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P o r t u g u e s e O n l i n e

>>Verbs > Pronominal Conjugation

This is a tricky combination of future indicative and conditional verbs with direct and indirect object pronouns that is avoided in the conversational language of Portugal and is even rarer in both spoken and written Brazilian Portuguese.

If you review the sections on the future indicative and conditional, you will notice that the endings given in the charts are actually added to the end of the infinitive. These endings historically come from another verb (haver) that was placed after the infinitive, so it was common to place object pronouns between the infinitive and haver. On its own, comprarei means I will buy, but adding the combined pronoun mo "it for me" in comprar-mo-ei I will buy it for myself, you are allowed to separate the infinitive from the future ending.

There are a number of constraints, since the direct object pronouns o him/it, a her/it, os them and as them have a separate set of forms when tacked onto the end of certain words:

When a verb or verb form ends in -r, -s, or -z, the verb removes that -r, -s, or -z, and o, a, os, as attach as -lo, -la, -los, -las. Infinitives and other verb forms stressed on their final syllable must then carry a written accent if they do not end in -i or -u. Example: fazer to do but fazê-lo to do it. Diz he says but di-lo he says it. Fiz I did but fi-lo I did it.

When a verb or verb form ends in -m, the verb keeps that -m, and o, a, os, as attach as -no, -na, -nos, -nas. Example: fazem they do but fazem-no they do it. Dizem they say but dizem-no they say it.

The indirect object pronouns lhe to him, to her, to it and lhes to them have the same effect on a verb ending in -r, -s, or -z, but they do not change in form (only the verb does). Example: dizer to say but dizê-lhe to say to him/her.

Further examples:

Comprá-lo-ei I will buy it
Lavar-se-á He will wash himself
Chamar-se-ão They would call themselves... (or their names would be)
Dá-lho-emos We will give it to them

These pronouns placed between the infinitive and the future or conditional endings are sometimes given the formal name mesoclitics or pronominal infixes, since they settle into the middle of the verb. Be careful with these linguistic terms, because they are vague enough to describe other phenomena taking place in a separate language that isn't at all related to this particular relation between pronoun and verbs.