Breakdown of Alguém nos chama do jardim.
do
of the / from the (do, da, dos, das)
o jardim
the garden
chamar
to call (summon)
nos
us
alguém
someone
Questions & Answers about Alguém nos chama do jardim.
Why is the pronoun nos placed before the verb (nos chama) instead of after it with a hyphen (chama-nos)?
This happens because of the word Alguém (someone). Alguém is an indefinite pronoun, and these words act as "magnets" in Portuguese. They pull the object pronoun to the front of the verb (a rule called proclisis). If we just said "He is calling us", it would be Ele chama-nos, but with Alguém, it must be Alguém nos chama.
The English translation says "is calling", but isn't chama the simple present tense?
Yes, it is! In European Portuguese, the simple present tense is very flexible and is frequently used to describe things happening right now. While you could use the continuous form (está a chamar), just saying chama is completely natural and very common.
Does Alguém always take a singular verb?
Why is it do jardim instead of just de jardim?
do is a contraction of the preposition de (of/from) and the masculine singular article o (the). Because we are saying "from the garden", and jardim is a masculine noun, we must combine de + o into do.
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