Orações condicionais: os três tipos

Orações condicionais: os três tipos means “Three patterns: possible, unreal-now and unreal-then”. Type one, a real and likely condition, uses the future subjunctive after se, with the present or the spoken future in the main clause: Se você quiser, eu vou; Se tiver tempo, eu passo aí. Formation: real: se + futuro do subj. · irreal presente: se + imperf. subj. + futuro do pretérito · irreal passado: se + tivesse + particípio + teria + particípio

Three patterns: possible, unreal-now and unreal-then

B1

Formation

real: se + futuro do subj. · irreal presente: se + imperf. subj. + futuro do pretérito · irreal passado: se + tivesse + particípio + teria + particípio

Explanation

Type one, a real and likely condition, uses the future subjunctive after se, with the present or the spoken future in the main clause: Se você quiser, eu vou; Se tiver tempo, eu passo aí. This is the one that surprises Spanish speakers, because Spanish uses the plain present here (si quieres, voy). Type two, unreal in the present, pairs the imperfect subjunctive with the futuro do pretérito: Se eu tivesse dinheiro, eu compraria uma casa. Type three, unreal in the past, stacks compound forms: Se eu tivesse sabido, eu teria ido. Learn them as a set of three fixed shapes rather than as separate rules, because the tense in the se-clause fully determines the tense in the main clause.

Examples

Se você quiser, a gente sai mais cedo.
If you want, we’ll leave earlier.
Se eu tivesse sabido, eu teria avisado você.
If I had known, I would have told you.

Note

⚠ The Spanish instinct fails on type one: Spanish si quieres uses the indicative, Portuguese se você quiser needs the future subjunctive.

FAQ

Orações condicionais: os três tipos — what does it mean and how is it used?

Three patterns: possible, unreal-now and unreal-then. Type one, a real and likely condition, uses the future subjunctive after se, with the present or the spoken future in the main clause: Se você quiser, eu vou; Se tiver tempo, eu passo aí. This is the one that surprises Spanish speakers, because Spanish uses the plain present here (si quieres, voy). Type two, unreal in the present, pairs the imperfect subjunctive with the futuro do pretérito: Se eu tivesse dinheiro, eu compraria uma casa. Type three, unreal in the past, stacks compound forms: Se eu tivesse sabido, eu teria ido. Learn them as a set of three fixed shapes rather than as separate rules, because the tense in the se-clause fully determines the tense in the main clause.

Orações condicionais: os três tipos — how do you form it?

real: se + futuro do subj. · irreal presente: se + imperf. subj. + futuro do pretérito · irreal passado: se + tivesse + particípio + teria + particípio

Orações condicionais: os três tipos — any usage notes?

⚠ The Spanish instinct fails on type one: Spanish si quieres uses the indicative, Portuguese se você quiser needs the future subjunctive.

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