Breakdown of O facto de se deverem evitar as infrações é óbvio.
ser
to be
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
dever
should / ought to
se
one (impersonal)
óbvio
obvious
evitar
to avoid
o facto
the fact
a infração
the infraction
Questions & Answers about O facto de se deverem evitar as infrações é óbvio.
Why is the plural verb deverem used here instead of the singular dever?
In this sentence, se acts as a passive pronoun. This makes as infrações (the infractions) the actual subject of the passive action. When you use the passive se with a modal verb (dever) plus an infinitive (evitar), the modal verb must agree with that plural subject. Because as infrações is plural, the modal verb must be plural too.
If the verb has to be plural, why do we use deverem (infinitive) instead of devem (present tense)?
The phrase is introduced by O facto de. The preposition de forces the verb that follows it into the infinitive. Since we still need the verb to show plural agreement with as infrações, we use the personal infinitive form (deverem) rather than the standard present tense (devem).
Why does the pronoun se come before the verb (de se deverem) rather than attaching to the end?
The English translation says "The fact that...", so why isn't there a que in the Portuguese sentence?
While English uses a "that" clause here, Portuguese naturally links the noun facto with the preposition de to introduce the action. Using O facto de followed by an infinitive is the most standard and elegant way to express "The fact that" in Portuguese, entirely bypassing the need for the word que.
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