Breakdown of Tu deverias ter terminado o restauro dos estofos hoje.
tu
you
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
ter
to have
hoje
today
terminar
to finish
dever
should / ought to
o restauro
the restoration
os estofos
the upholstery
Questions & Answers about Tu deverias ter terminado o restauro dos estofos hoje.
How does the structure deverias ter terminado express "should have finished"?
It combines the conditional form of the modal verb dever (meaning must or should) with the perfect infinitive, which is ter plus the past participle terminado. This formula of a modal verb in the conditional or imperfect tense plus the perfect infinitive is the standard way to express an unfulfilled past obligation, meaning something that was supposed to happen but did not.
I often hear Portuguese people use the imperfect tense for "should". Could I say Tu devias ter terminado here?
Yes! In everyday spoken European Portuguese, the imperfect tense (devias) is heavily used instead of the conditional (deverias) to express "should". Both devias ter terminado and deverias ter terminado are perfectly natural and mean the exact same thing, but the conditional form shown in this sentence sounds slightly more formal.
Why is the word for "upholstery" plural (estofos) in Portuguese?
While "upholstery" is an uncountable, singular noun in English, Portuguese treats it as a countable, plural noun (os estofos) when referring to the padded cushions or seats of a vehicle or piece of furniture. Because of this, "of the upholstery" translates to the plural dos estofos, which is the contraction of the preposition de plus the plural article os.
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