Ela tentou perdoar o erro, mas ainda está um pouco magoada.

She tried to forgive the mistake, but she is still a bit hurt.

Breakdown of Ela tentou perdoar o erro, mas ainda está um pouco magoada.

• ela: she
• um: a
• estar: to be
• mas: but
• ainda: still
• tentar: to try
• pouco: little
• o erro: the mistake
• perdoar: to forgive
• magoado: hurt

Questions & Answers about Ela tentou perdoar o erro, mas ainda está um pouco magoada.

Why is it tentou perdoar and not tentou de perdoar or tentou a perdoar?

In Portuguese, tentar (to try) is normally followed directly by the infinitive, without a preposition:

• tentar + infinitive
  
  • Ela tentou perdoar. = She tried to forgive.
  • Tentámos explicar. = We tried to explain.

Using de here (tentou de perdoar) is incorrect.
Using a with a verb (tentou a perdoar) is also not standard.

You might see tentar a with a noun in some contexts (e.g. tentar a sorte – literally “to try (your) luck”), but not before another verb. So the correct structure is tentou perdoar.

What tense is tentou, and what nuance does it have?

Tentou is the pretérito perfeito simples (simple past) of tentar.

Functionally, here it corresponds to English “she tried” or “she attempted”, describing a completed action in the past, with no emphasis on repetition or duration.

Compare:

• Ela tentou perdoar o erro.
  She tried (once / at some point) to forgive the mistake.

• Ela tinha tentado perdoar o erro.
  She had tried to forgive the mistake (before another past event).

• Ela tem tentado perdoar o erro. (in European Portuguese)
  She has been trying to forgive the mistake (repeated/ongoing attempts up to now).

In European Portuguese, tem tentado usually implies repeated or ongoing attempts, not just a single event.

How does perdoar work grammatically? Do I need a preposition?

Perdoar takes a direct object in Portuguese; you don’t use a preposition like “to” or “for” before what is forgiven.

• perdoar alguém – to forgive someone
• perdoar o erro – to forgive the mistake

So:

• Ela tentou perdoar o erro.
  She tried to forgive the mistake.

is literally “She tried forgive the mistake” (verb + direct object).

You can also include the person being forgiven, often with a clitic pronoun:

• Ela tentou perdoar-lhe o erro.
  Literally “She tried to forgive him/her the mistake.”

But perdoar de / perdoar por / perdoar a (something) are not the normal ways to express this basic meaning.

Why is it o erro and not just erro?

Portuguese uses the definite article (o / a / os / as) more often than English, especially with specific, known things.

Here, o erro means “the mistake” – a particular mistake that both speaker and listener know about from context.

• perdoar o erro = to forgive the mistake (a specific one)
• perdoar erros = to forgive mistakes (in general, no article)

English can drop the article and still sound natural in some contexts, but in Portuguese leaving out the article usually changes the meaning (or sounds odd). So o erro here is normal and expected.

What is magoada doing here, and why is it feminine?

Magoada is an adjective (actually a past participle used as an adjective) meaning “hurt” (emotionally).

It agrees in gender and number with ela:

• ela → feminine singular → magoada
• ele → masculine singular → magoado
• elas → feminine plural → magoadas
• eles → masculine plural → magoados

So:

• Ela está magoada. – She is hurt.
• Ele está magoado. – He is hurt.
• Eles estão magoados. – They are hurt.

In the sentence Ela tentou perdoar o erro, mas ainda está um pouco magoada, magoada describes her current emotional state.

What exactly does magoada mean compared to words like chateada, triste, or ofendida?

All of these involve negative emotions, but the nuances differ:

• magoada – emotionally hurt, wounded feelings, often because someone did or said something upsetting. There’s usually a sense of pain and sensitivity.
• chateada – annoyed, upset, bothered; can be milder or more casual (like “pissed off” or “bothered”), not always deeply hurt.
• triste – sad; general sadness, not necessarily because of a personal offense.
• ofendida – offended, insulted; stronger feeling of having your dignity or respect attacked.

In context:

• Ela está um pouco magoada. – She’s a bit hurt (emotionally).
• Ela está um pouco chateada. – She’s a bit annoyed / upset.
• Ela está um pouco triste. – She’s a bit sad.
• Ela está um pouco ofendida. – She’s a bit offended.

Magoada suggests the mistake really hurt her feelings, even if she’s trying to move past it.

Why is it está magoada and not é magoada?

