This learning note will cover the personal infinitive in Portuguese and how it is distinguished from the impersonal infinitive.
First let’s review what we mean by infinitive. The infinitivoinfinitive is one of the three formas nominaisnominal forms verbs can have. These nominal forms do not express the verb tense, mode, and person by themselves, as they are dependent on the context in which they appear. The infinitive expresses the idea of an action and it could be thought of as the base form of the verb.
There are two types of infinitives: impessoalimpersonal and pessoalpersonal . We’ll dive into each type below and explain the differences.
Impersonal Infinitive
The infinitivo impessoalimpersonal infinitive is invariable, meaning it appears in its full form (without any conjugation) as it doesn’t have a subject.
É obrigatório lavar as mãos.Washing hands is mandatory.
The example above is not referring to anyone specific, just to the general idea of “washing”.
However, the infinitive can also appear as the subject of a sentence itself.
Errar é humano.To err is human.
Amar é viver.To love is to live.
Again, the verbs refer to the general idea of the action, rather than to a specific person doing the action.
Personal Infinitive
The infinitivo pessoalpersonal infinitive differs because there is a known subject. It is formed by adding the following endings to the impersonal infinitive:
- -es (tu),
- -mos (nós),
- -des (vós), or
- -em (eles, elas, vocês)
(Because the 2nd person plural vós is rarely used nowadays, we’ll focus our attention on the other three.)
The following table shows how the personal infinitive is conjugated with three different verbs.
| ir (to go) | comer (to eat) | falar (to speak) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | ir | comer | falar |
| tu | ires | comeres | falares |
| ele / ela / você | ir | comer | falar |
| nós | irmos | comermos | falarmos |
| eles / elas / vocês | irem | comerem | falarem |
As you can see, the 1st and 3rd person singular conjugations are the same as the impersonal infinitive, which can sometimes be a little confusing. We’ll now look into how each one is used.
When do I use the impersonal vs. the personal infinitive in Portuguese?
Knowing which type of infinitive to use may not be as straightforward as you might think. Linguists can’t seem to reach a consensus on the rules that regulate the use of the infinitive, so instead we will show a list of the most common tendencies for each type.
Impersonal
We use the impersonal infinitive:
- When there’s no reference to a subject. (Or when the infinitive verb is the subject itself, as in some of the earlier examples).
É bom dançar.It's good to dance.
- When the verb acts as a complement to a noun, verb, or adjective that needs a preposition:
Foram decisões fáceis de tomar.They were easy decisions to make.
Adjectives like fácileasy , possívelpossible , capazcapable , bomgood , rarorare , among others, which are followed by the preposition deof , will also be followed by a verb in the impersonal infinitive.
The same goes for verbs like estarto be - temporary , andarto walk , irto go , ficarto stay , and others, followed by the preposition ato .
Other prepositions that are often required by an adjective or verb include parafor, to , porfor, by , and quethan, that .
Estou a fazer o almoço.I'm making lunch.
Vou ter que sair.I'm going to have to leave.
- In locuções verbaisphrasal verbs :
Queres comer em casa?You want to eat at home?
Fomos visitar Coimbra.We went to visit Coimbra.
- When it depends on causative verb (express that an action causes a change in something else) or stative verb (express a state of being rather than an action), either immediately following them or separated by a pronoun:
Mandem sair as pessoas da sala.Tell the people to leave the room.
Ela viu-o passar na rua.She saw him walking on the street.
Personal
We use the personal infinitive in Portuguese:
- When the subject is clearly known and expressed:
Acho melhor tu ires com eles às compras.I think it's better for you to go shopping with them.
É bom eles dançarem.It's good for them to dance.
Notice that this last example is similar to the one used above (É bom dançar), but because we added the subject elesthey(masc.) , we had to switch to the personal infinitive and conjugate the verb by adding -em.
- When the subject is made known by the verb itself:
É melhor (vocês) irem para casa.It's better for you to go home.
É obrigatório (tu) lavares as mãos.It's mandatory for you to wash your hands.
