Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Ela teve ciúmes da colega, mas depois percebeu que era uma reação parva. - She was jealous of her colleague, but then she realised it was a silly reaction.

Grammatically, ciúmes is a masculine plural noun.
- You would say: ter ciúmes, os ciúmes, esses ciúmes, etc.
There is a rare singular form ciúme, but in everyday European Portuguese ciúmes is what people use for the feeling of jealousy.

So:

Ela teve ciúmes. = She was jealous / she felt jealousy.
O ciúme exists, but is much less common and often feels more abstract or “dictionary-like”.

In normal speech, stick to ciúmes.

Why is it da colega and not something like sobre a colega or com a colega? What’s the pattern ter ciúmes de?

The usual structure in Portuguese is:

ter ciúmes de alguém = to be jealous of someone

So the preposition is de, not sobre, com, para, etc.

Then, de + a colega contracts to da colega:

ter ciúmes de a colega → ter ciúmes da colega

Compare:

Tenho ciúmes dele. = I’m jealous of him.
Ela tem ciúmes da irmã. = She is jealous of her sister.

So da colega is simply de + a colega, required by the expression ter ciúmes de.

Does da colega mean her colleague, or could it be someone else’s colleague? Why is there no sua or dela?

Portuguese often leaves out possessive pronouns when the context makes things clear.

Da colega literally just means of the (female) colleague and does not explicitly say whose colleague she is. In context, listeners normally infer:

If we’ve only been talking about her situation at work or school, da colega will be understood as of her colleague.

If you want to be very explicit, you can say:

da sua colega = of her/his/your colleague (still ambiguous as to whose, but usually “her” here)
da colega dela = of her colleague (explicitly “her”, referring back to another female)

In natural European Portuguese, da colega is often enough; adding sua can sound more formal or sometimes even slightly more distant or written-like, depending on context.

Why is it teve ciúmes? Could I say estava com ciúmes or sentiu ciúmes instead?

All of these are possible, but they have slightly different nuances:

Ela teve ciúmes da colega.
- Uses ter in the simple past (teve).
- Describes the event or episode of jealousy as a whole.
- Very natural: She was (at some point) jealous of her colleague; she experienced jealousy.
Ela estava com ciúmes da colega.
- Uses estar com ciúmes, focusing more on the state of being jealous at that time.
- Feels a bit more descriptive/continuous: she was in a jealous mood/state.
Ela sentiu ciúmes da colega.
- Uses sentir (to feel), highlighting the moment she felt jealousy.
- Slightly more “psychological” or literary-sounding than teve ciúmes, but still correct.

In everyday European Portuguese, ter ciúmes is the most neutral and common way to say someone was jealous in a given situation, so teve ciúmes is a very natural choice here.

What’s the difference between teve ciúmes, estava com ciúmes, and ficou com ciúmes?

They all involve jealousy, but the focus is different:

teve ciúmes
- Describes the whole episode of jealousy: she experienced jealousy.
- Neutral and very common.
estava com ciúmes
- Emphasises the state of being jealous at a certain moment.
- Similar to “she was feeling jealous” or “she was jealous (then)”.
ficou com ciúmes
- Uses ficar to indicate change of state: she became jealous.
- Focuses on the moment when jealousy started:
  - Ela ficou com ciúmes quando o viu a falar com a colega.
    She became jealous when she saw him talking to the colleague.

In your sentence, teve ciúmes presents that jealousy as a completed reaction in the past, which matches well with mas depois percebeu (“but then she realised…”).

Why is it era uma reação parva and not foi uma reação parva?

Both are grammatically possible, but the nuance changes because:

era = imperfect tense of ser
foi = simple past (preterite) of ser

Era (imperfect) is used for descriptions, background, or things seen as a state rather than a single completed event. Here, era uma reação parva describes the nature/quality of that reaction:

…percebeu que era uma reação parva.
→ She realised it was (by nature) a silly reaction.

If you used foi, it would sound more like a single, completed event:

…percebeu que foi uma reação parva.
→ She realised it turned out / it ended up being a silly reaction (slightly more event-like).

