Gramática e tradução: the two translations and the grammar list behind them

Render this into English as you would under the recommended twenty minutes. Nos últimos anos, muitas famílias portuguesas viram-se obrigadas a repensar a forma como organizam o seu dia a dia. Enquanto os pais trabalhavam fora, eram frequentemente os avós que tomavam conta das crianças, sobretudo nas zonas onde os serviços de apoio à infância escasseavam. Se essa solução não fosse possível, restava recorrer a soluções privadas, o que nem todos podiam pagar.

1. 01Segment the sentence before you translate it

   Nos últimos anos, / muitas famílias portuguesas / viram-se obrigadas / a repensar / a forma como organizam / o seu dia a dia. Six segments, and a points-based scheme will reward or refuse each of them separately. Nos is em + os, so the opening is in recent years, not in the last years, which is a Portuguese pattern rather than an English one. Viram-se obrigadas is the pretérito perfeito of ver with a reflexive clitic: found themselves obliged. The feminine plural agreement on obrigadas confirms the subject is famílias.

2. 02Do not over-translate a fixed phrase

   A forma como organizam o seu dia a dia. A forma como is the way in which; como here is a relative, not the question word how, and translating it as how the way they organise would double the relative. O seu is ambiguous in Portuguese between their and your, and context settles it as their. Dia a dia written as three words is the noun their daily life or their day-to-day life; escrito com hífens, dia-a-dia, era a grafia anterior ao Acordo, and you will meet both in authentic texts. In recent years, many Portuguese families have found themselves obliged to rethink the way they organise their daily lives.

3. 03Read the imperfect as an imperfect

   Enquanto os pais trabalhavam fora, eram frequentemente os avós que tomavam conta das crianças. Three imperfects in one sentence — trabalhavam, eram, tomavam — and the imperfect here is habitual, not progressive. While the parents were out at work, it was often the grandparents who looked after the children. Os avós is the male-female plural pair that Appendix 2 names explicitly: it means the grandparents of both sexes, not the grandfathers. Tomar conta de is to look after; das is de + as. Rendering this in the simple past throughout — the parents worked, it was, the grandparents looked after — is acceptable, but it loses the habitual sense that eram frequentemente is carrying, and English marks that with often, which is already in the sentence.

4. 04Catch the impersonal verb in the subordinate clause

   Sobretudo nas zonas onde os serviços de apoio à infância escasseavam. Sobretudo is above all or especially; nas is em + as; à is a + a. Serviços de apoio à infância is childcare services, and translating it word for word as services of support to childhood is the classic over-literal loss of a mark. Escassear is to be scarce, and escasseavam is again imperfect: especially in areas where childcare services were scarce. If you do not know escassear, the noun escassez, scarcity, is close enough to recover it, and guessing from the root is far better than leaving the segment blank.

5. 05Handle the counterfactual, and check what restava governs

   Se essa solução não fosse possível, restava recorrer a soluções privadas, o que nem todos podiam pagar. Fosse is the imperfect subjunctive and restava the imperfect indicative — the Portuguese pattern for a general, repeated hypothetical, where English uses was not or were not with the past simple in the main clause. Restar is to remain, here impersonally with an infinitive: the only remaining option was to. O que, with the article, refers back to the whole preceding clause, not to soluções: which not everyone could afford. If that solution was not possible, the only option left was to turn to private arrangements, which not everyone could afford.

Result: In recent years, many Portuguese families have found themselves obliged to rethink the way they organise their daily lives. While the parents were out at work, it was often the grandparents who looked after the children, especially in areas where childcare services were scarce. If that solution was not possible, the only option left was to turn to private arrangements, which not everyone could afford.

Render this into Portuguese as you would under the recommended thirty minutes. The factory was built in 1968 and is still standing, although it has been closed since the spring. It is on the edge of a small town in the interior, and the people who worked there are now scattered across Europe. When the closure was announced, many of them were surprised; others had been expecting it for years.

1. 01The factory was built — an event, so ser

   A fábrica foi construída em 1968. This is an action passive with a datable moment, so ser + particípio, and the participle agrees with fábrica: construída. Writing a fábrica estava construída em 1968 would say that in 1968 it stood already built, which is a different claim. Note also that Portuguese does not need a comma before e in a two-clause coordination the way English sometimes takes one.

