Breakdown of Diz-lhes para lerem a coordenada no mapa.
em
in / on / at
para
to / for
ler
to read
dizer
to say
lhes
to them / to you (plural formal)
o mapa
the map
a coordenada
the coordinate
Questions & Answers about Diz-lhes para lerem a coordenada no mapa.
Why does this sentence use lerem instead of the basic infinitive ler?
Because the person receiving the order (tu) is different from the people who need to carry it out (lhes). When a preposition like para introduces an action performed by a new subject, Portuguese uses the Personal Infinitive. The -em ending in lerem clearly shows that 'they' are the ones who must read the map.
Could we use the subjunctive here instead of the personal infinitive?
Yes! When reporting a directive or command, you can use either para + Personal Infinitive (para lerem) or que + Present Subjunctive (que leiam). Both mean exactly the same thing here, though the para + Personal Infinitive structure is extremely common in everyday spoken European Portuguese.
Why is the verb Diz and not Dizes?
Because this is an imperative (command). The sentence is telling someone to do something: 'Tell them...'. For almost all verbs, the affirmative tu command is simply the present tense tu form minus the final 's'. So dizes becomes Diz.
Why is the pronoun lhes attached to the end of Diz?
In European Portuguese, object pronouns normally attach to the end of affirmative commands with a hyphen. lhes is the indirect object meaning 'to them'.
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