Breakdown of Qualquer um pode causar um empate. Graças à ficha, eles tinham-no evitado.
eles
they (m)
ter
to have
um
a / an / some (all forms)
poder
can / may (verb)
o
him/it (m)
evitar
to avoid
graças a
thanks to
qualquer um
anyone
causar
to cause
o empate
the draw
a ficha
the token
Questions & Answers about Qualquer um pode causar um empate. Graças à ficha, eles tinham-no evitado.
Why is the pronoun attached to tinham as -no instead of -o?
In compound tenses like the past perfect (tinham evitado), object pronouns always attach to the auxiliary verb (ter), never to the past participle. Since tinham ends in a nasal sound (the letter m), the pronoun o (meaning it) changes to no to make it easier to pronounce, resulting in tinham-no.
Could I put the pronoun before the verb, saying eles o tinham evitado?
In European Portuguese, the default position for pronouns is after the verb. Because there is no magnet word here (such as a negative word like não, a relative pronoun, or specific adverbs) to pull the pronoun to the front, it must attach to the auxiliary verb with a hyphen.
Why use Qualquer um instead of just Qualquer to say anyone?
Why is there an accent on à in Graças à ficha?
The phrase graças a (thanks to) requires the preposition a. Because ficha (token) is a feminine noun, it takes the definite article a. The preposition and the article merge (a + a = à), and the grave accent marks this contraction.
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