Breakdown of O casal de quem recebemos o apoio é muito simpático.
ser
to be
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
quem
who
muito
much / very
simpático
nice
receber
to receive
o casal
the couple
o apoio
the support
Questions & Answers about O casal de quem recebemos o apoio é muito simpático.
Why does this sentence use de quem instead of just que?
Quem means "who" or "whom" and is used to refer to people. In Portuguese, when a relative pronoun follows a preposition (like de, meaning "from" in this case) and refers to a person, you must use quem. If there were no preposition, you would usually just use que.
In the English translation, "from" is at the end. Why is de in the middle of the Portuguese sentence?
In English, it is very common to leave the preposition at the end of the phrase, as in "the couple we received the support from". In Portuguese, this is not allowed. The preposition must always come immediately before the relative pronoun it relates to. Literally, the Portuguese structure translates to "The couple from whom we received the support".
Since a couple consists of two people, why are the verb é and adjective simpático in the singular?
Is the verb recebemos in the present or past tense?
It is in the past tense here, meaning "we received". For regular verbs ending in "-er" and "-ir", the nós (we) form is spelled and pronounced exactly the same in both the present and the simple past tenses. You just have to use the context of the sentence to understand that the support was already received!
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