Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): A mãe ainda sente alguma vergonha, mas já aceita que não foi culpada. - The mother still feels some shame, but she already accepts that she was not guilty.

before people or family members already known in the context
when talking about a specific role in a situation (here, “the mother” of someone already mentioned)

So A mãe is literally “The mother”, referring to a specific mother we already know from context (for example, the mother of a child in the story).

Compare:

A mãe ainda sente alguma vergonha.
→ The mother still feels some shame. (specific mother in the story)
A minha mãe ainda sente alguma vergonha.
→ My mother still feels some shame.

Using just Mãe without an article (as in Mãe ainda sente…) is unusual in narration; it’s mainly for direct address, like calling someone:

Mãe, vem cá! → Mum, come here!

What exactly does ainda mean here in ainda sente alguma vergonha? Is it “still” or “yet”?

In this sentence, ainda means “still”:

A mãe ainda sente alguma vergonha
→ The mother still feels some shame.

It expresses that her feeling of shame continues until now, even though time has passed or circumstances have changed.

Position:

The most natural order is: A mãe ainda sente… (subject + ainda
- verb).
A mãe sente ainda alguma vergonha is possible but sounds more formal or gives slight emphasis to ainda.

As “yet”, ainda often appears in negative sentences like:

Ainda não aceitou que não foi culpada.
→ She hasn’t accepted yet that she wasn’t guilty.

What does já add in mas já aceita que…? Does it literally mean “already” here?

Yes, já is literally “already”, but here its main role is to mark a change of state, so in English we might translate it more naturally as “now”:

A mãe ainda sente alguma vergonha, mas já aceita que não foi culpada.
→ The mother still feels some shame, but she already accepts / now accepts that she wasn’t to blame.

The contrast is:

ainda sente = she still feels (the old feeling continues)
já aceita = she now / already accepts (a new attitude has begun)

This pair ainda … mas já … is very common in Portuguese to highlight a transition:

Ele ainda está triste, mas já fala do assunto com calma.
→ He is still sad, but he’s already talking about it calmly now.

Why is it alguma vergonha and not just vergonha or um pouco de vergonha? What nuance does alguma add?

Alguma here means “some” in the sense of “a certain amount of”:

ainda sente alguma vergonha
→ still feels some shame / a bit of shame

Nuance:

ainda sente vergonha
→ more general: she still feels shame (no indication of how much)
ainda sente alguma vergonha
→ suggests a limited/moderate amount, like she still feels some / a certain amount of shame, but perhaps not as strongly as before.

You could also say:

ainda sente um pouco de vergonha
→ literally still feels a little bit of shame, more colloquial and explicit about small quantity.

Note that alguma can sometimes mean “any”, but typically in:

negative sentences (não tive qualquer / nenhuma vergonha)
questions (Tens alguma vergonha? = Are you at all embarrassed?)

In this affirmative sentence, alguma vergonha is best understood as “some shame”.

Why are there two present tense verbs (sente, aceita) but a past tense foi (não foi culpada) in the same sentence? Is that normal?

Yes, that mix of tenses is very natural and logical:

sente (present) → describes her current feeling
aceita (present) → describes her current attitude
foi culpada (past) → refers to a past event/situation (whether she was to blame for something that already happened)

So the structure is:

Now she still feels some shame
Now she already accepts that she was not guilty (in that past situation)

In English we also commonly mix present and past like this:

She still feels some shame, but she now accepts that she was not to blame.

Why is it não foi culpada and not não era culpada or something like não teve culpa?

