Language Portuguese · fourteenth language of payGIVE · Payer subject · Amount or debt direct object · Recipient a + NP or dative lhe · Consideration por · a named thing can occupy that same direct object · Luft’s line also puts the person there
Arguments
Payer, Amount, Recipient, Consideration · four places · Portuguese cloth · working claim, revisable
Recipient = a + NP · dative lhe · on the Luft line quoted by Ciberdúvidas 20994, the person can be the direct object · Amount = direct object when a sum or a debt is named · Consideration = por + DP, a selected complement of the same event
A payment, on this reading, has a Payer, an Amount, a Recipient, and a Consideration, the thing the money is paid for. They are not four equal sisters of pagar, and the Consideration is not a fourth structural Case. Voice adds the Payer. The root’s complement is the Amount, a direct object, the measuring theme of a low ApplHAVE that also holds the Recipient. Portuguese nouns have no case ending, so that object is not a morphological accusative. Ciberdúvidas 26466 calls the three complements a complemento directo, a complemento indirecto, and a complemento preposicionado, and says some of them may be unrealized. The por-phrase is that prepositional complement. It belongs to the event when it is present. The dictionaries print the prepositions and the clitic. They do not print the head. The drawing is revisable.
What is different from English pay. Cambridge prints pay something for something in How much did you pay for the tickets?, [ + two objects ] in I'll pay you the fiver back tomorrow, and pay someone for something/doing something in Did Linda pay you for looking after her cats while she was away? The person can be a bare object, you or the driver of I paid the driver in cash. The thing paid for is for. Portuguese prints the full Recipient as a, and the dative clitic as lhe. Ciberdúvidas 26466 stacks the four places in one clause: O João pagou à instituição um alto preço por este livro. The subject is the Payer. à instituição is the Recipient. um alto preço is the direct object, the Amount. por este livro is the Consideration. A numeral such as fifty euros is unprinted. The English for of the tickets is the same oblique role as por, with a cut inside the Portuguese direct object that English pay for does not make. That cut is the next paragraph.
The named thing as the direct object, and the person as the direct object. Ciberdúvidas 29958 allows both Te pago o serviço and Te pago pelo serviço, and gives them different values. In the first, what one understands is what the service costs, the value of the service, or the price of the service. In the second, the sum is left out: one pays a given sum of money for the service. English I'll pay for your ticket and How much did you pay for the tickets? both use for. They do not split a direct-object service-name, read as its price, from a por-phrase that names the service and leaves the sum out. The same direct-object slot is where a debt sits: Aulete pagar contas, Michaelis pagar o empréstimo, and Priberam’s definition Satisfazer (uma dívida, um encargo). English We've got to pay the rent and the business label pay bills/rent match that debt object. A separate cloth puts the person in the direct object. Ciberdúvidas 20994, when the complement is a person, calls pagar transitive indirect with a: pagar a alguém, and corrects the line under discussion to pagar à Mónica. The same answer quotes Celso Pedro Luft, Dicionário Prático de Regência Verbal (the book was not opened): purists accept only an indirect object of a person and condemn pagar alguém, pagá-lo, which Luft calls frequent and well documented, including Já paguei o professor as what one will hear from any Brazilian. Luft’s account is that in pagar – algo – a alguém, when the second position is empty, the occupant of the third can fill it and lose the preposition. In formal writing, pagar a alguém, pagar-lhe is preferable. English pay you and paid the driver match that bare person more than the normative a. pagá-lo in that quotation is the person. A direct-object thing would also take o. The clitic alone does not show which.
Places · who wears which marking
One printed clause stacks a named Payer, a Recipient in a, an Amount as direct object, and por plus the thing. The other frames leave a place empty, or put the thing, the debt, or the person in the direct object. A numeral of euros is unprinted. The fifty-euro strings below are constructed on the price slot of um alto preço.
