Breakdown of A professora recomendava-lhe uma carreira diferente.
a professora
the teacher (f)
um
a / an / some (all forms)
lhe
to him / to her / to you (formal)
diferente
different
Questions & Answers about A professora recomendava-lhe uma carreira diferente.
Why is the pronoun -lhe attached to the end of the verb with a hyphen?
In European Portuguese, object pronouns usually attach to the end of the verb with a hyphen in basic affirmative sentences, like recomendava-lhe. The pronoun only jumps to the front of the verb if there is a magnet word, such as a negative word like não or certain question words.
How do we know -lhe means 'to him' here? Couldn't it mean 'to her'?
Yes, it absolutely could! By itself, the indirect object pronoun lhe can mean 'to him', 'to her', or 'to you' (when speaking formally). We translated it as 'to him' here, but without more context, 'The teacher used to recommend a different career to her' is also a perfectly correct translation.
Why is the verb recomendava used instead of the simple past tense recomendou?
Recomendava is in the imperfect past tense. We use it here to show that recommending a different career was an ongoing or repeated habit in the past, which is why it translates to 'used to recommend'. If the teacher had only recommended it once on a specific occasion, we would use the simple past tense: recomendou.
Why does diferente come after carreira?
Unlike in English, most adjectives in Portuguese come immediately after the noun they describe. So, 'a different career' becomes uma carreira diferente.