Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela talvez me tivesse perdoado. - If I had been more honest, she might have forgiven me.

Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela talvez me tivesse perdoado.

If I had been more honest, she might have forgiven me.

Breakdown of Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela talvez me tivesse perdoado.

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Questions & Answers about Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela talvez me tivesse perdoado.

What tense and mood are tivesse sido and me tivesse perdoado, and what is their English equivalent?

Both tivesse sido and me tivesse perdoado are in the subjunctive mood, in a compound past tense.

tivesse sido
- Verb: ter (to have) in the past subjunctive: eu tivesse
- - past participle of ser: sido
- Together: eu tivesse sido = if I had been
me tivesse perdoado
- Verb: ter in the past subjunctive: ela tivesse
- - past participle of perdoar: perdoado
- With pronoun: ela me tivesse perdoado = she had forgiven me / she might have forgiven me (here, hypothetical)

In English grammar terms, this corresponds to a past perfect subjunctive / third conditional:

Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela talvez me tivesse perdoado.
If I had been more sincere, she might have forgiven me.

Why do we use tivesse sido instead of era or fui?

tivesse sido is used because the sentence talks about an unreal, hypothetical situation in the past (it didn’t really happen), introduced by se.

tivesse sido (subjunctive) = had been → unreal past condition
era (imperfect indicative) = was → background description / repeated past action
fui (preterite indicative) = I was → completed past fact

With se, when you express a regret or hypothetical past that did not occur, Portuguese normally uses the subjunctive, not the indicative:

✅ Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero...
❌ Se eu era/fui mais sincero... (ungrammatical or at least very odd in standard Portuguese with this meaning)

So tivesse sido signals clearly: this didn’t actually happen; I’m imagining an alternative past.

Could I say Se eu fosse mais sincero instead of Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero? What’s the difference?

You can say both, but the meaning changes slightly.

Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero
- Refers to a specific past situation or moment.
- Implies: at some particular time in the past, I was not sincere enough.
- English: If I had been more sincere (back then)...
Se eu fosse mais sincero
- More general: talks about my character or usual behaviour, not one specific occasion.
- Often sounds like a general conditional about who I am as a person.
- English: If I were more sincere (as a person / in general)...

So:

For a particular event:
Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela talvez me tivesse perdoado.
If I had been more sincere, she might have forgiven me.
For a more general trait:
Se eu fosse mais sincero, ela talvez me perdoasse.
If I were more sincere, she might forgive me.

Your original sentence feels like regret about a specific past situation, so tivesse sido is the better match.

Why is talvez followed by me tivesse perdoado in the subjunctive and not by something like teria perdoado (conditional)?

Two things are happening in that second clause:

talvez (maybe / perhaps)
- In standard Portuguese, talvez is one of the words that normally triggers the subjunctive, especially when talking about something uncertain:
  - Talvez ela venha. – Maybe she will come.
  - Talvez ela tivesse vindo. – Maybe she had come.
Choice of tense: past hypothetical
- Because the whole sentence is about a past hypothetical, the correct subjunctive tense is the compound past subjunctive: tivesse perdoado.

So ela talvez me tivesse perdoado is:

Mood: subjunctive (because of talvez and uncertainty)
Time: past hypothetical (because it’s tied to an unreal past condition)

Compare:

More “normal” 3rd conditional pattern without talvez:
Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela ter-me-ia perdoado.
If I had been more sincere, she would have forgiven me.
With talvez, Portuguese prefers the subjunctive in the second clause:
Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela talvez me tivesse perdoado.
If I had been more sincere, she might have forgiven me.

You can hear things like ela talvez teria perdoado, but in careful European Portuguese, talvez + subjunctive is the textbook pattern.

Can the position of talvez change? For example, can I say Talvez ela me tivesse perdoado or Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, talvez ela me tivesse perdoado?

Yes, you have several acceptable word orders, with small differences in emphasis:

Ela talvez me tivesse perdoado.
- Neutral. Subject ela comes first; talvez is in the middle.
- Emphasis slightly more on ela (“she, maybe, would have forgiven me”).
Talvez ela me tivesse perdoado.
- Very common and natural.
- Starting with talvez puts more emphasis on the uncertainty.
- Roughly: Maybe she would have forgiven me...
In the full sentence, both are possible:
- Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela talvez me tivesse perdoado.
- Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, talvez ela me tivesse perdoado.

Both are correct European Portuguese; the difference is mainly stylistic and rhythmic. The meaning is essentially the same.

Why is the pronoun me before tivesse (in ela talvez me tivesse perdoado) and not after it, like ela talvez tivesse-me perdoado?

This is about clitic pronoun placement in European Portuguese.

In your sentence:

talvez is an adverb of doubt that attracts the pronoun to a position before the verb (this is called próclise).
So standard European Portuguese requires:
ela talvez me tivesse perdoado, not ela talvez tivesse-me perdoado.

