Breakdown of Achas que Mercúrio está retrógrado? Que disparate!
estar
to be (temporary / location)
que
what (before a noun)
achar
to reckon / to find
o disparate
the nonsense
Mercúrio
Mercury
retrógrado
retrograde
Questions & Answers about Achas que Mercúrio está retrógrado? Que disparate!
Since this lesson is about the repudiation infinitive, how could I rewrite this sentence to use one?
You could use an infinitive of repudiation to express strong indignation about the idea of you believing it. For example: Eu achar que Mercúrio está retrógrado?! Que disparate! (Me, think that Mercury is retrograde?! What nonsense!). Notice how the uninflected or personal infinitive (achar) is used as a standalone exclamation to reject the very idea.
Why is está in the indicative here, rather than the subjunctive? Doesn't achar que sometimes trigger the subjunctive?
In Portuguese, affirmative statements and questions with achar que usually take the indicative because they deal with stating or asking about a concrete opinion. You typically only use the subjunctive with the negative form, não achar que (e.g., Não acho que Mercúrio esteja retrógrado), because the negative introduces a layer of doubt.
Why use está instead of é for a planetary movement?
In the phrase Que disparate, why isn't there an article like um?
In Portuguese, when using que for exclamations (meaning "what a...!"), you place it directly before the noun or adjective. You never use an indefinite article (um or uma) after it. So it is always Que disparate! and never Que um disparate!.
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