Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Trago a partitura para eles tocarem com os violoncelos. - I bring the sheet music for them to play with the cellos.

Trago a partitura para eles tocarem com os violoncelos.

I bring the sheet music for them to play with the cellos.

Breakdown of Trago a partitura para eles tocarem com os violoncelos.

Questions & Answers about Trago a partitura para eles tocarem com os violoncelos.

Why is it tocarem and not just the normal infinitive tocar?

This is the personal infinitive in action! It comes after the preposition para. Because the people doing the playing are "they" (eles), we have to conjugate the infinitive to match. The base verb tocar gets the -em ending for the "they" form, becoming tocarem.

Since Portuguese often drops pronouns, do we really need eles here?

You could drop it if the context was already perfectly clear, but keeping eles is very common and helpful here. The ending -em in tocarem is used for eles, elas, and vocês. Including eles removes any doubt that you mean "for them to play" rather than "for you all to play".

What verb does trago come from?

It is the "I" (eu) form of the verb trazer (to bring). This is a very irregular verb in the present tense, which is why it looks quite different from its infinitive form.

I learned that tocar means "to touch". Why is it translated as "to play" here?