Very simplified rule for European Portuguese:

If one of certain “attractors” appears before the verb (e.g. não, nunca, já, ainda, também, só, talvez, se, many conjunctions, etc.), you use proclisis (pronoun before the verb):
- Ela não me perdoou.
- Talvez me perdoe.
- Se me tivesse perdoado...
Without these attractors, especially if the verb starts the clause, European Portuguese tends to use enclisis (pronoun after the verb):
- Perdoou-me.
- Ela perdoou-me.

So in this specific sentence, ela talvez me tivesse perdoado is the grammatically standard option in European Portuguese.

(Brazilian Portuguese uses proclisis far more often and would normally say ela talvez tivesse me perdoado.)

Why is it sincero and not sincera? Would it change if the speaker is a woman?

Yes, it would change if the speaker is a woman.

In Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, the adjective sincero agrees with the subject eu:

If eu refers to a man → sincero (masculine singular)
If eu refers to a woman → sincera (feminine singular)

So:

Man speaking:
Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela talvez me tivesse perdoado.
If I had been more sincere, she might have forgiven me.
Woman speaking:
Se eu tivesse sido mais sincera, ela talvez me tivesse perdoado.

Adjectives in Portuguese must agree in gender and number with the noun or pronoun they qualify.

Both verbs use tivesse. Are they the same form, and why is it tivesse for both eu and ela?

Yes, both are the same form of the verb ter, and in this tense, eu and ele/ela share the same form.

Structure:

Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero...
- Verb: ter, past subjunctive, 1st person singular: eu tivesse
- - sido (past participle of ser)
ela talvez me tivesse perdoado.
- Verb: ter, past subjunctive, 3rd person singular: ela tivesse
- - perdoado (past participle of perdoar)

In the past subjunctive of ter, the forms for eu and ele/ela are identical:

eu tivesse
tu tivesses
ele / ela tivesse
nós tivéssemos
vocês / eles / elas tivessem

So grammatically:

First tivesse agrees with eu;
Second tivesse agrees with ela;

They just happen to look the same. Context (and the subject pronouns eu and ela) tell you which is which.

Could we replace sido with estado and say Se eu tivesse estado mais sincero? What’s the difference between ser and estar here?

In this sentence, sido (from ser) is the natural and correct choice. estado (from estar) would sound odd or wrong.

Reason: ser vs estar

ser sincero
- Talks about a quality, character, or attitude, not a brief, physical state.
- Used for more permanent or essential characteristics, or at least seen as part of how you behave.
estar sincero
- Very unusual in Portuguese.
- Would suggest being in a temporary “sincere mood” at that moment.
- Native speakers practically never say estar sincero.

So:

✅ Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero... (natural)
❌ Se eu tivesse estado mais sincero... (unnatural / incorrect for most speakers)

The idea is about how honest you were as a person in that situation, which fits ser, not estar.

Is there a more formal or alternative way to say the second part, maybe using teria (the conditional perfect)?

Yes. A very classic, slightly more formal version is:

Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela ter-me-ia perdoado.

Here:

ter-me-ia perdoado is the conditional perfect (also called future-in-the-past in some grammars):
- ter in the conditional: teria
- - clitic pronoun me in the middle → ter-me-ia
- - past participle perdoado

You might also hear, in modern everyday European Portuguese:

Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela teria perdoado.
Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela teria-me perdoado.
Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela tinha-me perdoado. (colloquial)

Your original version with talvez + subjunctive:

Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela talvez me tivesse perdoado.

adds the nuance of uncertainty (she might have forgiven me), instead of the more direct would have forgiven me.

Can I omit the subject pronouns eu and ela in this sentence?

Yes, you can, and it still sounds natural, especially in Portuguese (which is a null-subject language):

Se tivesse sido mais sincero, talvez me tivesse perdoado.

Here, the verb endings tell you who the subjects are:

tivesse sido (1st person singular) → implicit eu
tivesse perdoado (also could be 1st or 3rd person singular, so ela is a bit less obvious, but context usually clarifies)

To avoid ambiguity, many speakers keep ela, though eu is more often dropped:

Se tivesse sido mais sincero, ela talvez me tivesse perdoado.

Omitting eu is very normal; omitting ela is also possible but may rely more on context.

Is this structure common in spoken European Portuguese, or is it mostly written/formal?

The grammar pattern (se + past subjunctive for unreal past) is real and understood, but in informal speech, people often simplify.

Your sentence as written:

Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela talvez me tivesse perdoado.

is perfectly correct and natural in careful speech and in writing (books, essays, news).

In more casual spoken European Portuguese, you might hear:

Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela talvez me perdoasse.
Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela talvez me perdoava. (colloquial, mixing conditional with imperfect indicative)
Se eu tivesse sido mais sincero, ela tinha-me perdoado. (very common spoken pattern)

So:

Your version is good, standard Portuguese, fully appropriate in written and formal contexts.
In everyday conversation, people often use slightly simpler or mixed verb forms, but they express the same idea.