Quick question on falar and falo

Portuguese Questions Expressions & Usage
1

Hi all, apologies if it’s a silly question, still new to this.

During one of my A2 lessons, I noticed the phrase “posso falar contigo” for “can I talk with you?”

can anyone educate me why falar is used instead of falo? or can either be used?

Thanks all

2

Olá, @mattys470 :slight_smile: You have a verb phrase here and by default in these cases, only the auxiliary verb is conjugated. Main verbs appear in the infinitive or present/past participle forms, depending on context. Conjugating the main verb here (falar) would be grammatically incorrect.

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3

thanks for the reply Joseph. I will look into it more to get a better understanding

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4

I think of it like this.

In English, would you say

“I can speak with you?”

Or

“I can I speak with you?”

We mean the first - so we conjugate I can with the infinitive (to speak) to say “I can speak”

Maybe that helps?

since I am also A1 and not great with English, I may not be correct tho ha!

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5

Poder means '"to be able to or can”

So I would translate it to “Am I able (posso) to speak (falar) with you (contigo)?”

Hope that helps!

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