Breakdown of Acomodaremos ambas as famílias sempre que a casa for acolhedora.
ser
to be
a casa
the house
a família
the family
ambos
both
sempre que
whenever
acomodar
to accommodate
acolhedor
welcoming
Questions & Answers about Acomodaremos ambas as famílias sempre que a casa for acolhedora.
Why does this sentence use the future subjunctive (for) after sempre que?
When sempre que (whenever) points to a future, uncertain event, it requires the future subjunctive. Since the main verb is in the future tense (acomodaremos), the condition of the house being welcoming is treated as a future possibility, so we use the future subjunctive form for.
What would happen if we used the present indicative instead, like "sempre que a casa é acolhedora"?
Using the indicative completely changes the meaning from a future condition to a regular habit. If you said sempre que a casa é acolhedora, it would mean "whenever the house is welcoming" as a recurring, established fact. To make the sentence work grammatically, you would also need to change the main verb to the present tense: Acomodamos ambas as famílias sempre que a casa é acolhedora.
Why is there an as after ambas? Doesn't ambas just mean "both"?
In Portuguese, when ambos or ambas (both) is placed directly before a noun, it must be followed by a definite article. So, you have to say ambas as famílias (literally "both the families"), whereas in English we usually just say "both families" and drop the "the."
Why use for (from the verb ser) instead of estiver (from estar) to describe the house being welcoming?
Using ser (which becomes for in the future subjunctive) implies that being welcoming is a permanent or built-in characteristic of the house—like having a cozy layout or a nice fireplace. If you used estiver, it would mean the house is only temporarily welcoming, perhaps because it was just specially decorated or cleaned for the occasion.
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