sem + Personal Infinitive

Without Doing with Personal Infinitive

Level 3

The construction sem + infinitivo pessoal allows you to express 'without [someone] doing something.' Unlike the basic infinitive, this form explicitly marks the subject of the negated action.

How It Works

The personal infinitive is a unique feature of Portuguese. When used with the preposition sem, it serves two main purposes:

  • Subject Clarity: It identifies who is not doing the action when that person is different from the main subject.
  • Conditional Nuance: It often functions like 'unless' or 'until'.

Morphology and Ambiguity:
The personal infinitive uses the base infinitive as a stem. Note that the 1st and 3rd person singular forms (eu, ele/ela/você) have no ending, making them identical to the impersonal infinitive. To avoid confusion, you should include the subject pronoun (e.g., sem eu falar vs. sem ele falar).

Clitic Placement:
In European Portuguese, the preposition sem acts as a trigger for proclisis. This means object pronouns must come before the verb (e.g., sem te veres).

Regional Usage:
This construction is standard in both Portugal and Brazil. While sem que + subjunctive exists, it is considered formal or literary. In casual Brazilian speech, the personal infinitive is very common, though speakers may sometimes drop the plural endings in highly informal registers.

Examples (5)

  1. Saímos de casa sem eles darem por nada.

    We left the house without them noticing anything.

    Word by Word: We-left from house without them to-give for nothing.

    Here, 'darem' (from 'dar') identifies 'eles' (them) as the ones who didn't notice.

  2. Não podes entrar no país sem teres o visto em dia.

    You cannot enter the country without (you) having your visa up to date.

    Word by Word: Not you-can to-enter in-the country without to-have-you the visa in day.

    The ending '-es' on 'teres' specifies that 'you' (tu) are the one who needs the visa.

  3. Sem eu saber a verdade, não posso ajudar.

    Without me knowing the truth, I cannot help.

    Word by Word: Without I to-know the truth, not I-can to-help.

    Since the 1st person singular 'saber' has no ending, the subject pronoun 'eu' is used to avoid ambiguity.

  4. Eles partiram sem nos dizerem nada.

    They left without telling us anything.

    Word by Word: They left without us to-tell nothing.

    In European Portuguese, the preposition 'sem' triggers proclisis, pulling the pronoun 'nos' before the verb.

  5. Sem terminarmos este projeto, não receberemos o pagamento.

    Unless we finish this project, we won't receive the payment.

    Word by Word: Without to-finish-we this project, not we-will-receive the payment.

    This demonstrates the conditional 'unless' nuance of the construction.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the personal infinitive when the subject is the same as the main verb.

    Eu saí sem eu comer.
    Eu saí sem comer.

    If the subject is the same, use the impersonal infinitive. Using the personal form here is redundant and unnatural.

  • Applying irregular subjunctive stems to the infinitive.

    Não saio sem eles fizerem o trabalho.
    Não saio sem eles fazerem o trabalho.

    The personal infinitive always uses the base dictionary form (fazer), not the subjunctive stem (fiz-).

  • Mixing 'que' with the personal infinitive.

    Saí sem que eles verem.
    Saí sem eles verem. (or: Saí sem que eles vissem.)

    If you use the conjunction 'que', you must use the subjunctive mood. The personal infinitive follows the preposition 'sem' directly.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

sem + Personal InfinitiveLevel 3Without Doing with Personal Infinitive

Learn This First

To learn 'sem + infinitivo pessoal', you first need to understand how the personal infinitive is conjugated and used to mark subjects. You also need to be familiar with the preposition 'sem' (without) and how it functions to negate or indicate the absence of an action or state.

Words in This Pattern