Consideramos ser um direito legítimo dos cidadãos terem bibliotecas públicas.

Sentence Discussions Portuguese
#1
English Translation

We consider it the citizens’ legitimate right to have public libraries.

por que se usa “dos” em vez de “de os”, considerado que temos um infinitivo pessoal?

#2

As I understand it, the factor that determines whether “de os” is contracted to “dos” is not the presence of a personal infinitive, but rather whether “os” represents:

  • the definite article (=“the”), in which case the contraction occurs
  • the third person plural personal pronoun (=“they”), in which case the contraction does not occur

Here, the phrase is “dos cidadãos” (=“of the citizens”). Notice the “the”. If the word “cidadãos” is removed, the “os” will represent “they”, so no contraction occurs:

Consideramos ser um direito legítimo de os terem bibliotecas públicas.

Note that the personal infinitive appears in both, so it’s not the deciding factor.

However, having said that, I see on Reverso Context plenty of sentences with “de os” where “os” is a definite article. Here’s an example (which coincidentally also includes “cidadãos”):

  • É hora de os cidadãos assumirem uma posição e exigirem reforma política.

Not being a native speaker, I can’t tell you whether this usage would be correct in both formal and informal speech, but I’ll ask around.

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#3

I spoke with my cousin in Brazil, who helped me realize that this sentence was wrong:

  • Consideramos ser um direito legítimo de os terem bibliotecas públicas.

It should have been:

  • Consideramos ser um direito legítimo deles terem bibliotecas públicas.

He says that this is indeed a correct sentence:

  • É hora de os cidadãos assumirem uma posição e exigirem reforma política.

Perhaps the difference here is that “hora” is not the possession of “os cidadãos”, but rather belongs to a fixed expression, “é hora de”.

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