Learn Portuguese (Portugal): É razoável eles exigirem tudo sem perderem o privilégio? - Is it reasonable for them to demand everything without losing the privilege?

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 again and say ?