Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Muitos não acreditam na promessa dela, mas eu quero dar‑lhe uma oportunidade. - Many don’t believe her promise, but I want to give her a chance.

Full version: Muitas pessoas não acreditam... = Many people don’t believe…
Shortened/pronominal version: Muitos não acreditam… = Many don’t believe…

In Portuguese, muitos / muitas can stand alone if the noun (usually “people”) is obvious from context.
Gender/number:

Muitos = many (masculine or mixed group)
Muitas = many (exclusively female group), or to agree with a feminine noun if it were expressed.

Why is it na promessa and not just em a promessa or only a promessa?

Portuguese often contracts a preposition + article into a single word:

em + a → na
em + o → no

The verb acreditar (to believe) normally uses the preposition em with things or abstract ideas:

acreditar em algo = to believe in something

With a definite noun, you get:

acreditar em a promessa → acreditar na promessa

So na in na promessa dela is simply em + a (“in the”), written as one word because this contraction is mandatory in correct Portuguese.

Why is it promessa dela instead of sua promessa?

Both are grammatically possible, but they don’t feel equally natural in European Portuguese:

a promessa dela = her promise (literally “the promise of her”)
a sua promessa = can mean his/her/your/their promise (ambiguous)

In European Portuguese, when the possessor is third person (he, she, they, você, o senhor, etc.), speakers often avoid the possessive adjectives (seu / sua / seus / suas) because they are ambiguous.

Using dela makes it crystal clear that the promise belongs to “her” (a woman previously mentioned in the context), not to:

“their” promise,
“your” promise (formal),
another third person.

So:

na promessa dela = in her promise (unambiguous, preferred in many contexts)
na sua promessa = could be her, his, your, or their promise, depending on context.

What exactly does dela mean, and how is it formed?

Dela literally means “of her” and functions as “her(s)” in English.

It’s formed by:

de + ela → dela (of her)
similarly:
- de + ele → dele (of him)
- de + eles → deles (of them – masculine/mixed)
- de + elas → delas (of them – feminine)

Important: dela agrees with the person, not with the noun:

a promessa dela = her promise
o carro dela = her car
os livros dela = her books

The possessed nouns (promessa, carro, livros) change, but dela stays the same because it refers to the same person.

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

Mas means “but” and is a coordinating conjunction.

In standard Portuguese punctuation:

You normally place a comma before mas when it links two clauses:
- Muitos não acreditam na promessa dela, mas eu quero dar‑lhe uma oportunidade.

The comma marks a clear contrast: many don’t believe, but I want…
In shorter phrases, writers sometimes omit the comma, but in this sentence it is quite natural and stylistically preferable in European Portuguese.

Why does the second clause say eu quero? Could you also say mas quero dar‑lhe uma oportunidade?

Yes, both are possible:

mas eu quero dar‑lhe uma oportunidade
mas quero dar‑lhe uma oportunidade

Portuguese is a pro‑drop language: subject pronouns (eu, tu, ele…) can be omitted because the verb ending already indicates the subject. So quero by itself already means “I want”.

Using eu here adds emphasis and contrast:

Muitos não acreditam…, mas eu quero…
= Many don’t believe…, but *I (on the other hand) want…*

So eu is not grammatically necessary, but it highlights the contrast between “many people” and “I”.

What does lhe mean here? Does it mean to her, to him, or to you?

In this sentence, lhe is an indirect object pronoun meaning “to her” (referring back to the same woman as dela).

But in general, lhe can mean:

to him
to her
to you (formal singular: você, o senhor, a senhora)
sometimes to it (for things, rarely in practice)

Portuguese does not mark gender in lhe, so its exact meaning (him/her/you) comes from context. Here, because the sentence also mentions promessa dela (her promise), the natural reading is “to her”:

quero dar‑lhe uma oportunidade = I want to give her a chance.

Why is it dar‑lhe uma oportunidade and not dar uma oportunidade a ela?

Both are grammatically correct:

dar‑lhe uma oportunidade = give her a chance
dar uma oportunidade a ela = give a chance to her

The differences:

Pronoun vs full phrase
- lhe is the unstressed clitic pronoun; it’s shorter and more typical in written and careful spoken European Portuguese.
- a ela is a full prepositional phrase; it sounds more emphatic, like stressing “to her” (and not to someone else).
Style
- dar‑lhe is more compact and stylistically “tidy”.
- dar uma oportunidade a ela can be used if you really want to highlight the person.

