Breakdown of Se eu não tivesse tido tanto medo de falhar, talvez tivesse aprendido mais cedo.
Questions & Answers about Se eu não tivesse tido tanto medo de falhar, talvez tivesse aprendido mais cedo.
Tivesse tido is the past perfect subjunctive (in Portuguese grammar: pretérito mais-que-perfeito composto do conjuntivo).
It’s built as:
- tivesse – imperfect subjunctive of ter (1st/3rd person singular)
- tido – past participle of ter
So tivesse tido literally matches English “had had” in a hypothetical if-clause:
- Se eu não tivesse tido tanto medo… → If I hadn’t had so much fear…
Because the sentence talks about a past situation that did not happen (a contrary-to-fact condition).
In Portuguese, for unreal conditions in the past, you generally use:
- Se + past perfect subjunctive → result in the past
Pattern (very close to English “if I had… would have…”):
- Se eu não tivesse tido tanto medo de falhar, (eu) teria / tivesse aprendido mais cedo.
If I hadn’t had so much fear of failing, I would have learned earlier.
Using the subjunctive after se marks the action as hypothetical / unreal, not a simple statement of fact.
Because talvez (“maybe”, “perhaps”) normally calls for the subjunctive, not the conditional, especially in European Portuguese.
- Talvez tivesse aprendido mais cedo.
→ Maybe I would have learned earlier / Maybe I might have learned earlier.
Here:
- talvez = expresses uncertainty / possibility
- tivesse aprendido = past perfect subjunctive (matches that uncertainty)
In standard European Portuguese, talvez teria aprendido sounds wrong or, at best, very marked. The usual options are:
- Se eu não tivesse tido tanto medo de falhar, teria aprendido mais cedo.
- Se eu não tivesse tido tanto medo de falhar, talvez tivesse aprendido mais cedo.
So:
- Use teria aprendido without talvez, or
- Use talvez tivesse aprendido.
Yes, it is possible, and it’s perfectly natural:
- Se eu não tivesse tanto medo de falhar, talvez tivesse aprendido mais cedo.
Nuance:
- não tivesse tido tanto medo – focuses on having had a lot of fear over a previous period that is now seen as a block of past time (like English had had so much fear).
- não tivesse tanto medo – sounds a bit more like a state at that time (if I hadn’t been so afraid).
In many real contexts, the difference is subtle and both versions would be understood as the same general idea of regret about the past.
You will hear this kind of mix, especially in speech, but it’s not ideal in European Portuguese from a “correct grammar” point of view.
More natural, standard options are:
- Se eu não tivesse tido tanto medo de falhar, teria aprendido mais cedo.
- Se eu não tivesse tido tanto medo de falhar, talvez tivesse aprendido mais cedo.
So, if you use talvez, stay with the subjunctive:
- talvez tivesse aprendido, not talvez teria aprendido.
In Portuguese, the basic negation pattern is:
- não + conjugated verb
Here, the conjugated verb is tivesse (the auxiliary ter in the subjunctive), so:
- não tivesse tido, not tivesse não tido.
Placing não between tivesse and tido is very unusual and, outside of very marked/emphatic speech, would sound wrong. The neutral, correct form is:
- Se eu não tivesse tido tanto medo…
The fixed structure in Portuguese is:
- ter medo de + noun
- ter medo de + infinitive
Examples:
- ter medo de cães – to be afraid of dogs
- ter medo de voar – to be afraid of flying
- ter medo de falhar – to be afraid of failing
Using a here (medo a falhar) is a Spanish pattern (miedo a…), not Portuguese.
And you can’t drop the preposition before an infinitive:
medo falhar is ungrammatical; it must be medo de falhar.
Both usually translate as “to be afraid of”, but there’s a nuance:
- ter medo de – slightly more neutral; can describe a general fear or a characteristic.
- Eu tinha / tenho medo de falhar. – I (used to) am afraid of failing (in general).
- estar com medo de – emphasises the current feeling / moment more.
- Eu estava com medo de falhar naquele exame. – I was afraid of failing that exam (then).
In this sentence, ter medo de falhar fits very well, because it suggests a fear that affected you over a period and influenced your learning.
Estar com medo de falhar would also be understandable, but it would sound more tied to a particular moment or situation.
They’re related but not identical in usage:
falhar – very common, quite general:
- to fail (an attempt, a test, a plan)
- to go wrong, to miss, to not work
- medo de falhar = fear of making mistakes / not succeeding in what you try
fracassar – more formal/strong, usually for big failures:
- failing in life, a project, a business, a marriage, etc.
- medo de fracassar sounds like fear of a major overall failure.
In everyday speech, medo de falhar is more idiomatic and lighter; it matches well the idea of being afraid to try things because they might not work.
Both mean “a lot of fear”, but:
- muito medo – more neutral quantity: a lot of fear
- tanto medo – so much fear, with an implied comparison or judgment: more than normal / more than was good
In English terms:
- muito medo ≈ a lot of fear
- tanto medo ≈ so much fear (that it caused a problem)
In a regret sentence like this, tanto medo nicely conveys “so much fear that it stopped me from learning earlier.”
You can definitely drop eu:
- Se não tivesse tido tanto medo de falhar, talvez tivesse aprendido mais cedo.
Portuguese is a pro-drop language: subject pronouns are often omitted because the verb ending already shows the person. You use eu mainly for emphasis or contrast:
- Eu não teria tido tanto medo, mas eles tiveram.
In the original sentence, eu is optional; including it just makes the subject slightly more explicit/emphatic.
The most common, safe pattern is:
- talvez + subjunctive verb
So both of these are natural:
- Talvez tivesse aprendido mais cedo se eu não tivesse tido tanto medo de falhar.
- Se eu não tivesse tido tanto medo de falhar, talvez tivesse aprendido mais cedo.
You may also see:
- Se eu não tivesse tido tanto medo de falhar, tivesse talvez aprendido mais cedo.
(possible, but more formal/marked)
For learners, the best rule is:
- Put talvez right before the verb you want to soften:
talvez tivesse aprendido, talvez vá, talvez fosse, etc.
You’re seeing two different tenses/moods of ter:
tinha – imperfect indicative (pretérito imperfeito do indicativo)
- Eu tinha medo. – I had / used to have fear. (simple, factual past)
tivesse – imperfect subjunctive (pretérito imperfeito do conjuntivo)
- Se eu tivesse menos medo… – If I had less fear… (hypothetical)
Conjugation of ter in the imperfect subjunctive:
- se eu tivesse
- se tu tivesses
- se ele/ela tivesse
- se nós tivéssemos
- se vocês / eles tivessem
So tivesse is correct for eu and ele/ela in this mood.
The presence of se and the hypothetical meaning tell you it’s the subjunctive, not tinha.
Two common, grammatically solid alternatives are:
Se eu não tivesse tido tanto medo de falhar, teria aprendido mais cedo.
- Same meaning, classic “if I had… I would have…” structure.
- Uses teria aprendido instead of talvez tivesse aprendido, so there’s no talvez and only one tivesse-form.
Se eu não tivesse tido tanto medo de falhar, talvez aprendesse mais cedo.
- aprendesse = imperfect subjunctive of aprender.
- Slightly less “completed” than tivesse aprendido, but in context it can still express a past possibility.
The original sentence:
- Se eu não tivesse tido tanto medo de falhar, talvez tivesse aprendido mais cedo.
is perfectly natural European Portuguese; the two versions above are just slightly different stylistic choices that some learners find easier to digest.