Infinitivo pessoal

What you will practice

• Use a personal infinitive when the subject is specific.
• Use the plain infinitive for a general statement.
• Write the tu and nós endings.

Explanation

A specific person

After para, a specific subject takes the personal infinitive. Isto é para fazeres means it is for you to do, with tu. Isto é para fazermos means it is for us to do. The ending does the work of a subject pronoun. para fazer tu is not the pattern. The person is inside the verb.

A general action

A general statement keeps the plain infinitive. É importante estudar means studying matters, with nobody named. There is no -es and no -mos. Use the personal form only when you know who does it: É importante estudares would suddenly mean “you” in particular. That is a different sentence.

The endings

The endings to learn here are fazer, fazeres for tu, and fazermos for nós. ele and ela use the plain form fazer, so this lesson does not put that person in a blank. antes de saíres is the same tu ending on sair. The accent on saíres is part of that verb’s spelling.

Examples

1. Isto é para fazeres.tu
2. Isto é para fazermos.nós
3. É importante estudar.a general statement
4. Antes de saíres.tu of sair
5. É importante estudares.ele uses the plain form

Common mistakes

• Do not add a personal ending when the sentence is about people in general.
• para fazeres already means tu. Do not also write a loose pronoun after it.