Breakdown of Depois de tanto esforço, eles merecem um fim de semana sem trabalho.
Questions & Answers about Depois de tanto esforço, eles merecem um fim de semana sem trabalho.
In Portuguese, when depois is followed by a noun or a verb in the infinitive, it normally takes the preposition de:
- Depois de tanto esforço – After so much effort (noun)
- Depois de trabalhar tanto – After working so much (verb in infinitive)
So the structure is:
- depois de + noun
- depois de + infinitive
You cannot say depois tanto esforço; the de is required grammatically.
You can, however, use depois alone when it is not followed directly by a noun or infinitive:
- Falamos depois. – We’ll talk later.
Yes, you could say:
- Após tanto esforço, eles merecem um fim de semana sem trabalho.
This is grammatically correct.
Differences:
- depois de
- Very common, neutral, used in both spoken and written language.
- após
- A bit more formal or literary, more common in writing than in everyday speech.
Meaning-wise, in this sentence they are practically equivalent. In everyday European Portuguese, depois de is more natural.
Tanto esforço means so much effort or such a lot of effort.
tanto is a quantity word that agrees in gender and number:
- tanto esforço (masculine singular) – so much effort
- tanta energia (feminine singular) – so much energy
- tantos esforços (masculine plural) – so many efforts
- tantas horas (feminine plural) – so many hours
Compared to:
- muito esforço – a lot of effort / much effort
- tanto esforço – so much effort (often with a stronger emotional tone)
Here tanto adds emphasis: it underlines that the effort was really great.
The comma marks Depois de tanto esforço as an introductory phrase giving background circumstances. It’s natural (and common) in Portuguese to place time or circumstance expressions at the start of the sentence and separate them by a comma.
You can change the order:
- Eles merecem um fim de semana sem trabalho depois de tanto esforço.
This is also correct. The meaning stays the same; the emphasis changes slightly:
- At the beginning (Depois de tanto esforço, ...) – you highlight the effort first.
- At the end (..., depois de tanto esforço.) – you state what they deserve first, then add the reason.
Both word orders are normal.
You can drop eles:
- Merecem um fim de semana sem trabalho.
Portuguese often omits subject pronouns because the verb ending (merecem) already shows the person and number (3rd person plural – eles/elas/vocês).
However, you might keep eles:
- To make it crystal clear who you mean (especially if the context is not obvious).
- To give a bit more emphasis to the subject: Eles deserve it (as opposed to others).
So both versions are possible; omitting eles is very natural in Portuguese when the context is clear.
In European Portuguese:
- eles – they (group with at least one male, or a mixed group)
- elas – they (all-female group)
- vocês – you (plural)
Eles never means you; it’s always they.
Important: in European Portuguese, vocês usually takes 3rd-person verb forms, the same as eles/elas:
- Eles merecem um fim de semana sem trabalho. – They deserve…
- Vocês merecem um fim de semana sem trabalho. – You (all) deserve…
Same verb form (merecem), different pronoun and meaning.
merecem is:
- Present tense
- 3rd person plural
- From the verb merecer (to deserve)
Basic present-tense conjugation:
- eu mereço – I deserve
- tu mereces – you (singular, informal) deserve
- ele / ela / você merece – he / she / you (formal/neutral) deserve(s)
- nós merecemos – we deserve
- vocês / eles / elas merecem – you (plural) / they deserve
Spelling note: only eu mereço has the ç (to keep the /s/ sound before o). The others have c: mereces, merece, merecemos, merecem.
- um fim de semana – a weekend, one weekend, unspecific
- o fim de semana – the weekend (a particular or known one)
In your sentence, um fim de semana suggests any weekend off, not a specific weekend already identified in the conversation:
- Eles merecem um fim de semana sem trabalho.
They deserve a (some) weekend with no work.
If you were talking about a particular upcoming weekend, you might say:
- Depois de tanto esforço, eles merecem o fim de semana sem trabalho.
(e.g. “this weekend” that you both already know about)
Yes, this is one of the European vs Brazilian differences.
- European Portuguese (Portugal):
The natural expression is fim de semana. - Brazilian Portuguese:
Both fim de semana and final de semana are used, but final de semana is very common in speech.
In Portugal, final de semana sounds unusual or Brazilian-influenced. For European Portuguese, stick with fim de semana.
Plural:
- um fim de semana → dois fins de semana
Both are possible, but they’re slightly different grammatically and in nuance.
sem trabalho – without work, with no work (noun)
- Focus on the absence of work as a thing.
- um fim de semana sem trabalho = a weekend where there is no work to do.
sem trabalhar – without working (verb in infinitive)
- Focus on the action of working.
- um fim de semana sem trabalhar = a weekend where they don’t do the action of working.
In context, both could be used:
- Eles merecem um fim de semana sem trabalho.
- Eles merecem um fim de semana sem trabalhar.
The first sounds a bit more like “a work-free weekend”; the second is more literally “a weekend without (them) working.”
Yes. Portuguese word order is relatively flexible. You can say:
- Eles, depois de tanto esforço, merecem um fim de semana sem trabalho.
- Eles merecem, depois de tanto esforço, um fim de semana sem trabalho.
The commas show that depois de tanto esforço is a parenthetical phrase (an inserted comment).
All of these versions are grammatically correct; the differences are mostly about rhythm and emphasis. The original version, with the phrase at the beginning, is probably the most natural and neutral:
- Depois de tanto esforço, eles merecem um fim de semana sem trabalho.