Connectors

The words that turn fragments into speech. Cheap to learn, and the difference between sounding like a phrasebook and sounding like a person.

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Grammar

1. The core list

2. que — the workhorse

que means that, and unlike English, it cannot be dropped.

English lets you say I think it's expensive. Portuguese requires que. Leaving it out is the single most common English-speaker error in this area.

3. The acho que frame

Eu acho que… — I think that…

This is the most useful sentence-opener in the language. It softens any statement, buys you a second to think, and works with anything.

• Eu acho que sim — I think so
• Eu acho que não — I don't think so
• Eu acho que é caro — I think it's expensive
• Eu acho que ele já foi — I think he already left

Related openers, all taking que:

Note Eu não sei se… takes se (if), not que.

4. porque vs por que vs por isso

All pronounced the same. Chapter 09 covers the spelling.

5. então vs aí — the two "so"s

Both mean roughly so / then, and both are used constantly as fillers.

• então — logical consequence: Estava caro, **então** não comprei
• aí — narrative sequence: Cheguei, **aí** ele falou que não tinha mais

aí literally means there, where you are — the middle distance between aqui (here) and lá (over there). Portuguese has three distances where English has two. As a connector it drifted from there to at that point to and then, the same way English there does in "there you have it".

aí is the storytelling connector. It has no good English equivalent — closest is and then. It also functions as pure filler, like English so….

Então also works alone as so? or well then.

6. se — if

Two uses, and they take different verb forms:

a) Real conditions about the future → future subjunctive (ch. 19)

• **Se eu tiver** tempo, eu vou — If I have time, I'll go
• **Se você quiser**, a gente vai — If you want, we'll go

b) se meaning whether, after a verb of knowing/asking → ordinary present

• Eu não sei **se** tem — I don't know if there is
• Você sabe **se** está aberto? — Do you know if it's open?

The second use is far more common day to day and needs no subjunctive.

7. também and nem

Eu também = me too. Eu também não = me neither. Nem eu = me neither (shorter, very common).

também usually comes before the verb but can float: Eu também vou / Eu vou também. Both fine.

8. antes de / depois de + infinitive

Unlike English, these take the infinitive, not a conjugated verb:

Simple and useful — no conjugation needed at all.

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Examples

que — the mandatory that

se — if / whether

mas, porque, então

aí — the narrative connector

também and nem

antes de / depois de / enquanto

Building longer sentences

The point of this chapter. Same core words, more of them at once.

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What to take from this chapter

1. que cannot be dropped. Eu acho **que** é caro.
2. Eu acho que… is your most useful opener. Eu não sei se… is second.
3. porque answers, por que asks, por isso concludes.
4. então for logic, aí for narrative.
5. também for me-too, também não and nem eu for me-neither.
6. antes de and depois de take the infinitive — no conjugation.