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‘Antes de’ and ‘Depois de’ with the Personal Infinitive in Portuguese

LEVEL b1+ TOPIC Prepositions time Verbs personal infinitive

In Portuguese, the expressions antes de (before) and depois de (after) are often followed by a verb in the personal infinitive — those very “special” infinitive forms that change according to the subject.

Antes de

Starting with antes de. Here’s an example:

  • Nuno, lava os dentes antes de ires dormir.
  • Nuno, brush your teeth before you go to sleep.

Here, ires is the verb ir (to go) in the personal infinitive — second person singular.

Another example:

  • Pensem muito bem antes de decidirem.
  • Think carefully before you decide.

The verb decidirem is also in the personal infinitive — this time, second person plural (vocês).

And one more:

  • Nós tomamos sempre um calmante antes de entrarmos no avião.
  • We always take a calming pill before we board the plane.

Entrarmos is the verb entrar in the personal infinitive — first person plural.

Depois de

Now, let’s look at depois de:

  • Fecha a porta à chave depois de saíres.
  • Lock the door after you leave.

Here, saíres is the verb sair (to leave) in the personal infinitive.

Another example:

  • Eles mudaram completamente de atitude depois de terem ganho as eleições.
  • They completely changed their attitude after having won the elections.

Notice that we have a compound tense here — terem ganho — but even so, the auxiliary verb ter is in the personal infinitive.

And finally:

  • Nós vamos dar um passeio à beira-mar depois de almoçarmos.
  • We’re going for a walk by the sea after we have lunch.

Almoçarmos is the verb almoçar (to have lunch) in the personal infinitive — first person plural.

So, to sum up: when you use antes de or depois de, it’s very common (and very natural) to follow them with the personal infinitive. Once you get used to it, it’ll start to sound just right — the Portuguese way. Até já, p

Practice

Todas as frases abaixo utilizam o infinitivo pessoal. Completa-as de forma a que façam sentido.

Select an ending, then select the matching phrase to place it.

Antes de falares pensa bem no que vais dizer.

Antes de falares

Antes de entrarem no cinema devem desligar os telemóveis.

Antes de entrarem no cinema

Depois de acabarmos este projeto podemos respirar.

Depois de acabarmos este projeto

Depois de entrares dirige-te à receção.

Depois de entrares

Eu nunca me esqueço de lavar os dentes antes de ir para a cama.

Eu nunca me esqueço de lavar os dentes

Liga-me antes de ires para Madrid.

Liga-me antes de

Não se esqueçam de apagar as luzes antes de saírem de casa.

Não se esqueçam de apagar as luzes

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