Breakdown of Ela esquecia-se do teste de matemática.
ela
she
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
a matemática
the math
esquecer-se de
to forget
o teste
the test
Questions & Answers about Ela esquecia-se do teste de matemática.
Why does this sentence use esquecia instead of the past tense esqueceu?
Esquecia is the Pretérito Imperfeito (Imperfect past) of esquecer. We use this tense to talk about ongoing or habitual actions in the past, translating to "used to forget" or "was forgetting". If we used the Pretérito Perfeito (esqueceu), it would mean she forgot the test once on a single, specific occasion.
How do we form the Imperfeito for a regular "-er" verb like esquecer?
For regular "-er" and "-ir" verbs, you drop the infinitive ending and add the Imperfeito endings: -ia, -ias, -ia, -íamos, or -iam. For ela (she), we use the -ia ending, giving us esquecia.
Why is there a -se attached to the verb?
The verb for "to forget" is esquecer-se, which is a reflexive verb in Portuguese. In positive statements like this one, European Portuguese typically attaches the reflexive pronoun to the end of the verb with a hyphen.
Why do we say do teste instead of just o teste?
The reflexive verb esquecer-se requires the preposition de before the thing being forgotten. Because teste is a masculine noun, de combines with the word "the" (o) to form the contraction do.
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