Printed four-place · Payer subject · Amount direct · Recipient a · Consideration por
✓ O João pagou à instituição um alto preço por este livro.Ciberdúvidas 26466 · complemento directo, complemento indirecto, complemento preposicionado
João paid the institution a high price for this book · English can leave the person bare and put the thing under for · Cambridge does not print all four in one clause
Printed · the service-name is the direct object, read as its price · or por names the service and the sum is left out
✓ Te pago o serviço.Ciberdúvidas 29958 · the question’s wording is called Brazilian colloquial · the direct object is read as the cost, the value, or the price of the service
✓ Te pago pelo serviço.Ciberdúvidas 29958 · ellipsis of the sum · a given sum of money for the service
✓ Ela pagou o táxi e entrou rapidamente em casa.Michaelis · the taxi is the direct object · no por
✓ Por favor, pague minha passagem.Aulete · td. · the fare is the direct object
✓ Pagou a roupa prontamente.Aulete · older block · Satisfazer o preço ou valor de
English I'll pay for your ticket and How much did you pay for the tickets? keep for · the Portuguese direct object has no preposition · 29958 reads that object as the price
Printed Recipient · a or lhe · Amount or debt direct · Consideration absent
✓ Paguei ao senhorio todos os aluguéis atrasados.Michaelis · the landlord is a · the rent payments are the direct object
✓ Os rapazes pagaram ao garçom as cervejas que haviam bebido e saíram.Michaelis · the waiter is a · the beers are the direct object
✓ Paguei a meu irmão o dinheiro que ele havia me emprestado.Michaelis · the article’s vtdi label · Recipient a · the money is the direct object
✓ Quando lhe pagará o empréstimo?Aulete · tdi. + a · lhe is the Recipient · the loan is the direct object
paid the landlord the overdue rents · paid the waiter the beers · paid my brother the money · English I'll pay you the fiver leaves you bare
Printed person · normative a / lhe · and the direct object of the person
✓ pagar à MónicaCiberdúvidas 20994 · person → transitive indirect with a
✓ Já paguei ao vendedor.Aulete · ti. + a · no direct object in the clause
✓ Já paguei o professor. · pagar alguém · pagá-loLuft, quoted on Ciberdúvidas 20994 · the book was not opened · the quotation is used as that answer prints it
✓ Quem quer criados paga-os.Aulete · older block · os is the person · the line is not regionally labeled
pay Monica · I already paid the seller · I already paid the teacher · English pay you and paid the driver match the bare person
Printed debt · direct object · English pay the rent, under the label pay bills/rent
✓ pagar contas · empréstimoAulete · td. · the slash is the entry’s
✓ Finalmente conseguiu pagar o empréstimo que pediu ao banco.Michaelis · ao banco is inside the relative of pedir · it is not the Recipient of pagar
✓ Pagou a despesaMichaelis · Satisfazer o preço ou valor de · the example continues as a literary quotation · this page quotes the opening clause
pay the loan · pay the expense · Cambridge American We've got to pay the rent · business label pay bills/rent, filled as pay the rent this month
Printed means · em · and attested com of the instrument
✓ Vou pagar em cheque.Aulete · int. · em, no object in the clause
✓ pagar em dinheiro · pagar com dinheiroCiberdúvidas 38584 · em dinheiro is called the more common locution · com is meio; instrumento · fewer records, and the corpus was not opened
I'll pay by cheque · pay in cash · Cambridge also prints the pattern label pay in/with sth, and the filled example on that label is They paid for the car in cash
Places of Portuguese pagar: introducer, marking, status, English marking
Place
Introduced by (working)
Portuguese marking
Status in the sources
English marking
Payer
Spec,Voice
subject
O João · Ela · Os rapazes · omitted in the infinitive frames pagar à Mónica, pagar contas
subject of pay
