Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Nós achamos o ministro corrupto.

Nós achamos o ministro corrupto.

We find the minister corrupt.

Breakdown of Nós achamos o ministro corrupto.

Questions & Answers about Nós achamos o ministro corrupto.

How can we tell this means "We find the minister corrupt" rather than "We found the corrupt minister" (as in, locating him)?

In European Portuguese, the verb achar is used almost exclusively for expressing an opinion (to think or to consider). When it is followed by a direct object (o ministro) and an adjective (corrupto), it creates a structure meaning "to consider [object] [adjective]". If you wanted to say "We found the corrupt minister" in the sense of physically locating him, you would use the verb encontrar: Nós encontrámos o ministro corrupto.

Could I replace the direct object with a pronoun here, to say "We find him corrupt"?

Yes! You would replace o ministro with the direct object pronoun o. The sentence becomes Nós achamo-lo corrupto. Because the verb ends in an "s", we drop the "s" and add "-lo". Notice how corrupto (the object complement) stays at the very end of the sentence to describe the pronoun.

Is achamos in the present or past tense here?

It is in the present tense ("We find"). In European Portuguese, the present tense for the first-person plural of -ar verbs has no accent: achamos. If it were in the past tense ("We found/considered"), it would require an acute accent on the A: achámos. This is a small but important spelling detail in Portugal.

Can I just say Nós achamos que o ministro é corrupto instead?