Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Eles não me emprestam o carro.

Eles não me emprestam o carro.

They do not lend me the car.

Breakdown of Eles não me emprestam o carro.

Questions & Answers about Eles não me emprestam o carro.

Why is me placed before the verb instead of after it?

In European Portuguese, pronouns like me normally attach to the end of the verb with a hyphen, as in emprestam-me. However, negative words like não act as a magnet, pulling the pronoun to the front of the verb. This is the main rule of 'proclisis' you are learning in this lesson.

Does me mean 'me' or 'to me' in this sentence?

Here, me means 'to me'. The verb emprestar (to lend) uses an indirect object pronoun to show who is receiving the item. They are lending the car to you.

How do we know emprestam matches Eles?

Emprestar is a regular -ar verb. To match it with Eles (they) in the present tense, you remove the -ar ending and add -am, giving you emprestam.

Can I drop Eles and just say Não me emprestam o carro?

Yes! Because the verb ending -am already tells us the subject is 'they' (or formal 'you all'), you can safely drop Eles if it is already clear from the context who you are talking about.