Amount
MeasureP, complement of the root, theme of eHAVE
direct object
um alto preço · o dinheiro · todos os aluguéis · as cervejas · a numeral of euros is unprinted
object of the money · the fiver · €200 a day · $4,000 a month
Debt
the same direct-object slot, when the sources name a debt or a bill
direct object
Aulete contas, empréstimo · Michaelis o empréstimo, a despesa · Priberam’s definition uma dívida, um encargo, with no clause · singular pagar a conta and pagar a dívida as clauses are unprinted
We've got to pay the rent · business label pay bills/rent · pay a debt/fine
Named thing as that object
the same direct object · 29958 reads it as the price of the thing
direct object · no por
o serviço · o táxi · minha passagem · a roupa · pagou o livro is unprinted and is constructed below on those lines
pay for the tickets, the ticket · English keeps for
Recipient
low ApplHAVE
a + NP · dative lhe
à instituição · à Mónica · ao senhorio · ao garçom · a meu irmão · ao carpinteiro · ao vendedor · lhe pagará · pagou-lhe inside the literary clause the Michaelis article prints · lhes unprinted · doubling of lhe and a full a-phrase unprinted · the editorial note on 20994: formal pagar a Mônica without the article, informal pagar à Mônica
bare you / the driver · no Portuguese-style a on those objects
Person as direct object
Luft’s account of the empty Amount slot, quoted on 20994 · a different cloth from the normative a
direct object · clitic o
Já paguei o professor · pagar alguém · pagá-lo · older paga-os · formal written preference, in that quotation, is pagar a alguém, pagar-lhe · pagou o funcionário is unprinted
pay you · paid the driver · the bare person
Consideration
por selects it on the same event · complemento preposicionado · not a fourth Case
por + DP
por este livro · pelo serviço, with the sum left out · pela pintura da casa · Priberam sense 1 and Wikcionário’s commercial sense put por in the definition and print no clause · Aulete’s commercial label names por and the example Pagou (o serviço) ao carpinteiro does not fill it
for + DP · for the tickets · for looking after her cats
Means
unranked as a core place · instrument
em · attested com
Aulete em cheque · Ciberdúvidas 38584 prefers em dinheiro and accepts com dinheiro as meio; instrumento · dictionary com on the articles opened here is retribution: com traição, com desprezo, com muito amor, older com o sangue
in cash · by cheque · by credit card · the pattern label also prints with
Marking map. Read the direct object first. It may be the sum, the debt, the thing read as its price, or, on the Luft line, the person. Then read a or lhe, and por.
Direct object of a sum or a debt. Ciberdúvidas 26466: um alto preço. Michaelis: o dinheiro, todos os aluguéis atrasados, o empréstimo, a despesa. Aulete: pagar contas and o empréstimo beside lhe. Priberam sense 2 is Satisfazer (uma dívida, um encargo), with no clause. Infopédia’s first transitive sense is the same debt, satisfazer (dívida ou encargo), and its second is entregar uma dada quantia em troca de (bens ou serviços), again with no clause. Wikcionário’s commercial sense packs o valor as what is handed over, and prints no clause. The wording there is entregar ao vendedor / fornecedor o valor concordado pelo produto ou serviço, with the spaces around the slash as printed.
a and lhe of the Recipient. Ciberdúvidas 20994: a thing is a direct object, pagar algo; a person is an indirect object, pagar a alguém. The corrected line is pagar à Mónica. Ciberdúvidas 26466 fills à instituição. Michaelis fills ao senhorio, ao garçom, a meu irmão, and prints pagou-lhe o carreto inside a literary quotation. Aulete fills ao carpinteiro, ao vendedor, and lhe pagará. The older block also prints não paga aos operários. A clause that doubles lhe with a full a-phrase is unprinted. lhes is unprinted. Neither is constructed as a grammatical claim.
