Breakdown of Eu discordo da tua opinião, mas respeito a tua experiência.
Questions & Answers about Eu discordo da tua opinião, mas respeito a tua experiência.
In Portuguese, the verb discordar normally takes the preposition de, not com:
- discordar de algo/alguém = to disagree with something/someone
So the basic structure is:
- discordar de + a tua opinião → discordar da tua opinião
Using com after discordar sounds incorrect or very odd in standard European Portuguese.
If you really want to use com, you switch to another verb:
- concordar com = to agree with
- não concordar com = to not agree with / to disagree with
Da is a contraction of the preposition de + the definite article a:
- de
- a opinião → da opinião
You have:
- discordar de (to disagree with)
- the noun opinião, which is feminine and usually takes the article a (the)
- plus the possessive phrase a tua opinião (your opinion)
So:
- discordar de a tua opinião → in Portuguese this must contract → discordar da tua opinião
You can’t write de a separately; it must become da in standard Portuguese spelling.
This is about the person you’re speaking to:
- tu / tua / teu = informal you / your, very common in Portugal
- você / sua / seu = more formal you / your, or neutral in many parts of Brazil, but in Portugal it often sounds distant or slightly cold if used wrongly.
In European Portuguese:
- Talking to a friend / someone close:
- a tua opinião
- Talking more formally, or to a stranger in a respectful way:
- a sua opinião
The sentence with tua is clearly informal / familiar: you’re talking to someone you address as tu.
You can absolutely drop Eu:
- Discordo da tua opinião, mas respeito a tua experiência.
Portuguese is a pro-drop language: the verb ending already shows the subject:
- discordo = I disagree
- discordas = you (tu) disagree
- discorda = he / she / you (você) disagree(s)
Including Eu adds a bit of emphasis:
- Eu discordo da tua opinião… → stressing I in contrast to others, or highlighting your own stance.
Both versions are grammatically correct; the one with Eu is just a bit more explicit/emphatic.
In Portuguese, mas (but) normally starts a new clause that contrasts with the previous one. We usually put a comma before it:
- Eu discordo da tua opinião, mas respeito a tua experiência.
This is similar to English:
- I disagree with your opinion, but I respect your experience.
So the comma separates:
- Eu discordo da tua opinião
- mas respeito a tua experiência
Both are used in Portugal, but the nuance is slightly different:
discordo da tua opinião
- more direct: I disagree with your opinion.
- sounds clear, possibly a bit stronger.
não concordo (com a tua opinião / contigo)
- literally: I don’t agree (with your opinion / with you).
- often feels slightly softer or more diplomatic in everyday speech, depending on tone.
In many situations, não concordo is more common in casual conversation; discordo can sound a bit more formal or assertive, but it’s not rude by itself.
In Portuguese, respeitar is a direct transitive verb:
- respeitar alguém / algo = to respect someone / something
- Respeito a tua experiência. = I respect your experience.
- Respeito os meus pais. = I respect my parents.
If you want a structure closer to respect for, you change the expression:
- ter respeito por/pela tua experiência
- Tenho respeito pela tua experiência. = I have respect for your experience.
But with the simple verb respeitar, no preposition is needed before the object.
In modern European Portuguese, the most common and neutral position for possessives is before the noun:
- a tua opinião
- a tua experiência
- o meu carro
- a nossa casa
You can put the possessive after the noun, but it sounds more marked and can add emphasis or a different tone:
- opinião tua → your opinion (often with a nuance like “that’s typical of you / your kind of opinion”)
- experiência tua → your experience (can sound literary or slightly unusual in daily speech)
So for a straightforward, neutral sentence, a tua opinião and a tua experiência are the normal patterns.
In European Portuguese, the article usually appears before possessives:
- a tua opinião
- a tua experiência
- o meu amigo
- a nossa cidade
Saying tua opinião without a is possible but sounds:
- more poetic, literary, or
- sometimes more colloquial and emphatic, depending on context.
In everyday standard European Portuguese, including the article is the default and the safest choice.
Experiência overlaps with English experience, but has two main uses:
Experience (knowledge/skill from practice)
- Respeito a tua experiência.
- Ele tem muita experiência na área.
Experiment / test
- Fizeram uma experiência científica. = They did a scientific experiment.
In this sentence, it’s clearly the first meaning: your accumulated knowledge or skill in some area.
Yes, that’s perfectly acceptable if the context already makes it clear what you disagree with:
- Eu discordo, mas respeito a tua experiência.
This is like English:
- I disagree, but I respect your experience.
You only need da tua opinião if you want to be explicit, or if there could be ambiguity about what you disagree with.
Grammatically, you could say:
- Eu discordo da tua opinião, mas respeito a experiência.
However, native speakers will usually repeat the possessive to make it clear and natural:
- Eu discordo da tua opinião, mas respeito a tua experiência.
Without tua before experiência, it sounds more generic, like “I respect experience (as a concept)” rather than your specific experience. Repeating tua keeps the contrast nicely focused on the same person: your opinion vs your experience.