2

I know that "ia" is a spoken form of "iria", but it has some level of grammaticalization in the spoken language, equivalent to the English construction "I was going to...".

I've noticed that with "compound tenses"(compostos) in Portuguese, there is often a more formal "simple" (simples) equivalent.

For example, with the commonly used "Eu já tinha estudado esse assunto então a aula foi meio fácil" would have the more formal "Eu estudara esse assunto...", the pretérito mais que perfeito simples.

Does the tense represented by estudar in the phrase "Eu ia estudar mas eu tava com preguiça então só assisti netflix" have a more formal equivalent?

(answers in Portuguese welcome)

Improve this question
3
  • Pelo menos em português-brasileiro, a forma "estudara" não é mais utilizada nos dias de hoje. Sua primeira frase, falada formalmente, ficaria "Eu já havia estudado esse assunto...". Já a sua segunda frase, o formal seria "Eu iria estudar, mas estava com preguiça. Então só assisti Netflix."
    – Filburt
    Commented Nov 6, 2017 at 22:33
  • It really depends from which part of the country you are. In most of the times it's only used "ia" but with the emigration of PALOP people (Paìses Africanos Dr Lingua Oficial Portuguesa), African Countries that have Portuguese as a official language, the pronunciation as the word changes. I hope I could help you a little. I'm Portuguese but now Im living in NYC, so it's a bit rusty 😂
    – TTGG02
    Commented Nov 6, 2017 at 23:09
  • As pessoas usam Estudaram que pode ser tanto o Pretérito Perfeito quanto Pretérito Mais-que-perfeito conjugacao.com.br/verbo-estudar
    – André Lyra
    Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 12:14

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

"I know that "ia" is a spoken form of "iria"

No, not always. Even though "ia" is often substituted for "iria" in conditional clauses, as in "se você me convidasse, eu iria/ia" (futuro do pretérito), "ia" is the current form of "ir" in the "pretérito imperfeito do indicativo" (quando jovem, eu ia ao cinema aos domingos) and it isn't a substitute for "iria" here.

"Eu já tinha estudado esse assunto então a aula foi meio fácil" would have the more formal "Eu estudara esse assunto..."

Hardly anyone uses the "pretérito mais que perfeito" in the spoken language these days. Even in the written language it sounds dated.

"Does the tense represented by estudar in the phrase "Eu ia estudar mas eu tava com preguiça então só assisti netflix" have a more formal equivalent?"

In the above example, "ia" is "verbo ir" in the "pretérito imperfeito do indicativo" and cannot be replaced by "iria".

See the examples:

  • Eu ia/iria com você caso não estivesse chovendo. (futuro do pretérito, and Brazilians often substitute "ia" for "iria")
  • Eu ia pedir o carro emprestado mas mudei de ideia. (pretérito imperfeito, and you can't use "iria" here)

To make your sentence sound more formal, I would use "pretendia" (verbo pretender) or "tinha/havia planejado" instead of "ia" and would use "estava" instead of the outright informal "tava".

"Eu /pretendia/tinha planejado/ estudar mas estava com preguiça, então só assisti netflix."

The above sentence is not in the conditional mood and you can't, therefore, use "iria".

In a nutshell: "ia" is an informal substitute for "iria" in the conditional mood ("futuro do pretérito) If your verb tense is "pretérito imperfeito", however, there is only one form: "ia"

Improve this answer
3
  • 1
    It's not just the Brazilians that substitute the pretérito imperfeito for the futuro do pretérito/condicional. It's actually a phenomenon that occurs in Portugal, Galicia and even in other Iberian languages like Mirandese, Asturian, and Castilian, and can be found dating back centuries.
    – user0721090601
    Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 5:31
  • Thanks, as always, for your help! It seems that I had missed an entire conjugation out, and my "subjective feeling" about when to "abbreviate" iria and when not to was correct, but for completely the wrong reason! You've helped answer my other question too! portuguese.stackexchange.com/questions/4896/…
    – Some_Guy
    Commented Nov 21, 2017 at 10:22
  • Also, it turns out that it's a much more literal equivalent of "was going to" than I thought!
    – Some_Guy
    Commented Nov 21, 2017 at 10:22

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.