2. 02Is still standing, and has been closed since — two different verbs

   E ainda está de pé, embora esteja encerrada desde a primavera. Está de pé is the idiom for a building still standing; estar is right because it reports a present condition. Encerrada uses estar + particípio, the state passive: the point is the condition of being closed, not the act of closing, so estar and not ser. Embora forces the subjunctive — esteja, not está — and that is one of the most reliably marked structures in the whole paper. Desde a primavera keeps the article, which English drops.

3. 03Where the place is — ficar, not ser or estar

   Fica nos arredores de uma pequena cidade do interior. The location of a place is ficar, and this is precisely the item that Appendix 2 singles out by listing ficar alongside ser and estar. Nos is em + os. Arredores is a plural-only noun, the outskirts. Cidade do interior — do is de + o — is the standard Portuguese phrase for an inland town away from the coast, and it carries a social meaning in Portugal that the English edge of a small town does not; keeping it is a better translation than inventing a longer paraphrase.

4. 04The people who worked there are now scattered — imperfect, then estar

   E as pessoas que ali trabalhavam estão agora espalhadas pela Europa. Trabalhavam is the imperfect because it is a sustained past situation, not a single completed event; trabalharam would say they did a stint of work and finished it. Estão espalhadas is estar + particípio again, a present condition, with feminine plural agreement to pessoas. Pela is por + a. Ali rather than lá because the place has just been specified.

5. 05Were surprised, and had been expecting — ficar and the imperfect

   Quando o encerramento foi anunciado, muitos ficaram surpreendidos; outros já contavam com isso há anos. Foi anunciado is once more the action passive, an event with an implied announcer. Ficaram surpreendidos is the decisive one: to be surprised is a change of state, so ficar, and estavam surpreendidos would describe them as being in a state of surprise rather than becoming surprised. Contar com is to expect or count on; há anos is the time construction Appendix 2 lists under numerals, with the imperfect where English uses a past perfect continuous. The semicolon is as usable in Portuguese as in English and buys a sentence structure the AO3 range grid notices.

Result: A fábrica foi construída em 1968 e ainda está de pé, embora esteja encerrada desde a primavera. Fica nos arredores de uma pequena cidade do interior, e as pessoas que ali trabalhavam estão agora espalhadas pela Europa. Quando o encerramento foi anunciado, muitos ficaram surpreendidos; outros já contavam com isso há anos.

You are translating into Portuguese, Paper 2 Section A. The English reads: When she arrived in Lisbon in 2011, she had already lived in three countries. She did not speak Portuguese, but her grandmother had spoken it at home, and the sounds were familiar. In the following years she worked in a restaurant, studied at night, and gradually built a life there.

1. 01When she arrived — a dated event, so perfeito

   Quando chegou a Lisboa em 2011. A single completed arrival with a year attached; nothing about it is habitual or descriptive. Chegou, pretérito perfeito simples. Chegar takes a, not em, for the destination in European Portuguese — chegar a Lisboa — and chegar em is the Brazilian pattern, one of the receptive European–Brazilian differences Appendix 2 flags. Either would be understood; be consistent with the variety you have chosen.

2. 02She had already lived — prior to the arrival, so pluperfect

   Já tinha vivido em três países. The living is complete before the arrival, so the compound mais-que-perfeito. The literary synthetic form vivera would be equally correct and would raise the register; in a translation task, match the register of the English, which here is plain, so tinha vivido. Já sits before the auxiliary. Note that em três países needs no article, exactly as in English.

3. 03She did not speak — a state, so imperfeito

   Não falava português. This is not an event that happened and finished; it is her condition on arrival. Não falou português would mean she did not speak Portuguese on some particular occasion — she stayed silent — which is a different claim entirely. The language name takes no article after falar: falava português, not falava o português. This is the single most instructive contrast in the passage, because English uses did not speak for both readings.

