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C1

Portuguese C1: Proficient

At C1 the question is no longer whether something is correct but what it does. Whether a piece of advice lands as an instruction or as an offer is not a matter of grammar any more: both sentences are correct, and only the tone separates them.

Then come the structures you can dodge in conversation and meet everywhere on the page: inversion, participle clauses, nouns built out of verbs, the whole frame of written language.

Tenses and if-sentences3

The future

1

C1Mesoclisis: dar-lhe-eiA pronoun wedged into the middle of the verb — English has nothing remotely like it.

Conditions

2

C1Third conditional: se tivesse sabido« If I had known, I would have come » — the same shape, and the participle never moves.C1Connectors instead of se« Provided that » is desde que — and with the wrong mood it means « since ».

Verbs: ser, estar, subjunctive1

Can, want, must

1

C1Rules and signs« No smoking » is a gerund; here the sign takes an infinitive.

Politeness, style, fine points3

Fine points and style

3

C1Subject after the verb« Your mother did » has no equivalent; here the answer is the word order.C1The nominal style« After leaving » has no form here, so the choice is a noun or a clause.C1Hedging and softeningYour hedging sits in a modal verb; here it sits in which word you pick — and it changes the mood.

Word lists at level C1

Lists: 98 · words: 3998

All word lists →

Reading texts at level C1

Sentences from this level’s topics

Comunicar-lhe-emos a decisão por escrito.We will inform you of the decision in writing.

É proibido fumar no recinto.Smoking is forbidden on the premises.

Se me tivesses dito antes, tinha ajudado.If you had told me earlier, I would have helped.

Assino, desde que o preço fique fixo.I will sign provided the price stays fixed.

Practise level C1 only