You could also combine them for strong emphasis, though this sounds rather marked/formal:

quero dar‑lhe uma oportunidade a ela

Why is there a hyphen in dar‑lhe? When do you use this hyphen with pronouns?

The hyphen shows that lhe is a clitic pronoun attached to the verb. In European Portuguese, you typically attach pronouns after the verb with a hyphen (this is called enclisis) in cases like:

infinitives: dar‑lhe, falar‑me, ajudar‑te
affirmative imperatives: Diz‑me!, Conta‑lhe!
gerunds: dando‑lhe, falando‑me

In this sentence, dar is an infinitive after quero:

(eu) quero dar‑lhe uma oportunidade
= I want to give her a chance.

If you move the pronoun to a different position (because of certain grammar triggers, like negation), the hyphen disappears:

não lhe quero dar uma oportunidade
(lhe now stands before quero, so no hyphen)

Can we say Eu quero‑lhe dar uma oportunidade instead of quero dar‑lhe uma oportunidade?

In European Portuguese:

Quero dar‑lhe uma oportunidade is the most natural everyday form.
Eu quero‑lhe dar uma oportunidade is possible but sounds more formal/literary or a bit old‑fashioned to many speakers.

Two patterns exist with a conjugated verb + infinitive:

Clitic after the infinitive (more common in EP):
- Quero dar‑lhe uma oportunidade.
Clitic after the conjugated verb:
- Quero‑lhe dar uma oportunidade.

Adding eu in front (Eu quero‑lhe dar…) is grammatically allowed, but in spontaneous speech in Portugal, speakers overwhelmingly prefer (eu) quero dar‑lhe….

Could we say dar‑te uma oportunidade instead of dar‑lhe if I’m talking to a friend?

Yes, that would change the meaning to “give you a chance” in informal “tu” speech:

mas eu quero dar‑te uma oportunidade
= but I want to give you a chance (talking to a friend you call tu)

Pronoun recap:

te = (to) you, informal tu
lhe = (to) him / her / you (formal)

So:

dar‑lhe = give her/him/you (formal) a chance
dar‑te = give you (informal) a chance

Why is it uma oportunidade and not um oportunidade?

Because oportunidade is a feminine noun in Portuguese.

The indefinite articles:

um = a/an (masculine)
uma = a/an (feminine)

Most nouns ending in ‑dade are feminine:

a cidade (city)
a liberdade (freedom)
a verdade (truth)
a oportunidade (opportunity)

So you must say:

uma oportunidade (never um oportunidade)

Why is não placed before acreditam? Could we say acreditam não instead?

In normal statements, não goes directly before the conjugated verb:

não acreditam
não quero
não sabemos

You cannot negate the verb by putting não after it, so:

acreditam não is not a correct way to say “do not believe”.

However, acreditam, não? (with a comma and rising intonation) can be used as a tag question, like:

Eles acreditam, não? = They believe, don’t they?

That is a different structure, not a simple negation.

What tense are acreditam and quero in, and what’s the basic idea of their forms?

Both verbs are in the present indicative:

acreditam = they believe / they don’t believe (3rd person plural)
quero = I want (1st person singular)

They come from:

acreditar (to believe)
- eu acredito
- tu acreditas
- ele/ela acredita
- nós acreditamos
- vós acreditais (rare)
- eles/elas acreditam
querer (to want)
- eu quero
- tu queres
- ele/ela quer
- nós queremos
- vós quereis
- eles/elas querem

So the sentence is talking about a current, general situation:
Many people (in general) don’t believe her promise, but I (in general / right now) want to give her a chance.

Would Brazilian Portuguese speakers say this sentence in the same way?

They would understand it perfectly, but everyday Brazilian Portuguese would often sound a bit different, especially in the second part.

European Portuguese (your sentence):

Muitos não acreditam na promessa dela, mas eu quero dar‑lhe uma oportunidade.

Common Brazilian alternatives:

Muitos não acreditam na promessa dela, mas eu quero dar uma oportunidade para ela.
Muitos não acreditam na promessa dela, mas eu quero dar uma oportunidade a ela.
Or with chance: …mas eu quero dar uma chance pra ela.

Differences:

Brazilians, especially in speech, rarely use lhe for people in the same way; they prefer “para ela / pra ela / a ela”.
Pronoun placement and clitic use are more relaxed and often different in BP.

But your original sentence is perfectly natural European Portuguese.