Portuguese Personal Infinitive: Para Eu Fazer and Para Nós Fazermos

01 / Understand

Give the infinitive clause its own participant

An infinitive names an action without behaving like an ordinary present or past indicative verb. Portuguese can nevertheless identify the subject of an infinitive clause explicitly and, in several persons, through an ending. In Ela abriu a porta para nós entrarmos, she opens the door, but we perform the entering. The two actions have different subjects. The clause introduced by para explains the purpose, and the personal infinitive helps preserve who should carry it out. Begin by separating the actions and naming their participants. Do not choose an ending merely from the nearest plural noun. A plural thing being carried is not automatically the subject of carrying. The grammatical relationship inside the infinitive clause determines the relevant person and number.

02 / Understand

Build the selected personal endings from the infinitive

For the forms used most in this lesson, retain the infinitive and add mos for nós or em for eles, elas, and vocês. Thus falar becomes falarmos or falarem, and comer becomes comermos or comerem. The singular forms for eu, ele, ela, and você have no added ending, so an explicit subject can be especially useful. The grammatical distinction can exist even when there is no visible suffix. Other persons, including tu, have their own forms, but the exercises concentrate on the subjects introduced in this course. Work from the infinitive, not from a present tense form. Then check spelling, because stress conventions may require an accent in particular verbs.

03 / Understand

Use eu when the speaker performs the infinitive’s action

In standard edited Portuguese, the subject form eu appears when the speaker is the subject of an infinitive, as in para eu ler. The prepositional form mim belongs in a plain recipient phrase such as para mim. The decision depends on grammatical role, not simply on whether a verb happens to be nearby. A speaker can use para mim as an experiencer or viewpoint expression before a larger construction containing an infinitive, so proximity alone is unreliable. Ask directly who performs the infinitive’s action and which phrase identifies that person. Informal Brazilian usage includes other patterns; when the exercise contrasts them, it explicitly requests the edited norm. The aim is to understand the role distinction and choose a form suitable for the stated context.

04 / Understand

Use purpose, before and after clauses to organize actions

Personal infinitives are useful after expressions such as para, antes de, and depois de. They can identify who performs a purpose action or a step before or after another event. Keep the preposition or prepositional expression attached to its clause rather than treating it as part of the noun’s name. In careful writing, a subject following de can remain separate, as in antes de eles saírem. A different subject is particularly useful to make explicit because otherwise the listener may assume that the same person performs both actions. The timing relationship does not change the infinitive into a simple past tense. The surrounding clause and context establish the overall time, while the infinitive construction organizes the linked actions.

05 / Understand

Keep the infinitive stem in frequent irregular verbs

A verb that is irregular in a finite tense does not necessarily replace its infinitive stem here. The selected personal forms include sermos, termos, irmos, and fazermos. These are built from the infinitives you know. Contrast fazermos with fizermos, a future subjunctive form that belongs to a different construction. Regular verbs can make the two sets look identical, which is why an irregular verb is a useful diagnostic. After para in the purpose patterns practiced here, use the infinitive stem; a future time clause with when may require another form. Do not choose from the English word to alone. Identify the Portuguese clause structure first, then retrieve the form that belongs to it. This prevents a familiar looking ending from hiding the wrong stem.

06 / Understand

Do not inflect every second verb

A plural subject does not automatically add a personal ending to every infinitive that follows. In an ordinary modal phrase such as podemos sair, the finite modal already supplies the subject and agreement, and the following infinitive remains uninflected. By contrast, a clause with its own subject can use a personal infinitive. Some other constructions allow a choice between inflected and uninflected forms, especially when a purpose clause shares its subject with the main clause. Grammarians describe tendencies and contextual choices rather than one rule that covers every example. The challenge therefore avoids marking a legitimate optional inflection wrong. It tests clear modal constructions or explicitly asks for an inflected form, so the intended answer has a defensible grammatical basis.

07 / Understand

Keep subject, object and negation separate

A personal ending identifies the infinitive’s subject; an object pronoun identifies a different role. In para nós o fazermos, we act and the object is what we do. Brazilian formal usage also permits attached object patterns in many infinitive clauses, although grammar descriptions differ in some details. You do not need to master every placement alternative to use the basic construction clearly. A full noun often makes an introductory example easier to interpret. If the infinitive clause is negative, place the negative so that it denies the intended action rather than the main event. Before finishing a sentence, identify the main subject, the infinitive subject, any object, and the scope of the negative. That short analysis is more reliable than counting how many verbs or pronouns appear.

Notice the difference

Common mistakes

From understanding to using

Make your own example.

Try these without answer choices. Say your answer aloud or write it below, then compare your reasoning with the model.