The person as direct object. The printed clauses are Luft’s Já paguei o professor, the infinitives pagar alguém and pagá-lo, and the older paga-os. Luft, as 20994 quotes him, calls the accusative frequent in Brazilian use and prefers a / lhe in formal writing. Infopédia’s remuneration sense is remunerar (alguém) por serviços prestados. The parentheses are the definition. They are not a filled clause, and this page does not build an accusative of the person out of them. A constructed pagou o funcionário below follows Luft’s professor line. It is not a quotation.
por of the Consideration. Ciberdúvidas 26466: por este livro, beside the price. Ciberdúvidas 29958: pelo serviço, and the sum is what is left out. Michaelis: Pagou muito bem pela pintura da casa. Priberam sense 1 defines the verb as giving the stipulated price por a thing sold or a service done. Aulete’s label on Pagou (o serviço) ao carpinteiro names a and por. The example fills a and an optional direct object in parentheses. It does not contain por. Expiation por is a different use and stays off this frame: Priberam paga o justo pelo pecador, Infopédia Ele pagou por um erro que não cometeu, Aulete pagar pelos erros cometidos.
Means. Aulete prints em cheque, not com, for the instrument of a payment with no object. Ciberdúvidas 38584 prefers pagar em dinheiro, calls the value em numerário, and says the Academia das Ciências dictionary records it (that dictionary was not opened). The same answer accepts pagar com dinheiro, with com as means or instrument, and fewer records in the Corpus do Português (the corpus was not opened). The com that Infopédia, Michaelis, and Aulete print on the articles opened here is retribution: A traição paga-se com desprezo, pagou com traição, pagou com muito amor, Pagou com o sangue a glória desse feito. Aulete’s para sits on that retribution label, ti. + a, para. It is not ranked here as the commercial Recipient.
EN ⇄ PT valency strip
Each row lines up one English slot with a Portuguese slot. The alignment type says what happens to the slot: = (same object status), or shift (a bare object or for ↔ the Portuguese marker the line prints). Printed dictionary lines come first. Every other Portuguese sentence is constructed, modelled on a printed line. They show the working alignment. They are not frequency, and not a bilingual corpus.
English–Portuguese valency alignment for pay / pagar, one row per argument
Slot
EN form
PT form
Align
EN example
PT example
Payer
SUBJ
subject
=
How much did you pay Cambridge
O João pagouCiberdúvidas 26466
Amount
object
direct object
=
I'll pay you the fiver Cambridge · [ + two objects ]
um alto preço · o dinheiroCiberdúvidas 26466 · Michaelis
Debt
object of pay the rent
direct object
=
We've got to pay the rent Cambridge · American · business label pay bills/rent
pagar contas · o empréstimoAulete · Michaelis
Named thing
for + DP
direct object, read as the price · or por with the sum left out
shift · English for does not split the two Portuguese strings
I'll pay for your ticket · for the tickets Cambridge
Te pago o serviço · Te pago pelo serviçoCiberdúvidas 29958
Recipient · a / lhe
bare object
a + NP · lhe
shift · English you has no preposition
pay you the fiver · paid the driver Cambridge
à instituição · lhe pagaráCiberdúvidas 26466 · Aulete
Person as direct object
bare object
direct object
= on the Luft line · the normative mark remains a
pay you · paid the driver Cambridge
Já paguei o professor · pagá-loLuft via Ciberdúvidas 20994
Consideration
for + DP
por + DP
= of the oblique role · 29958’s por leaves the sum out
for the tickets · for looking after her cats Cambridge
por este livro · pela pintura da casaCiberdúvidas 26466 · Michaelis
Means
in / by · pattern label also with
em · attested com
shift of the preposition · em is the printed cheque and the preferred cash locution
in cash · by cheque Cambridge
em cheque · em dinheiro · com dinheiroAulete · Ciberdúvidas 38584
The strip below is a set of small multiples. Each card holds one frame, with English on top and Portuguese under it. The subject chip is the party the clause actually makes the subject.
EN · PT · four places
um alto preço por este livro
I'll pay you the fiver. How much did you pay for the tickets?
O João pagou à instituição um alto preço por este livro.
PT · Ciberdúvidas 26466 · EN · Cambridge · the two English sentences are separate entries’ examples · Cambridge does not print all four in one clause
RolesHide rolesPayerRecipientAmountConsideration
Payer I · you · O JoãoRecipient you · à instituiçãoAmount the fiver · how much · um alto preçoConsideration for the tickets · por este livro
MoveEnglish can leave the Recipient bare. Portuguese prints that person with a. por is the Consideration, a selected complement, in the same clause as the price.
