Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Se eu tivesse mantido esta rotina estável no ano passado, teria tido menos stress e menos ideias parvas. - If I had kept this stable routine last year, I would have had less stress and fewer silly ideas.

In this sentence, it’s used in a “if” clause about an unreal past (like English “If I had kept…”), to talk about something that did not actually happen in the past, but we imagine it as a condition.

What tense is teria tido, and how does it compare to English?

Teria tido is the compound conditional (also called conditional perfect):

ter in the conditional: teria
- past participle: tido

So:

teria tido ≈ would have had

It’s used as the result of that unreal past condition, just like in English:

Se eu tivesse mantido… teria tido…
If I had kept… I would have had…

Why do both parts use compound forms (tivesse mantido, teria tido) instead of simple past forms?

Because we’re in a “third conditional” type structure (unreal past):

Condition (if-clause): Se eu tivesse mantido = If I had kept
→ past perfect subjunctive (unreal past condition)
Result (main clause): teria tido = would have had
→ conditional perfect (unreal past result)

If you used simple tenses like:

✗ Se eu mantivesse esta rotina… teria menos stress
→ This talks about a present or future hypothetical, not about last year.
✗ Se eu mantive esta rotina… tive menos stress
→ This sounds like a real past fact, not hypothetical.

So the compound forms are needed to show: unreal / contrary-to-fact past.

Could I say Se eu tinha mantido esta rotina… instead of Se eu tivesse mantido…?

For standard grammar, no. After se (when it means if), a past hypothetical condition requires the subjunctive, not the indicative:

✅ Se eu tivesse mantido esta rotina…
✗ Se eu tinha mantido esta rotina…

Native speakers do sometimes say se eu tinha… in informal spoken Portuguese, but it’s considered non‑standard and not recommended for learners, especially in writing. Stick with tivesse.

Why is it mantido and not mantida, even though rotina is feminine?

Because with the auxiliary ter, the past participle in Portuguese is invariable in gender and number:

ter + participle → participle does not agree with the object
- Eu tinha feito as tarefas. (feito, not feitas)
- Tínhamos visto as casas. (visto, not vistas)

So:

tivesse mantido esta rotina (not ✗ mantida)

The participle would only agree in gender/number if it were used with ser/estar in a passive or resultative construction:

A rotina foi mantida. (here mantida agrees with rotina)

Could I leave out eu and say Se tivesse mantido esta rotina…?

Yes. Portuguese is a “pro‑drop” language: subject pronouns are often omitted when the verb ending already shows the person:

✅ Se tivesse mantido esta rotina estável no ano passado, teria tido…
✅ Se eu tivesse mantido… (also fine, just more explicit)

In speech and informal writing, you will often see eu omitted here. Including eu can add a small emphasis on “I”, but grammatically, both are correct.

Why is it esta rotina and not este rotina?

Because rotina is feminine in Portuguese:

a rotina (the routine)
demonstrative feminine: esta (this), essa, aquela

So you must say:

✅ esta rotina
✗ este rotina

If the noun were masculine, you’d use este:

este livro (this book)
este problema (this problem)

Why are the adjectives after the nouns: rotina estável, ideias parvas?

In Portuguese, adjectives normally go after the noun:

rotina estável = stable routine
ideias parvas = silly/stupid ideas

Some adjectives can go before the noun, but that often changes:

the nuance (more subjective / emotional)
or the type of meaning

For example:

um grande amigo (a great friend) vs um amigo grande (a big/tall friend)

In rotina estável and ideias parvas, putting the adjectives after the nouns is the most neutral and natural option.

What does parvas mean, and how strong is it? Is it rude?

Parvo / parva in European Portuguese roughly means:

silly, dumb, foolish, daft

Nuance and strength:

Often mild and fairly informal, not as strong as a real insult like estúpido.
Can be affectionate or self‑critical:
- Que ideia parva tive! = What a silly idea I had!
In some contexts it can be a bit stronger, like idiotic.

In this sentence, menos ideias parvas suggests:

“fewer silly / nonsense ideas”, probably self‑critical but not highly offensive.

Why is stress used? Isn’t there a Portuguese word for that? And what about stresse / estresse?

In European Portuguese:

The common borrowed word is stress or stresse (both seen; stresse is the spelling recommended by some dictionaries).
The meaning is the same as in English: mental or emotional strain.

You could use more “Portuguese‑looking” words, but they’re not exact equivalents:

pressão (pressure)
tensão (tension)
ansiedade (anxiety)

In Brazilian Portuguese, the usual spelling/pronunciation is estresse.

So in PT‑PT, menos stress (or menos stresse) is very natural and widely used.

Why is there a comma before teria tido? Can I change the order of the clauses?

Yes, that comma is normal, and yes, you can invert the order.

Standard options:

✅ Se eu tivesse mantido esta rotina estável no ano passado, teria tido menos stress…
✅ Teria tido menos stress… se eu tivesse mantido esta rotina estável no ano passado.

Rules:

When a subordinate clause (like the se clause) comes first, Portuguese normally uses a comma before the main clause.
When the main clause comes first, the comma is often omitted in everyday writing:
- Teria tido menos stress se eu tivesse mantido… (comma optional)

Why is it no ano passado and not o ano passado?

In European Portuguese, you’ll hear both:

no ano passado = in the past year / in last year
(literally “in the past year” – em + o → no)
o ano passado = last year

Nuance:

o ano passado is very common when the time expression is used alone:
- O ano passado viajei muito.
In a longer phrase, no ano passado sounds very natural:
- Se eu tivesse mantido esta rotina estável no ano passado…

In practice, here you could say either one without changing the meaning much:

Se eu tivesse mantido esta rotina estável o ano passado… (also heard, especially in speech)

Could I say teria menos stress instead of teria tido menos stress? What’s the difference?

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

teria tido menos stress
→ would have had less stress (back then, in that past period)
Focus: completed result in the past (last year).
teria menos stress
→ would have less stress (now / generally as a consequence)
Could be interpreted as a present/general result of that hypothetical past action.

In this particular sentence (with no ano passado), teria tido menos stress matches better, because we’re talking specifically about how things would have been last year.

Why is menos used for both stress and ideias? In English we say less stress but fewer ideas.

Portuguese does not make that less/fewer distinction:

menos is used for both countable and uncountable nouns.

So:

menos stress = less stress
menos ideias = fewer ideas

You don’t need different words like less vs fewer in Portuguese; menos covers both.