Breakdown of O meu pai vai deixar de comprar cigarros no supermercado.
o pai
the father / the parents
em
in / on / at
comprar
to buy
o supermercado
the supermarket
meu
my (m/f/pl: meu, minha, meus, minhas)
ir
to go
o
him/it (m)
deixar
to leave (behind) / to quit / to let (allow)
o cigarro
the cigarette
Questions & Answers about O meu pai vai deixar de comprar cigarros no supermercado.
How does the phrase deixar de work here?
Deixar de followed by an infinitive verb (like comprar) means to stop doing an action. While deixar on its own usually means to leave or to let, adding the preposition de changes its meaning entirely to quitting or stopping a habit.
Why does the sentence use comprar (to buy) instead of a word for buying?
In English, we say stop buying using an -ing word. However, in Portuguese, whenever a verb comes immediately after a preposition like de, it must be in its basic infinitive form. That is why we use comprar.
Why are there three verbs chained together (vai deixar de comprar)?
This sentence combines two verb structures. First, vai deixar uses the verb ir (to go) plus an infinitive to talk about the future: is going to stop. Second, deixar de comprar uses our current lesson's structure: to stop buying. In a chain of verbs like this, only the very first one (vai) is conjugated to match the subject (O meu pai), and the rest stay in the infinitive.
Why is there an O at the very beginning of the sentence?
In European Portuguese, possessives like meu (my) almost always need a definite article in front of them. Because pai is masculine and singular, you literally say the my father (O meu pai).
Learn O meu pai vai deixar de comprar cigarros no supermercado and more in Portuguese
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free