Re: Portuguese futures

Douglas Koller wrote:
> From: "Dr. Peter E. Tarlow" <tourism@...>
>
>> The more common forms are:
>
>> Vou vê-lo
>> Eu o verei
>> Vejo-o
>> O vejo (Brazil only)
>
> I'm glad you qualified the last one, because I was
 > under the impression that this was strictly verboten

	Actually it is. :) Prescriptive grammar strictly forbids its usage,
even though many Brazilians will still use it that way nevertheless.
Maybe not with that example specifically, but in other cases, yes.
That's mostly due to a lack of knowledge regarding grammar rules (Brazil
has a serious problem with illiteracy), and placing an object ("o" in "o
vejo") rather than using a personal pronoun ("ele") gives the impression
the sentence is more grammatically correct than the usual way Brazilians
say it ("vejo ele" - I see "he"). It should be noted, however, that such
a construction ("o vejo") is, indeed, verboten. Just as an attempt to
compare usage vs. disallowance, it's like something along the lines of
"he don't know nothing", where the double negative is verboten, and yet
people will use it anyway (mostly men of colour, in the US, at least
according to Hollywood movies).

	I should say, in any case, that "o vejo" is still not widely used when
beginning a sentence because it just doesn't sound natural. Another
thing is that "eu o vejo" _is_ correct, however. The sentence just
should not begin with an object - but if you place the pronoun before
it, though, it is perfectly acceptable by prescriptive grammar.


Mark J. Reed wrote:
 > Cheeky bunch, Brazilians. :)

	Hey. :-p



Peace,
Ken :-)

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