Unlike the previous example (É obrigatório lavar as mãos), which was not directed at any particular person, in this example we are referring to “you”, so we used the personal infinitive and conjugated the verb by adding -es.
When in doubt…
The decision of whether to use the impersonal or personal infinitive can get complicated, but the simplest way to start thinking about it is this: in general, if the focus is more on a particular subject doing the action, use the pessoalpersonal , and if the focus is more on the general action itself, use the impessoalimpersonal
this is very helpful, I’ve just started Portuguese and I actually do enjoy studying grammar when it’s necessary.
I think the word is ‘challenging’, in other words ‘difficult’, I found this very hard to get my head around (and I thought Clitic Pronouns were difficult!)
Pat
I’ve studied these verb infinitives before and I think that the explanation of personal infinitives is particularly good.
For impersonal infinitives it helps if you have studied French or Spanish, where the infinitive is also used instead of the present participle.
Thank you for that wonderful help with respect to the personal infinitive. I have also read up on how there are certain trigger phrases such as É possivel , É difícil etc. that will trigger the personal infinitive and after such prepositions as Ao, Sem, Para, Por, etc. However, I have run into a situation where the personal infinitve was used that confused me as I did not see the trigger words: “Quanto a utilização dos dois verbos,ambos se referem a uma caracteristica, estado, ou condição do sujecto da frase…”. Here the se referem uses the personal infinitive in the infinitive in the sense that “..both refer themselves to charactistics, states, or condicions… (Ambos here refers to the verbs Ser and Estar). Does Ambos trigger the personal infinitive in this case?
Thank you in advance for any additional insight you can offer.
Cheers,
Paul
Olá, Paul. Your confusion stems from the fact that that’s not the personal infinitive. “Referem” is a simple present conjugation (third-person plural) 🙂
Ahhhh! I need to wake up! Thank you for that.
Anything that lightens the unbearable load of having to learn endless forms of the subjunctive simple and composite not forgeting future…. is a blessing in disguise!
Seems to be clear to me… any of the phrases that trigger any form of ths subjunctive by inserting que ( E possivel que etc) can be changed to the personal infinitive simply by omitting the que… genius
Furthermore, any instruction given to an actor specifically, likewise conjugates to the personal infinitive form… a kind of empathetic/ non judgmental/ non commanding form of the imperative without a shade of forcefulness… genius we really ought to use it more…. realmente devermos /se deverem/ usá-lo com mais frequência!
Lhes agradeço
Olá! Using the infinitive in place of other verb conjugations is usually possible, but requires modifications to the sentences that may also come with their own set of challenges. But once you get comfortable with those, it’s definitely a convenient alternative 🙂 There are always cases where the infinitive doesn’t fit, though. For example, in your very last sentence, it would be more appropriate to say “Realmente deveríamos usá-lo” (conditional) or “Realmente devíamos usá-lo” (imperfect acting as a conditional form).
Hey Joe ou seja ‘Oí Zé’ ( >Jimi Hendrix) …
Mensagens de texto são uma maneira tão ruim de se comunicar com eloqüência !!
Eu suspeito que você não percebesse minha matiz sutil … 😉
‘Nós> ought to< ser uma variação modal de 'deveriamos' e, assim, oferece a forma condicional elegantemente como uma sugestão recomendada, mas não insistida.
Quanto ao uso da forma preterito imperfeito, em substituição ao infinitivo pessoal … enfim, tomei conhecimento desse hábito dos lusófonos no Brasil faz 40 anos, e embora nunca tenha estudado português formalmente, suspeito que, você também aprendesse seu português naquele ambiente, la.
No idioma lusofono de Portugal, o meu percepcão pessoal, desde a minha experienca, …eu nunca ouvi os portugueses utilizando o preterito imperfeito na maneira condicional… Mas tudo bem, nao sou um perito experto, ao contrario, somente um grã fã da lingua portuguesa.
Zé …teres un bom dia!! ( que tenhas um bom dia)!
