Breakdown of Se adicionarmos mais livros ao carrinho, o envio é mais barato.
ser
to be
o livro
the book
ao
to the / at the (m.sg; f.sg à, m.pl aos, f.pl às)
barato
cheap
mais
more
se
if
adicionar
to add (e.g., ingredients, numbers, online)
o carrinho
the shopping cart
o envio
the shipment
Questions & Answers about Se adicionarmos mais livros ao carrinho, o envio é mais barato.
Why do we use adicionarmos instead of the present tense adicionamos?
The word se (if) triggers the Future Subjunctive tense when talking about a hypothetical future action. Even though English says "If we add" (which looks like the present tense), Portuguese uses the Future Subjunctive (adicionarmos) because adding the books is a future possibility that hasn't happened yet.
How exactly is the form adicionarmos constructed?
For regular verbs, the Future Subjunctive is very straightforward to build. You take the full infinitive of the verb—in this case, adicionar—and attach the personal ending. For nós (we), that ending is -mos, giving us adicionarmos.
Why is it ao carrinho rather than no carrinho? Don't we put things in the cart?
While it makes sense to think about putting items in a cart, the Portuguese verb adicionar (to add) requires the preposition a (to). Since carrinho is a masculine noun, the preposition a merges with the definite article o to become ao.
If the first part of the sentence is about the future, why does the second half use the present tense (o envio é...)?
In Portuguese conditional sentences, it is completely normal to use the present tense in the result clause to express a guaranteed fact, general rule, or immediate consequence. You could use the future tense here (será mais barato), but using the present (é) emphasizes that this discount is a solid, existing rule.
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