4. 04Her grandmother had spoken it at home — habitual, and before the arrival

   Mas a avó falava-o em casa, e os sons eram-lhe familiares. Here the English past perfect is doing habitual work rather than marking one prior event, and Portuguese prefers the imperfeito for that: falava, not tinha falado. A avó takes the definite article where English uses her — Portuguese normally marks family members with the article rather than a possessive. Falava-o uses enclisis because the clause is affirmative and main; the clitic o attaches after the verb with a hyphen. Eram-lhe familiares puts the indirect object clitic on the copula: they were familiar to her.

5. 05In the following years — three events, or one long situation?

   Nos anos seguintes trabalhou num restaurante, estudou à noite e foi construindo ali uma vida. All three are viewed as completed blocks within a bounded period, so all three are perfeito, even though each lasted years — length never decides the tense. Num is em + um. À noite is a + a noite. The last verb takes a periphrastic form, foi construindo, which is the natural Portuguese rendering of gradually built and shows the progressive construction with ir that Appendix 2 lists; the flat construiu would be correct but would lose the gradualness the English adverb carries.

Result: Quando chegou a Lisboa em 2011, já tinha vivido em três países. Não falava português, mas a avó falava-o em casa, e os sons eram-lhe familiares. Nos anos seguintes trabalhou num restaurante, estudou à noite e foi construindo ali uma vida.

The bare fact you are starting from, from Tema 1's research subject: alongside university, Portugal has a technical and professional route through the cursos técnicos superiores profissionais offered by polytechnics, and many students combine study with an internship. Build a paragraph of argued Portuguese from it that would earn range marks in Paper 1 Section C, using a future subjunctive, a personal infinitive and a subjunctive after a concessive.

1. 01State the fact plainly first, in the present indicative

   Em Portugal, o ensino superior não se resume à universidade: os institutos politécnicos oferecem cursos técnicos superiores profissionais, de duração mais curta e com forte componente prática. Nothing clever yet — a clean declarative sentence establishing the ground. Não se resume a is a useful impersonal reflexive: is not limited to. À is a + a. Note that a bare statement like this is what the AO4 grid calls information, and it earns its marks only once an argument is built on it.

2. 02Add a concessive with the subjunctive to acknowledge the counter-view

   Embora a via universitária continue a ser socialmente mais valorizada, esta alternativa responde a uma procura real do mercado de trabalho. Embora forces continue, the present subjunctive of continuar, not continua — this is the structure most reliably rewarded and most reliably got wrong. Continuar a ser is the European Portuguese progressive with a plus infinitive; continuar sendo would be the Brazilian equivalent. Socialmente mais valorizada is a hedge worth noticing: it reports a social attitude rather than asserting that one route is better, which is exactly the restraint the AO4 grid rewards.

3. 03Use a personal infinitive to attach a second subject lightly

   Ao optarem por este percurso, muitos jovens conseguem entrar no mercado de trabalho mais cedo, sem terem de renunciar a uma qualificação superior. Two personal infinitives here. Ao optarem is a plus the inflected infinitive, the standard Portuguese way of saying on choosing or when they choose; the -em ending carries the subject, so no separate clause is needed. Sem terem de renunciar does the same after sem, and ter de plus infinitive is the obligation structure Appendix 2 lists. Written with que clauses — quando optam por, sem que tenham de — the sentence would be twice as heavy and would score no better for accuracy while scoring worse for range.

4. 04Bring in the future subjunctive to project forward

   Se esta oferta continuar a expandir-se, é provável que a distinção entre as duas vias se torne menos rígida. Se plus the future subjunctive continuar — identical in form to the infinitive for regular -ar verbs, which is a happy accident worth knowing — because the condition is about the future. É provável que then triggers the present subjunctive se torne, since Appendix 2 lists probability among the subjunctive triggers. The clitic se sits before torne because a subordinate clause forces proclisis. Notice that English would write if this provision continues to expand with a present indicative in both places.

5. 05Close with an attributed evaluation rather than an assertion

   Há, no entanto, quem defenda que o problema não está na oferta mas no prestígio, e que só uma mudança de mentalidades resolverá a questão. Há quem plus the subjunctive defenda is the idiomatic Portuguese for there are those who argue, and it attributes the view without naming a source you cannot cite in an examination room without notes. No entanto is a range connective. The final clause uses the plain future resolverá rather than vai resolver, which raises the register slightly. The paragraph now contains a fact, a concession, a consequence, a projection and an attributed counter-view — the AO4 grid's shape, built from the AO3 grid's structures.