Each option has a slightly different nuance:

não foi culpada (preterite of ser)
- Focuses on a completed past situation/event.
- Fits well when talking about a specific incident: she wasn’t the one at fault for that event.
- This is the most natural here.
não era culpada (imperfect of ser)
- Describes an ongoing state in the past, or something habitual.
- Could sound like “she was not (a) guilty person / wasn’t guilty over that whole period”, giving a broader time frame rather than one event.
- Less likely in this exact context, where we usually think of one traumatic event or situation.
não teve culpa (preterite of ter culpa)
- Very idiomatic: ter culpa = “to be at fault / to be to blame”.
- Ela não teve culpa. → It wasn’t her fault.
- You could absolutely say:
  … mas já aceita que não teve culpa.
  This would sound very natural too, just a bit more colloquial than não foi culpada.

In the given sentence, não foi culpada is a clear, standard way to talk about her non-guilt in a specific past event.

Why is it culpada and not culpado?

In Portuguese, adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

mãe is feminine singular
So culpada must also be feminine singular

Patterns:

Masculine singular: culpado
Feminine singular: culpada
Masculine plural: culpados
Feminine plural: culpadas

Examples:

O pai foi culpado. → The father was guilty / to blame.
A mãe foi culpada. → The mother was guilty / to blame.
Os pais foram culpados. → The parents were guilty / to blame.

After aceita, could we (or should we) use the subjunctive, like aceita que não fosse culpada instead of não foi culpada?

Here the indicative (foi) is the natural choice.

aceita que não foi culpada
→ She accepts a fact: that she was not to blame.

In Portuguese, with verbs like aceitar, the mood depends on the degree of certainty / factuality:

Indicative: when the speaker presents it as real / factual
- Ela aceita que não foi culpada.
  → She accepts this as the truth.
Subjunctive: with doubt, possibility, fear, hypothesis, or more “inner conflict”
- Ela aceita que talvez não fosse culpada.
  → She accepts that she might not have been guilty. (it’s still somewhat hypothetical)

Saying simply aceita que não fosse culpada (without something like talvez) sounds unusual and quite literary; everyday speech would almost always use the indicative here.

Do we need the word que after aceita? Could we say … mas já aceita não foi culpada?

You must use que here; it introduces the subordinate clause.

aceita que não foi culpada = accepts that she was not guilty

Without que, the sentence is ungrammatical:

✗ … mas já aceita não foi culpada → incorrect

In Portuguese, verbs that introduce a full clause (like “accept that…”, “say that…”, “think that…”) almost always require que:

Ela disse que não sabia. → She said (that) she didn’t know.
Ele pensa que tem razão. → He thinks (that) he is right.
Ela aceita que não foi culpada. → She accepts (that) she was not guilty.

Why is there a comma before mas? Is it obligatory?

Yes, in this sentence the comma before mas is standard and expected:

A mãe ainda sente alguma vergonha, mas já aceita que não foi culpada.

In Portuguese punctuation rules, a comma is typically used before the coordinating conjunction mas when it joins two clauses (each with its own verb):

Ele queria ajudar, mas não sabia como.
Ela chorou, mas depois acalmou-se.

Here we have:

A mãe ainda sente alguma vergonha (clause 1)
já aceita que não foi culpada (clause 2)

So the comma is appropriate and normally required.

Does vergonha mean “shame” or “embarrassment” here? And are there any pitfalls with related words?

Vergonha can mean both “shame” and “embarrassment”, depending on context:

sentir vergonha
- moral shame: feel shame / feel guilty about something
- social embarrassment: feel embarrassed

In this sentence, because we’re talking about whether she was to blame (culpada), vergonha is closer to “shame / guilt feelings” than casual embarrassment.

Useful related expressions:

ter vergonha / sentir vergonha – to feel ashamed / embarrassed
ficar envergonhado(a) – to become ashamed / embarrassed
estar envergonhado(a) – to be feeling ashamed / embarrassed

Be careful with embaraçada in European Portuguese:

estar embaraçada most commonly means “to be pregnant”, not “to be embarrassed”.
For “embarrassed”, prefer envergonhada (fem.) / envergonhado (masc.) or expressions with vergonha:
- Ela ficou envergonhada. → She became embarrassed.
- Ela ficou com vergonha. → She got embarrassed.