Temporal subordinating conjunctions (conjunções subordinativas temporais) tell us when the action or event described in the independent clause has occurred or is occurring.
quandowhen
enquantowhile
sempre quewhenever
assim queas soon as
Examples:
Eles comem, quando há comida.They eat when there's food.
A mãe vai às compras, enquanto o pai fica com as crianças.The mother goes shopping, while the father stays with the kids.
Sempre que ele está em Lisboa, nós jantamos juntos.Whenever he's in Lisbon, we have dinner together.
Note:
In certain contexts, conjunctions like these set up conditions that must be met in order for a future action to occur. When this happens, the verb that follows will be in the futuro do conjuntivo (future subjunctive) tense.
For example: Quando tiver fome, faço o almoçoOnce I'm hungry, I'll make lunch The conjunction quando sets you up for the condition that must be met (getting hungry) in order for the action (making lunch) to take place. The word tiver is the verb ter in the future subjunctive tense.
This is a more complicated topic that we will cover in a later unit, but if you’d like to explore it now, you can read more here: Future Subjunctive
For now, let’s focus on getting familiar with the meaning of each of these conjunctions in the following lessons.
Are the commas in those Portuguese sentences necessary? In English they are rarely used unless essential for comprehension.
I think our formal writing requires more commas than in English, but in this Learning Note, I’d say that only the last example really needs the comma (Sempre que ele está em Lisboa, nós jantamos juntos).
Hi,
a quick question please: in the expression ‘ vamos à festa quando eu decidir’, why is the infinitive used, and not the present indicative decido.
Also, is it an example of use of the personal infinitive?
Thanks
Olá, Terence. This is hard to spot, but it’s not the infinitive that’s used, but the future subjunctive – this verb has the exact same form in both cases!
In this kind of sentence, you can actually conjugate the verb both ways (the future subjunctive “decidir” or the present indicative “decido”), with a different intention behind each of them.
– “Vamos à festa quando eu decido” -> With the verb in the present tense (of the indicative mood), it feels like you’re describing a general case or rule. It’s as if you were saying that, in general, you go to parties when you decide.
– “Vamos à festa quando eu decidir” -> With the verb in the future subjunctive, it feels like you’re talking specifically about an eventual situation that would happen right now/soon. It’s like saying “We will go to this specific party if/when I say so”. You’re not generalizing this to every other party you might be attending.
Hi, that’s a great help. As the infinitive form is so familiar, I missed that was actually the subjunctive and not the infinitive in this case. I’ll spot the future subjunctive more easily now.
why is ‘tiver’ used in quando tiver fome etc; I gather that’s the future tense but the phrase translates as when I am hungry which is the present tense; is your sense ‘when I will be hungry…’?
Brenda LeS
That’s correct. By using the future subjunctive, we show that we are talking about the future: Whenever (in the future) we get hungry, we’ll prepare lunch.
I think the previous lesson’s explanation doesn’t quite line up with the examples here. It implied that the subordinated clause was the one that could not stand on its own and that this told you where the conjunction belonged. But if you remove the conjunction from an example like:
A mãe vai às compras, enquanto o pai fica com as crianças.
the second half would be fine on its own (“o pai fica com as crianças”). You can demonstrate this by reversing the sentence:
O pai fica com as crianças enquanto a mãe vai as compras.
I think I still see what you mean, but the explanation should probably stress that it doesn’t stand on its own *once the conjunction is present”.
Olá! Na lição seguinte (Lesson 1: Temporal) vocês usam a forma infinitiva do verbo depois conjunção quando (por exemplo, Vamos à festa quando eu decidir). Se faz favor, pode explicar porque ‘eu decidir’ e não ‘eu decido’? Obrigada!
Olá! Ambos são possíveis. Normalmente, a diferença é que um soa mais geral e outro soa mais concreto.
– “Vamos à festa quando eu decido” -> Com o verbo no presente do indicativo, a frase sugere uma situação ou regra geral. É como se estivéssemos a explicar o que habitualmente acontece.
– “Vamos à festa quando eu decidir” -> Com o verbo no futuro do conjuntivo, a frase sugere que estamos a referir-nos a uma situação específica (uma festa específica) que vai acontecer no futuro. Não é um comentário generalizado a outras festas.