Breakdown of Se calhar, foi no desfile que ele tropeçou.
ser
to be
ele
he
em
in / on / at
que
who / which / that (relative)
se calhar
maybe, perhaps
tropeçar
to trip
o desfile
the parade
Questions & Answers about Se calhar, foi no desfile que ele tropeçou.
Why is the preposition em (inside no) placed before desfile instead of at the end of the sentence?
In Portuguese cleft sentences used for emphasis (foi... que), you cannot leave a preposition dangling at the end of the clause. The verb tropeçar requires the preposition em (to trip on or in). When we emphasize o desfile, that preposition must move to the front of the emphasized phrase, contracting into no.
Why do we use foi here instead of é?
In these emphasis structures, the verb ser usually matches the tense of the main action. Because the main verb tropeçou is in the simple past, the emphasizing verb becomes foi to match.
Could we use onde instead of que here, since a parade is an event or location?
Since se calhar expresses doubt, why is the verb foi in the indicative rather than the subjunctive?
Unlike talvez, which also means maybe and strictly requires the subjunctive mood, the fixed expression se calhar always takes the indicative. This makes it a very popular choice in everyday spoken Portuguese when you want to express uncertainty without dealing with complex conjugations!
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