EN · PT · service-name
o serviço · pelo serviço
I'll pay for your ticket. How much did you pay for the tickets?
Te pago o serviço. Te pago pelo serviço.
PT · Ciberdúvidas 29958 · EN · Cambridge · pay for
RolesHide rolesPayerDirect objectpor
Payer I · you · the unnamed subject of pagoAs price o serviço · read as what it costspor pelo serviço · the sum is left out · English for
Move29958 gives the direct-object service-name the reading of its price, and gives por the service with the sum left out. English pay for uses one marker for the thing.
EN · PT · the person
à Mónica · o professor
I'll pay you the fiver back tomorrow. I paid the driver in cash.
pagar à Mónica. Já paguei o professor.
PT · Ciberdúvidas 20994 · Luft’s o professor as that answer quotes it · EN · Cambridge · bare you / the driver
RolesHide rolesPayerPerson
Payer IPerson you · the driver · à Mónica · o professor
MoveThe normative person is a. Luft’s printed line puts the person in the direct object, which is the English bare you and the driver. Formal writing, in that quotation, prefers a and lhe.
EN · PT · the debt
contas · o empréstimo
We've got to pay the rent. I haven't got enough money to pay the rent this month.
pagar contas. Finalmente conseguiu pagar o empréstimo que pediu ao banco.
PT · Aulete · Michaelis · ao banco belongs to pedir · EN · Cambridge · American We've got to pay the rent · business label pay bills/rent
RolesHide rolesPayerDebt
Payer we · the subject of conseguiuDebt the rent · contas · o empréstimo
AgreeThe debt is the direct object in both languages. No Recipient and no por are in these clauses.
EN · PT · means
em cheque · em dinheiro
I paid the driver in cash. Pay by cheque.
Vou pagar em cheque. pagar em dinheiro. pagar com dinheiro.
PT · Aulete em cheque · Ciberdúvidas 38584 · EN · Cambridge · in cash · by cheque
RolesHide rolesPayerMeans
Payer I · the subject of VouMeans in cash · by cheque · em · com dinheiro
MoveThe cheque is em. Cash is preferably em dinheiro. com dinheiro is the instrument locution 38584 accepts. Other dictionary com on these articles is retribution.
Related · Romance pagar, the bill, expiation
The same lemma in Spanish, French, and Italian.Spanish pagar spells the Recipient as dative le doubling a, and the Amount as the direct object. Spanish le tracks the person and lo the money. Portuguese normative lhe is the payee, and the o of Luft’s pagá-lo is the person. French payer and Italian pagare are the Romance twins. Wikcionário’s etymology is Latin pacāre, its English gloss is pay, and its translation list includes Spanish pagar, French payer, and Italian pagare. The English hub is payGIVE. Portuguese vender puts the goods in the direct object and the price under por. On pagar the direct object is the money, the debt, or the thing read as its price, and por is the Consideration.
The bill stays on this lemma.Russian оплатить takes the bill or the work as a bare accusative and prints no за, on a different lemma from платить / заплатить. Portuguese keeps the debt and the named thing on pagar: Aulete pagar contas, Michaelis o empréstimo and o táxi, Ciberdúvidas 29958 o serviço. There is no second page for a bill verb.
Expiation and retribution stay off the commercial frame. Priberam sense 4 is suffering the consequences, pagar os erros, equated with EXPIAR, and sense 5 is paga o justo pelo pecador. Infopédia prints Ele pagou por um erro que não cometeu. Aulete prints pagar pelos erros cometidos and the threat Você me paga. Michaelis prints pagar pelos crimes in a literary line. Those por-phrases are not the book of por este livro. Retribution com is the same exclusion: Infopédia A traição paga-se com desprezo, Aulete Você pagou com traição a quem sempre lhe deu a mão (Jorge Aragão, Neuci Dias e Dida, Vou festejar), Michaelis pagou com muito amor. The pronominal pagar-se of Infopédia Ele pagou-se de uma dívida muito antiga and of Priberam’s indemnify sense is not the passive of the four-place string.
