Breakdown of É razoável eles exigirem tudo sem perderem o privilégio?
ser
to be
eles
they (m)
perder
to lose
tudo
everything
sem
without
exigir
to demand
razoável
reasonable
o privilégio
the privilege
Questions & Answers about É razoável eles exigirem tudo sem perderem o privilégio?
Why does perder change to perderem after the preposition sem?
After prepositions like sem (without), Portuguese uses the infinitive. Because this lesson focuses on exclusion clauses, we use the personal infinitive (perderem) to clearly show that the action of losing specifically belongs to eles (them). The -em ending identifies the subject, even without repeating the pronoun.
The English translation says "without losing". Why isn't the gerund (perdendo) used here?
In English, prepositions are naturally followed by the "-ing" form (without losing, before going). However, in European Portuguese, prepositions must be followed by the infinitive, never the gerund. Because we need to specify who is not losing the privilege, we use the personal infinitive (perderem) instead of the regular infinitive (perder).
Why is it eles exigirem instead of using the subjunctive (que eles exijam)?
Both structures are completely correct and mean the same thing! Impersonal expressions like É razoável are traditionally followed by que + the subjunctive (É razoável que eles exijam). However, a very common alternative is to drop the que and use the personal infinitive instead (É razoável eles exigirem). This is especially popular in everyday spoken Portuguese.
Could I add the pronoun eles again and say sem eles perderem?
You could, but it would sound repetitive. Since eles was already established as the subject of the first clause (eles exigirem), the -em ending on perderem is more than enough to remind the listener exactly who is involved in the second clause.
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