Breakdown of Tens de verificar o material antes de testá-lo.
ter de
to have to
antes de
before
-lo
it / him (m) [-la, -los, -las]
verificar
to check
Questions & Answers about Tens de verificar o material antes de testá-lo.
Why do we use the infinitive testar here instead of a conjugated verb like "testas"?
After the phrases antes de (before) or depois de (after), Portuguese uses the infinitive form of the verb (the dictionary form) when the person doing the action is the same in both parts of the sentence. Since "you" are doing both the checking and the testing, we just use the infinitive testar (to test).
Why is the word testá-lo instead of testar o?
Why is there an accent mark on testá-lo?
When we drop the -r from an -ar verb like testar to attach a pronoun, the spoken stress of the word stays exactly the same. To show that the emphasis remains strongly on that last a, Portuguese spelling rules require us to add an acute accent, making it testá-lo.