Foreign Language Portuguese - Basic key terms

The matching of grammatical categories between linked words, such as adjective and noun or subject and finite verb.

The construction required by a governing word, including whether its dependent uses a particular preposition or grammatical relationship.

A past tense commonly presenting a completed occurrence, interpreted through the discourse rather than equated mechanically with an English form.

A past tense often providing background or habitual activity, with additional modal uses that require contextual interpretation.

A tense expressing an action earlier than a past reference point, including compound forms such as tinha feito.

A verbal mood used in particular subordinate constructions and meanings, including wishes, concessions and purposes, not merely any future event.

A subjunctive tense appearing in relevant future-oriented subordinate constructions, distinguished from the personal infinitive through morphology and syntax.

An infinitive construction with personal inflection, whose form and function must be identified separately from future meaning alone.

An unstressed pronoun whose placement depends on construction, variety and register, rather than a universally fixed position.

The grammatical combination of elements such as a preposition and article, exemplified by em plus o forming no.

The central subject of a passage, distinguished from an isolated supporting detail or the writer’s particular argumentative position.

The principal claim supported in an argument, identified through the actual passage rather than assumed to occupy one fixed location.

A conclusion warranted by textual and contextual evidence, distinguished from a direct statement or an invented background explanation.

The person, thing or proposition identified by a pronoun or referring expression in the actual surrounding discourse.

A limitation expressed by wording such as só or apenas, whose scope can determine what a passage actually permits or asserts.

The selection of language appropriate to relationship, audience and purpose, with attention to regional conventions and communicative context.

The linguistic connection of clauses and paragraphs through reference, connectors and other devices making relationships recoverable.

The organization of ideas into a relevant and intelligible whole, avoiding contradictions or unexplained changes in argumentative direction.

A reformulation preserving essential meaning in different wording, adapted to purpose without inventing facts or changing conditions.

The intended recipient of a message, whose knowledge and needs shape selection, explanation, register and communicative purpose.