Question 1

What is the grammar role of incompetente here, and does it agree with the subject or the object?

Accepted Answer

It describes the direct object -o (him), not the subject eu (I). This is known as an object complement (predicativo do complemento direto). Because it is an adjective, it must agree with the object it modifies. If the object were feminine plural, like -as (them), the adjective would change to match, becoming considero-as incompetentes.

Question 2

Why do we say considero-o instead of o considero?

Accepted Answer

In European Portuguese, the default position for object pronouns is attached to the end of the verb with a hyphen. Since this is an affirmative main clause and there are no 'magnet' words (like não or já) before the verb to pull the pronoun forward, it stays at the end.

Question 3

Why doesn't the sentence say não sabe como trabalhar for 'doesn't know how to work'?

Accepted Answer

In Portuguese, the verb saber followed directly by an infinitive (like trabalhar) already means 'to know how to' do a specific skill or action. Adding como is unnecessary here and often sounds unnatural when talking about acquired abilities.

Question 4

Could we express this same idea using a subordinate clause?

Accepted Answer

Yes! You could say Eu considero que ele é incompetente. The structure used in this sentence (considero-o incompetente) is just a more concise and direct way of expressing the exact same opinion, which is very common with complex transitive verbs like considerar, achar, or chamar.

Eu considero-o incompetente, porque ele não sabe trabalhar.

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