Question 1

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 2

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 3

Is achamos in the present or past tense here?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 4

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

Accepted Answer

Absolutely. Using achar que (to think that) plus a full clause is very common and means exactly the same thing. However, using the direct object plus adjective structure (achamos o ministro corrupto) is slightly more direct and elegant, much like saying "We consider him corrupt" versus "We think that he is corrupt" in English.

Nós achamos o ministro corrupto.

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