Examples
Argument difference. English pay for marks the thing with for whether or not a sum is in the clause. Portuguese prints the thing as a direct object, and Ciberdúvidas 29958 reads o serviço there as its price, or prints pelo serviço and leaves the sum out. The Recipient’s normative mark is a or lhe. Luft’s line, quoted on Ciberdúvidas 20994, also prints the person as a direct object. English pay you matches that bare person. The debt as direct object matches pay the rent, which Cambridge also files under the label pay bills/rent.
Dictionary frames and lines · checked · quoted as printed
Dar o preço estipulado por (coisa vendida ou serviço feito). · Satisfazer (uma dívida, um encargo). · Remunerar, recompensar.Priberam · transitive · regular conjugation · abundant participle, forms not listed · senses 4 and 5 are expiation · sense 7 intransitive Embolsar alguém do que lhe é devido, no clause
satisfazer (dívida ou encargo) · entregar uma dada quantia em troca de (bens ou serviços) · remunerar (alguém) por serviços prestadosInfopédia · Porto Editora · the parentheses are the definitions · no commercial clause · etymology latim pacāre
[td. : Por favor, pague minha passagem.] · [td. tdi. + a, por : Pagou (o serviço) ao carpinteiro.] · [td. : pagar contas /empréstimo.] · [tdi. + a : Quando lhe pagará o empréstimo?] · [ti. + a : Já paguei ao vendedor.] · [int. : Vou pagar em cheque.]Aulete · the brackets and the slash are the entry’s · the carpenter line names por and does not fill it · participle pago and, little used, pagado
Pagou a roupa prontamente. · Quem quer criados paga-os. · Há mais de um mês que não paga aos operários.Aulete · older block · the clothes are the direct object · os is the person · aos operários is a
Paguei ao senhorio todos os aluguéis atrasados. · Os rapazes pagaram ao garçom as cervejas que haviam bebido. · Ela pagou o táxi. · Pagou muito bem pela pintura da casa. · Paguei a meu irmão o dinheiro que ele havia me emprestado.Michaelis · payees ao senhorio, ao garçom, a meu irmão · the taxi has no por · the painting is por
O João pagou à instituição um alto preço por este livro. · Um alto preço foi pago por este livro à instituição. · * A instituição foi paga um alto preço por este livro.Ciberdúvidas 26466 · the star is the answer’s
Te pago o serviço. · Te pago pelo serviço.Ciberdúvidas 29958
pagar à Mónica · Já paguei o professor. · pagá-loCiberdúvidas 20994 · the professor line and pagá-lo are Luft’s, as the answer quotes them
entregar ao vendedor / fornecedor o valor concordado pelo produto ou serviçoWikcionário · commercial sense · no clause · participle table prints pagado · Aulete’s pago is a different print · this page records both
How much did you pay for the tickets? · I'll pay you the fiver back tomorrow. · I'll pay for your ticket. · I paid the driver in cash. · We've got to pay the rent.Cambridge · pay
Strings below are constructed, modelled on the printed lines. They are not spontaneous-speech citations and not dictionary lines. Pat and Chris continue the named-participant series on English payGIVE. A name does not spell a role. A numeral of euros is unprinted in the sources opened here.
