Word
Eles avisaram que o aguaceiro chegaria à tarde.
Meaning
They warned that the downpour would arrive in the afternoon.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Eles avisaram que o aguaceiro chegaria à tarde.
eles
they (m)
chegar
to arrive
à tarde
in the afternoon
que
that (conjunction)
Questions & Answers about Eles avisaram que o aguaceiro chegaria à tarde.
If this is reported speech, what did the original direct quote look like?
The original quote used the future indicative: O aguaceiro chegará à tarde (The downpour will arrive in the afternoon). Because the reporting verb avisaram is in a past tense, the future tense chegará must backshift to the conditional tense chegaria in reported speech.
Could I use the imperfect tense here instead of the conditional chegaria?
Yes! In everyday spoken Portuguese, the imperfect is very often used in place of the conditional. It would be completely natural to hear ... que o aguaceiro chegava à tarde with no change in meaning.
Why use aguaceiro instead of the standard word for rain, chuva?
While chuva is the broad, general term for rain, an aguaceiro refers specifically to a downpour, squall, or heavy sudden shower. It emphasizes that the precipitation will be intense and likely brief.
Why does à tarde have a grave accent mark?
The grave accent in à tarde marks the contraction of the preposition a and the feminine definite article a. Together they form a fixed adverbial phrase indicating exactly when the downpour was expected.