O Infinitivo Pessoal

The infinitivo pessoal (personal infinitive) is the most distinctive feature of Portuguese among the Romance languages. It is an infinitive that conjugates — that carries its subject inside the verb form.

Para eu fazer — for me to do Para tu fazeres — for you to do Para nós fazermos — for us to do Para eles fazerem — for them to do

Spanish, Italian, and French have NO equivalent. They use a subjunctive clause with que / che / que instead:

Spanish: Es mejor que vayas. — Portuguese: É melhor ires. Italian: Prima che noi partiamo. — Portuguese: Antes de partirmos.

The personal infinitive is shorter, cleaner, and uniquely Portuguese. Mastering it is the single biggest leap from sounding-like-a-Spanish-speaker-confused to sounding-Portuguese-fluent.

This is one of two features of Portuguese that genuinely surprise learners (the other is the future subjunctive — see futuro-do-conjuntivo).

Forms — regular verbs

The personal infinitive is built from the infinitive stem + personal endings:

The endings: -, -es, -, -mos, -des, -em (the same as the futuro do conjuntivo for regular verbs).

For regular verbs, eu and ele forms are identical to the plain infinitive. The tu, nós, vós, eles forms add the personal ending.

Para eu falar — looks like the plain infinitive Para nós falarmos — clearly different from the plain infinitive

When the subject is the same as the main clause and the verb has a 1st/3rd singular pattern, the personal and impersonal infinitives look identical. The personal infinitive shows up clearly in the other persons.

Forms — irregular verbs

Almost no verbs are irregular in the personal infinitive. The verbs that look strange in other tenses (ser, ir, vir, ter, pôr) just take the plain infinitive + the endings:

Note: pôr loses its circumflex in the nós and eles forms (pormos, porem).

When to use the personal infinitive

The personal infinitive is used after specific prepositions and conjunctions, when the subject of the infinitive is different from (or needs to be specified by) the main clause.

After prepositions that take infinitive

Examples:

Para eu compreender, preciso de mais informação. — For me to understand, I need more information. Antes de partires, telefona-me. — Before you leave, call me. Depois de comermos, vamos passear. — After we eat, we’ll go for a walk. Sem ele saber, organizámos uma festa. — Without him knowing, we organised a party. Apesar de chovermos… wait that’s wrong — Apesar de chover, fomos passear. — Despite raining, we went for a walk. (impersonal subject, plain infinitive)

When the subject is explicit and different from the main clause, the personal infinitive shines.

After certain impersonal expressions

The “é + adjective + (que / infinitive)” pattern uses the personal infinitive when followed by a specific subject:

É melhor irmos agora. — It’s better that we go now. É preciso estudares mais. — You need to study more.

This is one of the most elegant Portuguese constructions. Where Spanish needs the full subjunctive clause (es mejor que vayamos), Portuguese uses one tighter form: é melhor irmos.

To make subjects of an infinitive clause explicit

Without the personal infinitive, you’d often need a que-clause with subjunctive. With it, the subject can be inside the infinitive itself.

Compare:

Without personal infinitive: Espero que eles cheguem em breve. — I hope they arrive soon. Less common: Espero eles chegarem em breve. — I hope (for) them to arrive soon.

The personal infinitive is especially clean when the subject is different from the main clause and the construction takes a preposition.

When NOT to use the personal infinitive

When the subject is the same as the main clause and unambiguous, you can use the plain infinitive without personal endings:

Quero falar contigo. — I want to talk to you. (same subject — eu) Not: Quero eu falar contigo. — wrong; redundant.

If the subject of the infinitive is the same as the main clause, the impersonal (plain) infinitive is enough.

The personal infinitive is for different subjects or for explicit emphasis.

Compound personal infinitive

Like other tenses, the personal infinitive has a compound form with ter + past participle.

Apesar de eu ter estudado, falhei. — Despite my having studied, I failed. Sem eles terem chegado, começámos. — Without their having arrived, we started.

The compound is built: ter (personal infinitive) + past participle.

Antes de termos saído, escrevemos cartas. — Before our having left, we wrote letters.

Personal infinitive vs. subjunctive — which to use

Many constructions allow both. Here’s the rule:

• After prepositions: personal infinitive is mandatory if you want to express subject.

  • Antes de partirmos (not Antes que partamos, which is also valid but less common)

• After que + impersonal expression: subjunctive is mandatory.

  • É preciso que ele venha. (subjunctive)
  • Or É preciso vir. (impersonal, no subject)
  • Or É preciso ele vir. (less common, personal infinitive)

In practice, the personal infinitive replaces subjunctive after prepositions, and the subjunctive replaces personal infinitive after que.

Comparison with Spanish

This is where the personal infinitive really shows its value. Compare:

Spanish needs a full subordinate clause with que and conjugated subjunctive. Portuguese needs only the personal infinitive. Shorter, faster, characteristic.

What you don’t need to do

You don’t need to use the personal infinitive when the subject is the same as the main clause. Plain infinitive is fine.

You don’t need to use the personal infinitive instead of every subjunctive. Both have their territory.

You don’t need to memorise irregular forms. Almost no verb is irregular in the personal infinitive.

Common confusions

• Eu and ele forms look like the plain infinitive. Para eu falar and para ele falar — same form. Person is shown by the pronoun.
• Tu, nós, vós, eles add endings. Para tu falares, para nós falarmos, para eles falarem.
• Use after prepositions for different subjects. Antes de partirem, depois de comermos.
• Triggers for personal infinitive: para, antes de, depois de, sem, até, apesar de, plus impersonal “é + adjective” expressions.
• No Spanish equivalent. This is THE Portuguese feature.

Where you’ll meet it in the library

The personal infinitive is in every other Portuguese sentence:

• O Retrato de Dorian Gray (B2+) — Wilde’s Portuguese rendering chains personal infinitives in Dorian’s deliberations: antes de fazermos, depois de eles assinarem, é melhor não pensarmos, apesar de termos tentado, para tu compreenderes.
• O Conde de Monte Cristo (B2+) — Dumas’s plot of revenge in Portuguese uses the personal infinitive to bind plans to subjects: vingarmo-nos, sem eles saberem, para serem felizes, antes de partirem.
• Dom Quixote (A2+) — Cervantes’s hero declares vows using the nós-form personal infinitive: para sermos cavaleiros, antes de partirmos, é preciso lutarmos, apesar de Sancho duvidar.

For canonical Portuguese-original prose, the personal infinitive is on every page of Saramago and Eça de Queirós. It is one of the markers of literary Portuguese.