Constructed · the pieces are printed separately
✓ A Pat pagou cinquenta euros ao Chris pelo livro.constructed · Amount on the slot of um alto preço · Recipient a on à instituição · Consideration por on por este livro · the numeral is unprinted
✓ A Pat pagou cinquenta euros.constructed · direct object of a sum · the model is um alto preço and o dinheiro · no Recipient and no por in this clause
✓ A Pat pagou o livro.constructed · the thing as direct object, on Pagou a roupa, pagou o táxi, and Te pago o serviço · 29958 reads that object as the price · no por
✓ A Pat pagou-lhe cinquenta euros.constructed · lhe on lhe pagará and on pagou-lhe · the sum is the unprinted numeral
✓ A Pat pagou o funcionário.constructed · person as direct object, on Luft’s Já paguei o professor · not a quotation · the printed clitic of that person is pagá-lo
* A Pat pagou-lhe ao Chris o dinheiro.constructed · lhe doubled by a full a-phrase · unprinted · not a grammatical claim
What the passive shows
Ciberdúvidas 26466 builds the passive on the direct object, the price. Um alto preço foi pago por este livro à instituição. The Amount is the subject. The Consideration and the Recipient stay in the clause, por este livro and à instituição. The same answer stars the Recipient as that subject: * A instituição foi paga um alto preço por este livro. The star is the answer’s. It then records the fixed pago a peso de ouro, with a, and would accept Alguém foi pago a alto preço, while calling Foi-lhe pago alto preço perhaps the more correct shape: the price is the subject, and the person is lhe. English Cambridge can promote the worker, Most of these women are very poorly paid. The Portuguese four-place string, in that answer, promotes the price. No se-passive of the bill is printed on the pages opened here. Pronominal pagar-se is the indemnify and revenge line, not this passive.
Derivations · working sketches, revisable
Each sketch is a working drawing, not a locked analysis. The drawing gives the Payer to Voice, the Recipient to low ApplHAVE, the Amount to the root, and the Consideration to por. Open one sketch at a time. Which theta role is the object is the revisable note Causative templates and argument selection. This page does not edit that note.
Voice · the Payer is the external argument
The finite verb · one external argument
[TP O João
[VoiceP O João Voice ← Payer = Spec,Voice
… pagar … ]]
✓ O João pagou à instituição um alto preço por este livro.Ciberdúvidas 26466
The external argument is the Payer. On vender this layer is the Seller. The passive of 26466 makes the price the subject and keeps the Recipient as à instituição or as lhe. It does not make the payee the subject of the four-place string.
Recipient a / lhe · Amount · Consideration por
One direct object · the Recipient wears a or lhe · por is selected · working, revisable
[VoiceP O João Voice
[ApplP à instituição Appl ← Ciberdúvidas 26466 · a
[VP √pag-
[Amount um alto preço ]
[PP por [ este livro ]]]]] ← complemento preposicionado
← not a fourth Case
[VoiceP pagará Voice
[ApplP lhe Appl ← Aulete · lhe pagará
[VP √pag-
[Amount o empréstimo ]]]]
[VoiceP Te Voice
[ApplP te Appl
[VP √pag-
[Amount o serviço ]]]] ← 29958 · read as the price
← no por
[VoiceP Te Voice
[ApplP te Appl
[VP √pag-
[Amount — ] ← 29958 · the sum is left out
[PP por [ o serviço ]]]]]
The Amount and the Consideration are different phrases. When the direct object is o serviço, 29958 reads it as the price. When the service is under por, the sum is unrealized. A bare second noun beside the Amount, the shape of English pay you the fiver with a full noun and no a, is unprinted.
✓ por este livroCiberdúvidas 26466
✓ Te pago o serviçoCiberdúvidas 29958
* A Pat pagou o Chris cinquenta euros.constructed · bare person beside a sum · unprinted · the printed full Recipient is a
Luft’s direct object of the person
The Amount slot is empty · the person fills it and loses a · as 20994 quotes Luft · working, revisable
[VoiceP Já paguei Voice
[VP √pag-
[Person o professor ]]] ← Luft via Ciberdúvidas 20994
← formal preference: a / lhe
[VoiceP paga Voice
[VP √pag-
[Person os ]]] ← Aulete older · paga-os
This cloth is the one Luft describes for an empty second position. It is not the normative a of pagar à Mónica, and it is not a fourth Case. pagá-lo in that quotation replaces the person. The same clitic shape would replace a thing that is already the direct object. The form does not decide.
