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O Dilema

The Dilemma

Júlia has to decide whether or not to reveal a secret. Notice how the personal infinitive, imperfect subjunctive, and the conditional are used throughout the dialogue.

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  • 00:00:03Júlia: Olá, César. Obrigada por teres vindo.
  • 00:00:06César: Não precisas agradecer. O que é que se passa?
  • 00:00:09Júlia: Estou com um dilema e não sei o que fazer.
  • 00:00:12César: Conta-me tudo.
  • 00:00:13Júlia: Ouvi o Bruno falar com a Madalena.
  • 00:00:16César: E então? Estás a matar-me de curiosidade.
  • 00:00:20Júlia: Eles estavam a combinar um encontro às escondidas.
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abordarto deal with, address, approach acreditarto believe arrancarto rip, pull out, start assuntoSubject, topic, matter, point o choqueshock combinarto combine, arrange, agree, settle, join a curiosidadecuriosity o encontrodate, meetup EscondidaHidden matarto kill o pensobandage small o penso rápidobandage small, band-aid TrairTo betray or to cheat on someone.
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Não é?Isn't it?, Right?, Yeah? A quem o dizesTell me about it O que é que se passa?What's going on?, What's the matter?, What's up? Não precisas de agradecerNo need to thank me inf. às escondidassecretly
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Comments

  • hi,
    When Cesar says
    se fosse contigo , ias querer saber?
    Could he say .., querias saber, or even quererias saber?

    Are there any rules for which is preferred?
    many thanks
    Terry

    aaaP/)=?è*PêªÇ_:;

    • Olá Terrence!
      Absolutely! It could be said in any way you suggested. The way we put it it’s probably the most common way when informally speaking. But I guess it depends on the person’s own vocabulary. There’s no specific rule in this particular example.
      Thank you for for your comment!
      Cheers,
      Luís

      • Hi! I am very confused about this phrase. Literally, it would be « were you going to want », right?

        Is this a construction you can use with other « would » sentences in English….like « ias comprar este produto » (would you buy this product), « ia ver este filme » (would he see this movie) « iam lavar a sua roupa com este detergente » ( would they wash their clothes with this detergent)????

        Thank you!

        • Olá 🙂 The confusion is because the sentence uses one tense, but actually means another (and I think I just made it worse now, I bet!).

          This sentence and the other examples you gave are all expressing conditions. Normally, we would use the conditional mood to express this, but it’s also very common for Portuguese speakers to replace the actual conditional forms with imperfect/past continuous forms, as explained at the end of this Learning Note: The Conditional

          So, in this context, “ias querer saber” (imperfect/past continuous) is just a variation of “irias querer saber” (conditional). It should be interpreted as “would you want to know”.

          • Thank you! I understand what you have explained about conditional statements being expressed using the imperfect tense, but what I don’t understand is why use the verb “ir” at all?? If I said, “se fosse contigo querias saber”, would this be ok? I am using the verb querer in the imperfect tense, but expressing a conditional concept. The “ir” just seems random and unnecessary for my English brain 😀

            However, I see both ways for different sentences and can’t figure out when to use the verb “ir” and when it is not necessary.
            For example, “ se eu fosse rico, comprava um castello”. Why is this not “ se eu fosse rico ia comprava um castello”??

          • That’s just an option we have 🙂 We can use ‘ir’ as an auxiliary verb (exactly like we use ‘would’ in English in this context), but we can also choose to simply use the verb directly. There is no difference in meaning or use between these options:
            – Se fosse contigo, ias querer saber? -> with an auxiliary verb, and imperfect used as the conditional
            – Se fosse contigo, irias querer saber? -> with an auxiliary verb, and with a true conditional conjugation
            – Se fosse contigo, querias saber? -> without an auxiliary verb, and imperfect used as the conditional
            – Se fosse contigo, quererias saber? -> without an auxiliary verb, and with a true conditional conjugation

    • that’s great, thanks Luis
      (btw those characters at the end weren’t intended, I couldnt find the acute accent for the e, on my laptop)

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