In this context, era is more natural because she is judging the reaction’s character (it was inherently silly), not narrating it as just one more past event.

Why can the subject ela be omitted in mas depois percebeu?

In Portuguese (especially European Portuguese), subject pronouns are often dropped because the verb ending usually tells you who the subject is. These are called null subjects or pro-drop.

percebeu (3rd person singular past) matches ela (she) or ele (he), but we know from context that we’re still talking about ela.

So:

Ela teve ciúmes da colega, mas depois percebeu que…
is completely natural and actually more typical than repeating ela:
Ela teve ciúmes da colega, mas depois ela percebeu que…
This is grammatically correct but feels heavier and less idiomatic in European Portuguese unless you need to avoid ambiguity or add emphasis.

What exactly does parva mean here? Is it strong, rude, or more like “silly”?

In European Portuguese:

parvo/parva often means silly, foolish, a bit stupid, depending on tone.
It is generally milder than truly strong insults like estúpido, burro, idiota, etc.

In the phrase uma reação parva:

It’s closer to a silly reaction, a dumb reaction, or a bit of a stupid reaction.
The tone can be mildly self-critical, not necessarily harsh. She’s basically thinking: “That was a silly way for me to react.”

In Brazil, parvo is less common in everyday speech; European Portuguese uses it much more. In Portugal, it’s fairly frequent and can be affectionate or light, depending on context and tone of voice.

Why is it parva and not parvo? What is it agreeing with?

Parvo/parva is an adjective and must agree in gender and number with the noun it describes.

reação is a feminine singular noun: a reação
therefore, the adjective must also be feminine singular: parva

Examples:

uma reação parva (fem. sing.)
um comentário parvo (masc. sing.)
reações parvas (fem. plural)
comentários parvos (masc. plural)

So parva is just the feminine form matching reação.

What does colega mean exactly? Is it only “colleague” (work), or also “classmate”? How do you know it’s female?

Colega in Portuguese is quite broad:

It can mean colleague at work.
It can also mean classmate at school or university.
It can even be someone who shares some activity or group with you (e.g. teammate).

Gender:

The base form colega doesn’t show gender by itself.
Gender is shown by the article or other words around it:
- o colega = male colleague/classmate
- a colega = female colleague/classmate

In your sentence, da colega = de + a colega, so it’s clearly female.

Could we say mas percebeu depois instead of mas depois percebeu? Does the position of depois change the meaning?

Both are possible and have almost the same meaning, but word order affects rhythm and slight emphasis:

mas depois percebeu que…
- Very natural, common order.
- Smooth storytelling rhythm: she felt this, but then she realised…
mas percebeu depois que…
- Also correct.
- Slightly more emphasis on the fact that the realisation came later, perhaps contrasting with when she had the reaction.

You can also say:

mas só depois percebeu que… = but only later did she realise that… (stronger emphasis on later).

In ordinary narrative, mas depois percebeu is the most neutral-sounding choice.

Could you just say …mas depois percebeu que era parva instead of era uma reação parva?

Yes, you can say:

…mas depois percebeu que era parva.

But the meaning shifts slightly:

era uma reação parva
- Explicitly labels the reaction as silly.
- Focus: her reaction was silly.
era parva
- Grammatically, the closest subject is ela, so it usually means she was silly (in that moment / about that).
- This can be understood as self-criticism: she realises she was being silly.

Context could clarify, but era uma reação parva is less ambiguous and clearly points to the reaction rather than to her whole person.

Is ciúmes masculine or feminine? How would I use it with an article?

Ciúmes is:

masculine plural.

With articles and determiners:

os ciúmes = the jealousy
esses ciúmes = that jealousy / those jealous feelings
muitos ciúmes = a lot of jealousy

Examples:

Os ciúmes dele estavam a destruir a relação.
His jealousy was destroying the relationship.

But notice that in expressions like ter ciúmes, you normally just see ciúmes without an article:

Ela teve ciúmes da colega.
Ele tem ciúmes de toda a gente.