Breakdown of A maqueta está quase pronta; terminá-la-ei amanhã.
estar
to be (temporary / location)
pronto
ready
terminar
to finish
amanhã
tomorrow
quase
almost
a maqueta
the scale model
Questions & Answers about A maqueta está quase pronta; terminá-la-ei amanhã.
What exactly is happening in the word terminá-la-ei?
This is called mesoclisis, a structure where the object pronoun (in this case a, meaning "it" and referring to a maqueta) is placed inside the future tense verb. The original verb is terminarei (I will finish). Because it is in the future tense and there are no "magnet words" (like negative words or relative pronouns) earlier in the clause to pull the pronoun before the verb, the pronoun is inserted between the infinitive stem and the future ending.
Why does the pronoun become -la- and why is there an accent on terminá?
When attaching an object pronoun to a verb form ending in -r (like the infinitive stem terminar), the -r is dropped and the pronoun gets an L added to it, becoming -la. Dropping the -r leaves us with termina, but we must keep the original phonetic stress on that last syllable. To do this, we add an acute accent, creating terminá, before attaching -la and the future ending -ei.
Would a Portuguese speaker actually say terminá-la-ei in everyday conversation?
It is quite rare in casual speech because mesoclisis sounds very formal or literary. In everyday spoken Portuguese, it is much more common to use the informal future tense with the verb ir, such as vou terminá-la amanhã. However, as a B2 learner, you need to recognize mesoclisis because you will frequently encounter it in books, newspapers, and formal broadcasts.
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