TRADUguide - Your Guide to Translators and Translation Agencies

164 months ago

Barbara Cochran (a guest user) asked this question:

This question has already been answered and rated. Therefore, no new answers can be given.

164 months ago

MACVieira   wrote:

We went to see him.

My comment:

You would usually "ter com" this or that person, in this context, to talk, but you want the "fomos ter com ele", thus we went to see him is more appropriate. I make this point because one may "ter com alguém" (see someone) and in the end be unable to talk (for whatever reason). This is a common expression in Portugal.

My references:

I am Brazilian but also have very good knowledge of Portuguese from Portugal (I have Portuguese relatives).

164 months ago

airmailrpl   wrote:

we went to meet him .. we went to be with him

My comment:

fomos ter com ele. => we went to meet him .. we went to be with him

The asker rated this answer best

164 months ago

SueCarpenter   wrote:

after the speech, we went to see him (we went to talk with him)

My comment:

a good source of expressions is linguee

http://www.linguee.pt/portugues-ingles/traducao/foram+ter+com+ele.html

My references:

http://www.linguee.pt/portugues-ingles/traducao/foram+ter+com+ele.html

164 months ago

SueCarpenter   wrote:

we went to talk with

My comment:

It's a common way to say it in PT-BR.

Here it implies "fomos ter [uma conversa] com", though "ter com" may have other closely related meanings in other contexts.

For instance, "Se alguém aqui na empresa atender mal os clientes, vai ter comigo." This means that I'll be calling that person on the carpet. Yet we'll have a probably less pleasant conversation, so the meaning remains about the same.

164 months ago

SueCarpenter   wrote:

dangling sentence: we went to have [x] with him

My comment:

It is a dangling sentence, and it does not have a discussion with him.

Fomos: we went
Ter= to have
[missing word or phrase]
com ele
with him