Portuguese conjugation explanation

Mesoclisis

<p>

The <strong>mesoclisis</strong> is a phenomenon unique to the Portuguese language where the pronoun gets between the stem and the ending.

</p>

<p>

It originates from the time when the future (and the conditional) tense was formed by a combination of the infinitive and a form of the auxiliary verb <span style="font-style: italic;">aver</span> (old Portuguese verb). Since it was a compound form, it was possible to place the pronoun between the two verb forms. As the language evolved, the auxiliary verb form merged into the main verb form, but the possibility of leaving the pronoun in mesoclitic position (=between the stem and the affix) was kept.

</p>

<p>

The mesoclisis can only be found in the <strong>future</strong> (<span style="font-style: italic;">futuro do presente</span>) and <strong>conditional</strong> (<span style="font-style: italic;">futuro do pretérito</span>) tenses. It is only used in literary works and formal speech. It is <strong>often replaced by the "ir + infinitive" structure</strong> (e.g. <span style="font-style: italic;">"Vou sentir-me bem."</span> (EU) or <span style="font-style: italic;">"Vou me sentir bem."</span> (BR) instead of <span style="font-style: italic;">"Sentir-me-ei bem."</span>). In Brazil, the proclitic pronoun placement (=before the main verb form) is used as well (<span style="font-style: italic;">"Eu me sentirei bem."</span>).</p>

<p>Let's have a look at the conjugation of the reflexive verb <span style="font-style: italic;">sentir-se</span> in these two tenses:

</p>

<div class="study_conjugations_tense_container">

<a class="study_conjugations_tense_label box_label" href="/study/tenseGuideForTense/5/" target="_blank" title="Open tense guide">Futuro do Presente</a>

<div class="study_conjugations_conjugation conjugations_table two_columns">

<div class="study_conjugations_forms conjugation_forms">

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

eu

</span>me sentirei

</span>

</div>

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

eu

</span>sentir-me-ei

</span>

</div>

</div>

<div class="study_conjugations_forms conjugation_forms">

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

tu

</span>te sentirás

</span>

</div>

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

tu

</span>sentir-te-ás

</span>

</div>

</div>

<div class="study_conjugations_forms conjugation_forms">

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

ele

</span>se sentirá

</span>

</div>

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

ele

</span>sentir-se-á

</span>

</div>

</div>

<div class="study_conjugations_forms conjugation_forms">

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

nós

</span>nos sentiremos

</span>

</div>

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

nós

</span>sentir-nos-emos

</span>

</div>

</div>

<div class="study_conjugations_forms conjugation_forms">

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

vós

</span>vos sentireis

</span>

</div>

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

vós

</span>sentir-vos-eis

</span>

</div>

</div>

<div class="study_conjugations_forms conjugation_forms">

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

eles

</span>se sentirão

</span>

</div>

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

eles

</span>sentir-se-ão

</span>

</div>

</div>

</div>

</div>

<div class="study_conjugations_tense_container">

<a class="study_conjugations_tense_label box_label" href="/study/tenseGuideForTense/6/" target="_blank" title="Open tense guide">Futuro do Pretérito</a>

<div class="study_conjugations_conjugation conjugations_table two_columns">

<div class="study_conjugations_forms conjugation_forms">

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

eu

</span>me sentiria

</span>

</div>

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

eu

</span>sentir-me-ia

</span>

</div>

</div>

<div class="study_conjugations_forms conjugation_forms">

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

tu

</span>te sentirias

</span>

</div>

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

tu

</span>sentir-te-ias

</span>

</div>

</div>

<div class="study_conjugations_forms conjugation_forms">

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

ele

</span>se sentiria

</span>

</div>

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

ele

</span>sentir-se-ia

</span>

</div>

</div>

<div class="study_conjugations_forms conjugation_forms">

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

nós

</span>nos sentiríamos

</span>

</div>

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

nós

</span>sentir-nos-íamos

</span>

</div>

</div>

<div class="study_conjugations_forms conjugation_forms">

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

vós

</span>vos sentiríeis

</span>

</div>

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

vós

</span>sentir-vos-íeis

</span>

</div>

</div>

<div class="study_conjugations_forms conjugation_forms">

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

eles

</span>se sentiriam

</span>

</div>

<div class="conjugation_form">

<span><span class="study_conjugations_pronoun conjugation_pronoun">

eles

</span>sentir-se-iam

</span>

</div>

</div>

</div>

</div>