Breakdown of Eles tinham isentado o cliente da taxa.
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
eles
they (m)
ter
to have
o cliente
the client
a taxa
the fee
isentar
to exempt
Questions & Answers about Eles tinham isentado o cliente da taxa.
Why do we use isentado instead of the irregular form isento?
Isentar is a verb with double past participles. The rule of thumb is to use the regular participle (isentado) with the helping verbs ter and haver. Since this sentence uses ter (tinham), we use isentado. The irregular form (isento) is used with ser and estar, like in O cliente está isento (The client is exempt).
What tense is tinham isentado and when do we use it?
This is the past perfect tense, which translates to "had exempted." You form it by combining the imperfect tense of ter (here, tinham) with the regular past participle of the main verb (isentado). We use it to describe an action that was completed before another action in the past.
Why is the word da used before taxa?
The verb isentar (to exempt) requires the preposition de to show what someone is exempted from. Because taxa (fee) is a feminine noun, de combines with the feminine word for "the" (a) to make the contraction da.
I've seen the word isento used on products or forms. Is that the same word?
Yes! The irregular past participle isento is very often used as a normal adjective meaning "exempt" or "free of." For example, you might see isento de impostos meaning "tax-free" or "tax-exempt."
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