Breakdown of Ela mostra respeito quando ouve em silêncio e não interrompe.
Questions & Answers about Ela mostra respeito quando ouve em silêncio e não interrompe.
In Portuguese, subject pronouns (eu, tu, ele/ela, etc.) are often dropped because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.
- Ela mostra respeito... = Mostra respeito...
Both are grammatically correct.
Using ela:
- adds emphasis to she (as opposed to someone else),
- helps clarity if the subject might be ambiguous in the wider context.
If it’s already clear from context who you’re talking about, a more natural European Portuguese sentence in many situations would just be:
- Mostra respeito quando ouve em silêncio e não interrompe.
Both are correct, but they focus on slightly different things:
Ela mostra respeito – She shows respect.
- Focuses on her behaviour or actions.
- It’s about what she does in that situation.
Ela é respeitosa – She is respectful.
- Describes a character trait or quality.
- It’s more general, about what she is like as a person.
Your sentence describes how she behaves when she listens silently and doesn’t interrupt, so mostra respeito is natural: the behaviour is the evidence of respect.
In Portuguese, abstract nouns like respeito, amor, ódio, medo can be used:
with no article when we mean them in a general sense:
- Ela mostra respeito. – She shows (some) respect.
- Ele sente medo. – He feels fear.
with an article when we’re talking about a specific or previously mentioned instance:
- Mostra o respeito que tem pelos pais. – She shows the (particular) respect she has for her parents.
In your sentence, respeito is general, so no article is the usual and most natural choice:
- Ela mostra respeito... = She shows respect (in general).
- Verb: mostrar – to show
- Form: mostra – 3rd person singular, present indicative
It can mean:
- she shows, he shows, or it shows depending on the subject.
Here, with Ela, it clearly means “she shows”:
- Ela mostra respeito... – She shows respect...
Verb: ouvir – broadly to hear / to listen
Form: ouve – 3rd person singular, present indicative
- ela ouve – she listens / she hears
In context, quando ouve em silêncio is understood as:
- “when she listens in silence”
Even though ouvir can mean just “to hear”, in structures like ouvir em silêncio, it clearly implies active listening.
Both verbs exist and are partly overlapping:
ouvir
- basic meaning: to hear (physically perceive sound)
- also commonly used for to listen in many contexts
escutar
- more strongly “to listen attentively”, to pay attention
In European Portuguese, ouvir is very common and perfectly natural in your sentence.
You could say:
- Ela mostra respeito quando escuta em silêncio e não interrompe.
This slightly emphasizes the idea of attentive listening, but in practice many speakers would feel almost no difference in meaning here. Ouvir is the more neutral and more frequent choice.
Em silêncio is a very natural and common expression meaning “in silence / silently”.
Structure:
- em (preposition) + silêncio (noun) → adverbial phrase of manner.
You could say ouve silenciosamente, but:
- em silêncio sounds more natural and idiomatic in everyday speech.
- silenciosamente is grammatically correct but feels more formal or literary and is used less often in casual language.
So:
- ouve em silêncio is what you’ll hear most native speakers say.
Portuguese allows the direct object to be understood from context and therefore omitted.
- interromper = to interrupt (someone / something)
If it’s obvious who she is not interrupting (for example, another person who is speaking), it’s natural to just say:
- Ela... não interrompe. – She doesn’t interrupt.
If you really want to specify the object, you can use:
- Não interrompe a outra pessoa. – She doesn’t interrupt the other person.
- Não a interrompe. – She doesn’t interrupt her.
But in a general statement about behaviour, dropping the object is normal and sounds very natural:
- quando ouve em silêncio e não interrompe – “when she listens in silence and doesn’t interrupt (the speaker / others)”.
In European Portuguese:
quando + present indicative (quando ouve)
- used for general habits, repeated situations, and truths:
- Ela mostra respeito quando ouve em silêncio...
= Whenever she listens in silence, she shows respect.
quando + future (indicative) (quando ouvir)
- used for specific future events:
- Quando ouvir a gravação, vai perceber.
= When she listens to the recording (in the future), she will understand.
In your sentence, we’re describing a habitual way of behaving, not a one-off future event, so quando ouve (present indicative) is the correct and natural choice.
Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.
Ela ouve em silêncio – simple present:
- can express a habit or a general behaviour:
- She listens in silence (as a rule / when this situation happens).
Ela está a ouvir em silêncio – present progressive (European form):
- describes an action happening right now:
- She is listening in silence (at this moment).
Your original sentence:
- Ela mostra respeito quando ouve em silêncio e não interrompe.
This talks about what she typically does in that situation, so the simple present ouve is the natural choice.
If you changed it to something like:
- Agora, ela está a ouvir em silêncio e não interrompe.
– Right now, she is listening in silence and not interrupting.
then está a ouvir would be appropriate.