Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): O Pedro ficou desapontado com a nota, mas a professora estava satisfeita com o seu progresso. - Pedro was disappointed with the grade, but the teacher was satisfied with his progress.

You can also say just Pedro, especially in more formal writing or in lists (e.g. class registers), but O Pedro is perfectly normal and very common in Portugal.

What’s the difference between ficou desapontado and estava desapontado?

Both are possible but they focus on different things:

ficou desapontado
- literally: “(he) became disappointed”
- ficou (past of ficar) often marks a change of state: he wasn’t disappointed before, then he became disappointed when he saw the grade.
estava desapontado
- estava (imperfect of estar) describes a state in the past, without focusing on when that state started.

In this sentence, ficou desapontado com a nota highlights the reaction to the grade – the moment he saw it and his emotion changed.

Why is it com a nota and not just com nota?

In Portuguese, you almost always need an article with a singular, countable noun. So:

com a nota = with the grade (a specific, known grade)
com nota would sound incomplete or wrong here.

A nota is “the grade” on a specific test or assignment that both speakers know about from context. Portuguese uses definite articles more often than English does.

Does nota mean “note” (like a written note) or “grade” here?

In this context, nota means grade / mark (the result in a test or exam).

nota = grade / mark (school result)
It can also mean “note” in other contexts (e.g. tomar notas = to take notes), but with school and com a nota, it’s clearly grade.

Why is it a professora and not just professora?

Professions in Portuguese almost always take an article when they are used as nouns referring to a specific person:

a professora = the (female) teacher
o professor = the (male) teacher

You’d only drop the article in things like:

job titles after ser in a generic sense: Ela é professora. = She is a teacher.
headlines, labels, very short notes.

Here, a professora means the particular teacher involved in this situation.

Why is it satisfeita and not satisfeito?

Adjectives in Portuguese must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

a professora is feminine singular.
So the adjective must also be feminine singular: satisfeita.
Masculine singular would be satisfeito (e.g. O professor estava satisfeito.)

Similarly:

O Pedro ficou desapontado → desapontado is masculine singular, agreeing with O Pedro.

Why is it estava satisfeita (imperfect) instead of ficou satisfeita or esteve satisfeita?

Each choice has a slightly different nuance:

estava satisfeita (imperfect)
- describes an ongoing or background state in the past: she was (in general) satisfied with his progress at that time.
- doesn’t focus on a specific moment of change.
ficou satisfeita
- like ficou desapontado, would mean “she became satisfied” at some particular moment (a change of state).
esteve satisfeita (preterite of estar)
- can suggest a completed, bounded period: “she was satisfied (for a while)”, state seen as having clear beginning and end.

By saying mas a professora estava satisfeita com o seu progresso, the sentence contrasts:

Pedro’s moment of disappointment (ficou)
with the teacher’s ongoing attitude of satisfaction (estava).

What does mas do here, and why is there a comma before it?

Mas means but and introduces a contrast:

O Pedro ficou desapontado com a nota, mas a professora estava satisfeita…
Pedro was disappointed with the grade, *but the teacher was satisfied…*

The comma before mas is normal because it separates two clauses:

O Pedro ficou desapontado com a nota
a professora estava satisfeita com o seu progresso

Why is it com o seu progresso and not just com seu progresso?

In European Portuguese, it’s much more natural to include the article with possessives:

com o seu progresso (EP natural)
com seu progresso (sounds more Brazilian or very formal/literary in EP)

Structure:

com (with) + o (definite article) + seu (possessive) + progresso (noun)

So the most idiomatic European Portuguese form is com o seu progresso.

Who does seu refer to here? Pedro or the teacher?

Literally, seu can mean his / her / their / your (formal), so in isolation it’s ambiguous.

In practice, in this sentence seu refers to Pedro, because:

the context is o Pedro ficou desapontado… mas a professora estava satisfeita com o seu progresso,
“progress” is naturally associated with the student, not with the teacher.

But to avoid ambiguity, especially in spoken Portuguese, people often use:

o progresso dele = his progress (Pedro’s)
o progresso dela = her progress

So you could also say:

…mas a professora estava satisfeita com o progresso dele.
which is crystal clear: with his progress (Pedro’s).

Why are there no subject pronouns like ele or ela?

Portuguese is a pro-drop language: you usually omit subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the subject.

Here we explicitly name the subjects:

O Pedro ficou…
a professora estava…

Since the nouns are already there, adding ele or ela would be redundant:

O Pedro ele ficou desapontado… → sounds unnatural or emphatic in an odd way in standard Portuguese.

So the natural form is without pronouns, exactly as in the sentence.

Could you use decepcionado instead of desapontado?

Both exist, but the preference and nuance differ by variety:

In European Portuguese, desapontado is more common and neutral for “disappointed”.
decepcionado also exists but can sound more formal or influenced by Brazilian usage.

In Brazilian Portuguese, decepcionado is very common.

In Portugal, O Pedro ficou desapontado com a nota sounds the most natural everyday choice.