✓ Já paguei o professor.Luft via Ciberdúvidas 20994
✓ pagar a alguém, pagar-lhethe formal preference in that quotation
English counterpart · bare person, for, in / by
Working · Cambridge pay
[VoiceP I Voice
[ApplP you Appl ← Cambridge [+ two objects]
[VP √PAY ← bare object · no preposition
[Amount the fiver ]]]] ← Portuguese a / lhe
← Portuguese o professor on Luft’s line
[VoiceP you Voice
[VP √PAY
[PP for [ the tickets ]]]] ← Cambridge
← Portuguese o serviço as the price
← Portuguese por with the sum left out
[VoiceP I Voice
[VP √PAY
[Person the driver ]
[PP in [ cash ]]]] ← Cambridge
← Portuguese em dinheiro
← Portuguese com dinheiro attested
Cambridge’s bare you is the Recipient. Portuguese prints the full phrase as a, and prints the person as a direct object on the Luft line. Cambridge’s for covers the thing. Portuguese splits the direct-object service-name from por. Cambridge’s in and by are the means. Portuguese prints em, and 38584 also accepts com for cash.
Notes
Working paper · October 2026 · Portuguese micro-entry · Beyond Index 2
pagar is four-place. The Payer is the subject. The Amount or the debt is the direct object. The Recipient is a or lhe. The Consideration is por, a selected complement of the event. Ciberdúvidas 29958 reads a direct-object service-name as its price and reads por as the service with the sum left out. Luft’s line puts the person in the direct object. English pay for does not make the 29958 cut. English pay you matches the bare person.
PT micro-entry liveBeyond Index 2por is selectedES pagar liveFR payer live
Sense × language: payGIVE · Portuguese (pagar). The commercial payment is the page. Expiation and retribution stay off the frame, cited where a dictionary prints them. Geometry neighbors: Spanish pagar, Italian pagare, Portuguese vender. Index 2 does not list pagar.
Whether one Appl head covers a, lhe, and Luft’s direct object of the person. The drawing puts the normative Recipient in Appl and draws the professor line as the person filling an empty Amount slot. The dictionaries print the markers. They do not print the head.
The direct-object thing. 29958 reads o serviço as the price. A constructed pagou o livro follows a roupa, o táxi, and o serviço. No source opened here prints pagou o livro.
A numeral of euros. Unprinted. The printed Amounts are um alto preço, o dinheiro, as cervejas, os aluguéis. The fifty-euro strings on this page are constructed.
Doubling.lhe and a full a-phrase are unprinted in one clause. lhes is unprinted. Not constructed as a grammatical claim.
em against com for cash. 38584 prefers em dinheiro and accepts com dinheiro as the instrument. The corpus count was not opened. Other com on the dictionary articles is retribution.
Singular a conta and a dívida as clauses. Unprinted. The printed debt objects are contas, o empréstimo, a despesa, and the definitional dívida.
The worker as passive subject of the four-place string. 26466 stars it and would accept foi pago a alto preço, with Foi-lhe pago alto preço called perhaps more correct. English poorly paid is a different promotion. No further passive is constructed.
Unopened books. Luft’s dictionary itself, the Academia das Ciências dictionary, the Corpus do Português, Houaiss, Aurélio, and 501 Portuguese Verbs. No sentence is quoted from a source that was not opened, except where an opened page already quotes it and the quotation is tagged as such.
Corpus filenames and sources checked
Dictionary frames: Priberam, Infopédia (Porto Editora), Michaelis, Aulete Digital, and Wikcionário for pagar. Regency: Ciberdúvidas 20994, 26466, 29958, and 38584. English: Cambridge pay. Sibling frames: pay-give, pay-give-es, pay-give-fr, pay-give-it, pay-give-ru, and sell-pt. Constructed clauses reuse a printed a, lhe, or por with named participants, or put a thing or a person in the direct object on a printed model. They label the unprinted numeral. Index 2 does not list pagar.
Records pagar as four-place, with the direct object able to hold a sum, a debt, a thing read as its price, or, on the Luft line, the person. por stays a selected complement of the event.