On arriving, they met the Prime Minister at once.
In English, to avoid ambiguity, we would probably say, 'On their arrival...'. But in Portuguese, the ending em immediately identifies 'them' as the subject of the personal infinitive. More examples:
Ao entrarmos, vimos o ladrão.
On entering (as we entered/when we went in), we saw the thief.
Só saberei a resposta ao chegar ao escritório.
I shall only know the answer on my arriving at the office.
Note: Do not use subject pronouns after ao + personal infinitive.
4 To express the reason for doing something, with por
The personal infinitive is useful as a succinct way of replacing porque + indicative as the following examples illustrate.
indicative: Não te escrevemos porque não sabíamos a tua morada.
pers inf. Não te escrevemos por não sabermos a tua morada.
We did not write to you because we did not know your address.
indicative: Inácio partiu porque chegou a sua sogra.
pers inf: Inácio partiu por chegar a sua sogra.
Ignatius departed because his mother-in-law arrived.
5 Idiomatic use to express irony, sarcasm or incredulity
When the personal infinitive is used in this way, the meaning - in speech, at any rate - is likely to be conveyed as much by intonation as by the construction and form of verb. Such expressions can often be translated word for word into English, but are usually best rendered by the use of an extra phrase. Consider these examples:
Tu, estudares?
You? Studying? (or: What? You're actually studying?)
Nós, mentirmos por causa de você?
Us? Tell lies on your account? for: Do you really expect us to tell lies for your sake?)
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