Portuguese distinguishes ser and estar much more clearly than English “to be”:

• estar → temporary or current state, often the result of a situation.
• ser → more permanent traits or inherent characteristics.

Emotional states like being sad, angry, or hurt normally use estar:

• Ela está magoada. – She is (currently) hurt.
• Ele está triste. – He is (feeling) sad.
• Eles estão zangados. – They are angry.

Ela é magoada would be very unusual; it could suggest something like “she is (by nature) someone who is hurt / easily hurt,” but it doesn’t fit this context. For “she is still a bit hurt (by what happened),” you need está.

What does ainda do here, and where does it go in the sentence?

Ainda means “still” (or sometimes “yet,” depending on context). It shows that the situation is continuing.

• Ela ainda está um pouco magoada.
  She is still a bit hurt.

The most natural position is before the verb:

• ainda + está = still is

Other possibilities:

• Ela ainda está um pouco magoada. – neutral, most common.
• Ela está ainda um pouco magoada. – possible, slightly more formal or emphatic.
• Ela está um pouco ainda magoada. – sounds awkward / unnatural.

So the given sentence uses the standard, natural placement for ainda.

What is the role of um pouco here? How is it different from just ainda está magoada?

Um pouco literally means “a little (bit)” and serves to soften the statement.

• Ela ainda está magoada.
  She is still hurt. (stronger statement)

• Ela ainda está um pouco magoada.
  She is still a little hurt. (less strong, suggests improvement or partial recovery)

Compare:

• pouco magoada – “not very hurt” (focus on small degree, can sound more objective)
• um pouco magoada – “a bit / a little hurt” (softer, more conversational)

In this sentence, um pouco helps convey that she is hurt, but not as much as before, or that the speaker is being tactful.

Why is mas used, and can I replace it with embora or apesar de?

Mas is the basic coordinating conjunction meaning “but / however”. It links two clauses directly:

• Ela tentou perdoar o erro, mas ainda está um pouco magoada.
  She tried to forgive the mistake, but she is still a bit hurt.

Embora and apesar de introduce subordinate clauses and require different grammar:

1. embora

   • subjunctive:
   • Embora ela tenha tentado perdoar o erro, ainda está um pouco magoada.
     Although she has tried to forgive the mistake, she is still a bit hurt.

2. apesar de

   • noun or infinitive:
   • Apesar de ter tentado perdoar o erro, ela ainda está um pouco magoada.
     Despite having tried to forgive the mistake, she is still a bit hurt.

So you can express a similar idea with embora or apesar de, but you must change the structure. You cannot just swap mas for them in the original sentence without other changes.

Can I switch the order of the two clauses? Would it still sound natural?

Yes, you can reverse the order of the clauses; it stays natural and the meaning is essentially the same, though the focus shifts slightly.

Original:

• Ela tentou perdoar o erro, mas ainda está um pouco magoada.

Reordered:

• Ela ainda está um pouco magoada, mas tentou perdoar o erro.
  She is still a bit hurt, but she tried to forgive the mistake.

Both are correct.

• The original emphasizes her effort to forgive, followed by the contrast that she’s still hurt.
• The reordered version emphasizes her current emotional state, then contrasts it with the fact that she did try to forgive.

How is this sentence pronounced in European Portuguese?

Approximate European Portuguese pronunciation (using a broad phonetic style):

• Ela – [ˈɛ.lɐ]
• tentou – [tẽˈtow] (nasal en, stress on tou)
• perdoar – [pɨɾ.duˈaɾ] (first e reduced to [ɨ])
• o – [u] (very short)
• erro – [ˈe.ʁu] or [ˈe.ʀu] (guttural r)
• mas – [maʃ] (final s like English “sh” in most of Portugal)
• ainda – [ɐˈĩ.dɐ] (nasal in, final a like a short “uh”)
• está – [(ɨ)ʃˈta] (often [ʃˈta]; es- can reduce to just [ʃ])
• um – [ũ] (nasal “oo”)
• pouco – [ˈpow.ku] (like “POH-koo”)
• magoada – [mɐ.ɡuˈa.ðɐ] (soft d like “th” in “this”)

Spoken at a natural pace, a lot of vowels reduce and link, so you might hear something like:

“Élɐ tẽˈtow pɨɾduˈaɾu ˈeʁu, maʃ ɐˈĩ.dɐ ʃˈta ũ ˈpow.ku mɐ.ɡuˈa.ðɐ.”