Word
Se calhar vamos sair mais cedo; ainda bem que não decidiram prolongar a reunião.
Meaning
Maybe we will leave earlier; it is a good thing that they didn't decide to extend the meeting.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Se calhar vamos sair mais cedo; ainda bem que não decidiram prolongar a reunião.
não
not / no
cedo
early
decidir
to decide
a
to / at (direction)
Questions & Answers about Se calhar vamos sair mais cedo; ainda bem que não decidiram prolongar a reunião.
Why is decidiram in the indicative rather than the subjunctive, since ainda bem que expresses an emotion?
This is the core of this lesson! Normally, expressions of emotion or value judgments trigger the subjunctive in Portuguese. However, ainda bem que is a notable exception. It is treated as stating a factual relief rather than a subjective feeling, so it always takes the indicative. That is why we use the normal past tense decidiram instead of a subjunctive form.
The sentence starts with se calhar. Doesn't expressing doubt usually require the subjunctive?
It often does, but it depends entirely on the specific word used for expressing doubt. While talvez strictly triggers the subjunctive, se calhar is an exception that almost always takes the indicative. Because we used se calhar here, the indicative vamos is perfectly correct.
Could I use estender instead of prolongar to talk about extending a reunião?
You should stick to prolongar. In Portuguese, prolongar is used for extending things in time, such as a meeting, a deadline, or a trip. Estender is mostly reserved for physical extension, like rolling out a towel or stretching your arms.
Is it okay to use the simple future sairemos instead of vamos sair here?