Result: Em Portugal, o ensino superior não se resume à universidade: os institutos politécnicos oferecem cursos técnicos superiores profissionais, de duração mais curta e com forte componente prática. Embora a via universitária continue a ser socialmente mais valorizada, esta alternativa responde a uma procura real do mercado de trabalho. Ao optarem por este percurso, muitos jovens conseguem entrar no mercado de trabalho mais cedo, sem terem de renunciar a uma qualificação superior. Se esta oferta continuar a expandir-se, é provável que a distinção entre as duas vias se torne menos rígida. Há, no entanto, quem defenda que o problema não está na oferta mas no prestígio, e que só uma mudança de mentalidades resolverá a questão.

You are translating into Portuguese, Paper 2 Section A, and have chosen European Portuguese. The English reads: They told me the school had closed. I did not believe them, so I telephoned the town hall, and the clerk confirmed it to me. Nobody had warned us. I shall write to them tomorrow.

1. 01They told me — affirmative main clause, so enclisis

   Disseram-me que a escola tinha encerrado. Nothing precedes the verb, the clause is affirmative and main, so the pronoun follows with a hyphen: disseram-me. The que clause that follows will govern its own placement independently — each clause is assessed separately, which is the single most useful thing to know about clitic placement. Tinha encerrado is the compound pluperfect for an event prior to the telling. Encerrar rather than fechar is the register a news text would use for a school closing permanently.

2. 02I did not believe them — a negative, so proclisis

   Não acreditei neles. Two things here. First, não is the archetypal proclisis trigger, so if a clitic were used it would go before the verb: não os vi. Second, and more important, acreditar is not one of the verbs that takes a weak object pronoun in Portuguese; it takes the preposition em, so the pronoun is the strong disjunctive form after the preposition — neles, which is em plus eles. Appendix 2 lists strong disjunctive pronouns separately for exactly this reason. Writing não os acreditei is a false friend of English syntax.

3. 03So I telephoned the town hall — watch which object telefonar takes

   Por isso telefonei para a câmara municipal. Telefonar takes a or para with its target, not a direct object, so a pronoun with it would be lhe rather than o: telefonei-lhe. Câmara municipal is the Portuguese town or city council, and translating it as town hall is right for the building but câmara municipal is the institution — either is defensible here, and the point is not to invent a body that does not exist. Por isso is a consequence connective and needs no contraction.

4. 04The clerk confirmed it to me — two clitics, so a contraction

   E o funcionário confirmou-mo. Here the verb has both a direct object, it, and an indirect object, to me, and Portuguese fuses them: me plus o gives mo. Confirmou-mo is one word after the hyphen and is the form Appendix 2 means by the position and order of weak object pronouns, including contractions. The clumsy confirmou-me isso is understandable and would probably be accepted, but the contracted form is the structure the grammar list is asking for and the range grid notices it. Note also that e at the start of the clause is not a proclisis trigger — coordinating conjunctions are not.

5. 05Nobody had warned us, and a future with mesoclisis

   Ninguém nos tinha avisado. Escrever-lhes-ei amanhã. Ninguém is an indefinite negative pronoun and a proclisis trigger, so nos goes before the auxiliary — with a compound tense the clitic attaches to the auxiliary, never to the participle. The last sentence is the mesoclisis case: a future tense, no trigger anywhere before it, so the pronoun goes inside the verb between stem and ending, escrever-lhes-ei, with hyphens on both sides. Escrever takes a with a person, hence lhes. In Brazilian Portuguese the same sentence would be vou escrever para eles amanhã, and that too would be accepted — but not in the middle of a European Portuguese answer.

Result: Disseram-me que a escola tinha encerrado. Não acreditei neles, por isso telefonei para a câmara municipal, e o funcionário confirmou-mo. Ninguém nos tinha avisado. Escrever-lhes-ei amanhã.