctions) directly in front of the main verb to pull the pronoun before it, it stays attached to the end with a hyphen.
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