Breakdown of O farol ilumina a rocha para a embarcação não bater.
não
not / no
a
to / at (direction)
para
to / for
o
him/it (m)
bater
to knock / to crash, to hit
o farol
the lighthouse
iluminar
to illuminate
a rocha
the rock
a embarcação
the vessel
Questions & Answers about O farol ilumina a rocha para a embarcação não bater.
Why does this sentence use the infinitive bater instead of the subjunctive?
To express purpose, you can use para que followed by the present subjunctive (para que a embarcação não bata). However, European Portuguese frequently uses para plus the personal infinitive instead. Since the subject a embarcação is third-person singular, the personal infinitive form bater looks exactly like the standard infinitive.
Can bater simply mean 'crash' without specifying what the vessel is hitting?
Yes. While bater typically means 'to hit' or 'to beat', it is widely used as an intransitive verb with vehicles (like boats or cars) to mean 'to crash'. The obstacle it might hit is already understood from the context.
Since this lesson is about dever de, how would we change the sentence to say the lighthouse probably illuminates the rock?
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