Breakdown of Quando eles tiverem a cidadania, são cidadãos.
ser
to be
eles
they (m)
ter
to have
quando
when
o cidadão
the citizen
a cidadania
the citizenship
Questions & Answers about Quando eles tiverem a cidadania, são cidadãos.
Why is tiverem used instead of the future indicative terão?
The word quando (when) triggers the Future Subjunctive tense when talking about an action that hasn't happened yet. Even though English uses the present tense (when they have), Portuguese requires the Future Subjunctive tiverem because obtaining citizenship is a future condition.
How is the Future Subjunctive tiverem formed? It looks very different from the infinitive ter.
For irregular verbs like ter, the Future Subjunctive is built from the "they" form of the Preterite (simple past) tense. The past tense is tiveram (they had). By dropping the final -am and adding the Future Subjunctive ending for eles (which is -em), we get tiverem.
The first part of the sentence is about the future, so why is the second part in the present tense (são) rather than the future (serão)?
In Portuguese, you can use the present tense in the main clause after a Future Subjunctive if the result is seen as a universal fact or an absolute certainty. Once they get citizenship, the fact that they are citizens is an undeniable truth, making the present tense são a very natural choice here.
Why is the plural of cidadão formed as cidadãos instead of cidadões?
Nouns ending in -ão can take one of three plural endings: -ões, -ães, or -ãos. Because there is no strict rule to guess which one applies, they simply have to be memorized. Cidadão (citizen) and irmão (brother) are common examples that take the simplest plural form, just adding an s to become cidadãos and irmãos.
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