Breakdown of Estava a testar novos ângulos, alguns dos quais deixaram o enquadramento desfocado.
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
novo
new / young
estar
to be (temporary / location)
algum
some / any
testar
to test
deixar
to leave (behind) / to quit / to let (allow)
os quais
which / who (m.pl)
o ângulo
the angle
o enquadramento
the framing
desfocado
blurred
Questions & Answers about Estava a testar novos ângulos, alguns dos quais deixaram o enquadramento desfocado.
How does the relative clause alguns dos quais work in this sentence?
Alguns dos quais translates to 'some of which'. It is a partitive relative clause, meaning it picks out a portion of the previously mentioned group. Because it refers back to novos ângulos (a masculine plural noun), both the quantifier (alguns) and the relative pronoun (os quais, combining with de to make dos quais) must be in the masculine plural form.
Could I just say alguns de que instead of alguns dos quais?
No, you cannot. In Portuguese, when a relative pronoun follows a quantifier (like alguns, muitos, or dois) and the preposition de, you must use the specific declined forms o qual, a qual, os quais, or as quais. The simple relative pronoun que cannot be used in this 'quantifier + of + which' structure.
Why is the adjective novos placed before ângulos rather than after?
Placing novos before the noun changes its nuance slightly. Novos ângulos means 'new or different angles' (angles the speaker had not tried before), whereas ângulos novos would more strictly mean angles that are newly invented in the world. Placing common adjectives like novo, velho, and grande before the noun is a frequent way to give them a more subjective or figurative meaning.
Why do the two verbs use different past tenses (estava a testar vs. deixaram)?
Estava a testar uses the imperfect tense for an ongoing background action in the past ('I was testing'). Deixaram is in the simple past, or pretérito perfeito, reporting the completed result of that action ('left the framing blurred'). This combination is standard for showing the definitive outcome of an ongoing past process.
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