Learn Portuguese (Portugal): O grupo não pode trabalhar comigo hoje.

O grupo não pode trabalhar comigo hoje.

The group cannot work with me today.

Breakdown of O grupo não pode trabalhar comigo hoje.

Questions & Answers about O grupo não pode trabalhar comigo hoje.

Why does the sentence use comigo instead of saying "com mim" for "with me"?

In Portuguese, the preposition com (with) merges with certain pronouns to create special, single words. Instead of saying "com mim", you must always use the special form comigo (with me). You will also see this happen with "with you" (contigo).

Since "the group" has multiple people, why is the verb pode singular instead of plural (podem)?

Even though o grupo refers to several people, the noun itself is singular (it is just one group). Because of this, it takes the third-person singular verb form pode (he/she/it can). This works just like in English when we say "the group is" rather than "the group are".

Why is trabalhar (to work) in its original, unconjugated form?

When you have two verbs working together in a sentence, only the first one gets conjugated to match the subject (pode). The second verb stays in its infinitive or dictionary form (trabalhar). Together, pode trabalhar translates directly to "can work".

Where does the word não (not) go when a sentence has two verbs?

The negative word não always goes immediately before the first, conjugated verb. That is why it sits right before pode, giving us the structure não pode trabalhar (cannot work).