Breakdown of Se eu faço uma brincadeira inofensiva, tu pões-te a chorar.
eu
I
tu
you
um
a / an / some (all forms)
fazer
to do
chorar
to cry
se
if
a brincadeira
the prank
inofensivo
harmless
pôr-se a
to start
Questions & Answers about Se eu faço uma brincadeira inofensiva, tu pões-te a chorar.
Why does the speaker use pões-te a chorar instead of the simpler começas a chorar?
While both mean to start an action, pôr-se a is an aspectual periphrasis that highlights a sudden, impulsive, or emotionally driven start. Here, it emphasizes that the crying happens abruptly in reaction to the prank, often carrying a slight tone of exasperation from the speaker that the neutral começar a lacks.
Could we use the other structure from this lesson, desatas a chorar, in this sentence?
Absolutely. Desatar a plus the infinitive is another way to express the sudden initiation of an action. It is especially common with expressions of strong, uncontrollable emotion, making desatar a chorar (to burst into tears) or desatar a rir (to burst out laughing) perfect, natural alternatives here.
Since se is a 'magnet' word that pulls pronouns before the verb, why is it tu pões-te with a hyphen?
It is easy to get caught out by this! The conjunction se only acts as a pronoun magnet for the specific clause it introduces. In this sentence, the se clause is just the first part: Se eu faço uma brincadeira inofensiva. The second half, tu pões-te a chorar, is the main clause, so the standard European Portuguese rule applies and the pronoun comes after the verb.
Why is the present tense used (faço) after se instead of the future subjunctive?
Using the present indicative in both halves of a conditional sentence describes a habitual or recurring situation. The speaker is saying 'Whenever I do this, you do that'. If they were talking about a specific, hypothetical event in the future, they would use the future subjunctive for the condition: Se eu fizer uma brincadeira....
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