Breakdown of Antes de tu espremeres a coalhada, separa o soro.
tu
you
antes de
before
separar
to separate
a coalhada
the curd
espremer
to squeeze
o soro
the whey
Questions & Answers about Antes de tu espremeres a coalhada, separa o soro.
Why do we use espremeres instead of the regular infinitive espremer?
Because we need to specify who is doing the squeezing. After prepositions like antes de and depois de, Portuguese uses the Personal Infinitive, which is an infinitive that changes to match the subject. Since the subject here is tu, we add the -es ending to espremer, giving us espremeres.
Could I use the subjunctive here and say Antes que tu espremas?
Absolutely. Using antes de + Personal Infinitive (espremeres) and antes que + Present Subjunctive (espremas) mean exactly the same thing. Portuguese speakers often prefer the Personal Infinitive in everyday speech because it is frequently easier to conjugate on the fly.
Why does the pronoun tu go between the preposition and the verb?
When using the Personal Infinitive, the explicit subject (if you choose to include one) goes right before the verb it governs. This creates a sequential structure of [preposition] + [subject] + [verb], resulting in antes de + tu + espremeres.
Is separa just the regular present tense for ele/ela, or is it a command?
It is an informal command (imperative) directed at tu. Even though it looks identical to the present tense ele/ela form, the affirmative command for tu is actually formed by taking the present tense tu form (separas) and dropping the final s, which gives us separa.
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