Breakdown of O examinador é rigoroso, ou pelo menos parece-o no dojo.
ser
to be
em
in / on / at
ou
or
o
him/it (m)
Questions & Answers about O examinador é rigoroso, ou pelo menos parece-o no dojo.
What exactly does the -o in parece-o replace here?
If the sentence were about a female examiner (A examinadora é rigorosa), would the clitic change to -a?
No, it stays exactly as -o. This is a neuter clitic because it replaces an abstract idea or a predicate (the state of being strict), not a specific masculine noun. It will always be -o, even if it refers back to a feminine or plural adjective. So it would be A examinadora é rigorosa, ou pelo menos parece-o.
In English, we might just say 'or at least he seems to be'. Can we just say parece in Portuguese without the -o?
In formal and grammatically correct Portuguese, linking verbs like parecer (to seem) need a predicate. If you drop the adjective to avoid repeating it, you must use the clitic -o to fill that gap. Dropping the -o and just saying parece no dojo sounds incomplete, as if he simply 'appears' out of nowhere in the room.
Why is there a hyphen in parece-o instead of putting the pronoun before the verb?