Breakdown of O chefe elogia a equipa para motivar os funcionários.
para
to / for
o chefe
the boss (m)
a equipa
the team
o funcionário
the employee
elogiar
to praise
motivar
to motivate
Questions & Answers about O chefe elogia a equipa para motivar os funcionários.
Why do we use para instead of por in this sentence?
We use para here because it expresses a specific purpose or goal. The boss's objective in praising the team is "in order to" motivate them. As a general rule, whenever you can replace "to" with "in order to" in English, you need para in Portuguese.
Why is motivar left in the infinitive (unconjugated) form?
In Portuguese, when a verb directly follows a preposition like para, it must stay in its infinitive form. Here, the combination of para + motivar acts as a single building block meaning "in order to motivate".
A equipa refers to a group of people. If they were doing the action, would the verb be plural?
No, a equipa (the team) is a collective noun. Even though it represents multiple people, the word itself is grammatically singular. If the team were the ones praising, you would use the singular third-person verb form: A equipa elogia.
How could we use the reciprocal expressions from this lesson to say the employees motivate each other?
You would combine the reflexive pronoun se with uns aos outros (used for groups of three or more). For example: Os funcionários motivam-se uns aos outros. If you knew there were exactly two employees, you would use um ao outro instead.
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