Every time I encounter yet one more unit on Portuguese grammar, I add another month or three to how long it will take me to obtain a reasonable level of fluency in this language. I think it’s somewhere around three years now. 🙂
This language is definitely “challenging” for non-native speakers, especially those of us without another Latin language in our back pocket.
Exactly.😅 I think one of the reasons it’s so hard to stay motivated when learning a language is that there’s not really an “endpoint”. You won’t finish a particular lesson and wake up the next day as an intermediate speaker or as a fluent speaker. Like you said, the more you learn, the more you realize how much more there is to learn, which can feel like going backwards. So kudos to you for sticking with it anyway! 😁 We all wish there was an easier/faster way, but maybe accepting that it’s a long-term, gradual process is the first step to fluency.
It’s definitely been a slog, six months and counting. It’s a more difficult language than others I’ve studied. We’re planning on moving to Portugal within the next 12 months or so and I’m going to continue to study Portuguese in whatever spare time I can find. My plans to write that best selling novel will have to wait. :-;
I’ve stuck my nose in here from level A1 because I’m curious about topic! Have I understood it correctly with the following examples
É bom dançar – it’s good to dance (good for people in general)
É bom eu dançar – it’s good for me to dance
É bom tu dançares – it’s good for you to dance
É bom ele dançar – it’s good for him to dance
É bom nós dançarmos – it’s good for us to dance
É bom eles dançarem – it’s good for them to dance
É bom vocês dançarem it’s good for you (pl) to dance
I’ll be happy if I can start using just that much, but now I’m wondering how would you say phrases like
It’s good for the soul to dance – é bom a alma dançar
or
it’s good for your health to drink water every day – é bom a saúde beber áqua todo as dias
Would that sound right in Portuguese?
Olá, Theresa! Yes for the first group of examples you’ve shared. For the other phrases, you’d need to change it a bit and say “É bom para a alma dançar”, and “É bom para a saúde beber água todos os dias”. But it would probably sound even more natural to say “Faz bem à alma dançar” or “Faz bem à saúde beber água…”.
Thanks for the reply, really useful.
Hi,
I think of the personal infinitive as an alternative way to express the subjunctive mood without using the subjunctive verb form.
It’s important that you study.
É importante que estudes.
ou
É importante estudares.
It’s important for you to study.
The key is that you don’t use “que” with the personal infinitive. Is that a reasonable way of explaining it? Thanks.
Olá, David. Yes! The personal infinitive can be used, among other things, as an alternative to the subjunctive mood, just like you’ve described 🙂
Oh no…I had no idea these existed! Another grammar nugget to learn…
Hi,
A quick question please:
How does the personal infinitive apply to reflexive verbs?
Thanks
Terry
Olá! It’s all the same – just remember to add the reflexive pronoun. For example:
– É obrigatório vestirem-se no balneário. (It’s mandatory for you to get dressed in the locker room)
The reflexive pronoun is linked to the personal infinitive form, following the general rules for clitic pronouns.
Many thanks for clarifying.
Please could you advise how it works for 1st person plural.
Could one say: é obrigatório vestirmos-nos …
Or even: é obrigatório nós vestirmos-nos …
Seems a bit of a mouthful?
Yes, you can say ‘É obrigatório vestirmo-nos’. The personal pronoun ‘nós’ is not essential here, because the clitic pronoun already makes it clear you’re referring to ‘us’.
Thanks again
Can I use this form to avoid the subjunctive?
So instead of me saying espero que esteja bem. Can I say espero que estares bem?
“Espero estares bem” (without ‘que’) could eventually be grammatically acceptable, but it doesn’t sound very natural. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend it as an alternative 🙂
I was reading a portuguese book and came upon this” ..tu terás tudo o que quiseres” is this personal infinitive or future subjunctive? Having a hard time with those conjugations
Thanks
Olá 🙂 ‘Quiseres’ is in the future subjunctive, and this verb form only exists in this tense. Since the verb ‘querer’ is irregular, it has different forms in the personal infinitive and in the future subjunctive, unlike regular verbs, that generally look the same in both cases. Check out our Verbs section to drill these tenses with different verbs.