Breakdown of As jogadoras treinam todos os dias, por mais que esteja frio.
Questions & Answers about As jogadoras treinam todos os dias, por mais que esteja frio.
In European Portuguese, a definite article before nouns is much more common than in English.
- As jogadoras = the players (specifically female players)
- Jogadoras (without article) can sound incomplete or like a label (e.g. on a sign, a heading, or in very specific stylistic contexts).
In a normal sentence like this, you almost always use the article:
- As jogadoras treinam todos os dias… ✅ (natural)
- Jogadoras treinam todos os dias… ❌ (sounds odd in European Portuguese)
So yes, in this kind of sentence the article as is normally expected.
In Portuguese, the present indicative is used to talk about habits and routines, just like in English.
- As jogadoras treinam todos os dias = “The players train every day / The players practise every day.”
So treinam (present) is correct because this is a habitual action, not a specific event in the future or past.
You could theoretically say:
- As jogadoras vão treinar todos os dias… = “The players are going to train every day…”
…but that would sound like you’re talking about a plan or decision that will apply from now on, not a current, established habit. The given sentence describes a regular, ongoing routine, so the present treinam is the natural choice.
Yes, the comma is natural (and recommended) here.
Por mais que esteja frio is a subordinate clause expressing concession (similar to even though it’s cold / no matter how cold it is). In Portuguese, such clauses are usually separated by a comma when they come after the main clause:
- As jogadoras treinam todos os dias, por mais que esteja frio.
If you move the clause to the front, the comma still appears:
- Por mais que esteja frio, as jogadoras treinam todos os dias.
So the comma helps show the boundary between the main action and the concessive clause.
Por mais que is a fixed expression that introduces a concessive clause, similar to:
- “even though”
- “no matter how much”
- “however (cold it may be)”
Literally, it’s like saying “for more that…”, but you should treat it as a unit:
- por mais que + [verb in the subjunctive]
In the sentence:
- por mais que esteja frio ≈ “even though it’s cold / no matter how cold it is”
You can use por mais que with other verbs too:
- Por mais que trabalhe, não ganha o suficiente.
“No matter how much he works, he doesn’t earn enough.”
So grammatically, por mais que + subjunctive introduces something that should make the main clause less likely or harder, but it does not prevent it from happening.
Esteja is the present subjunctive of estar.
With por mais que, Portuguese requires the subjunctive mood, not the indicative:
- ❌ por mais que está frio
- ✅ por mais que esteja frio
The subjunctive is used here because the clause is concessive and somewhat hypothetical or “backgrounded”: it’s describing a condition or circumstance (it being cold) that could vary, but doesn’t stop the main action.
So:
- está = present indicative (factual, straightforward statement)
- esteja = present subjunctive (used after triggers like por mais que, mesmo que, embora, etc., to express concession, doubt, possibility, etc.)
Typical patterns:
- Por mais que esteja cansado, ele continua a trabalhar.
- Mesmo que esteja a chover, vamos sair.
In Portuguese, when you talk about the weather, you usually say:
- Está frio. = “It is cold.”
- Está a chover. = “It is raining.”
There’s no explicit subject pronoun (“it”) like in English. Portuguese simply uses the verb estar directly.
In por mais que esteja frio, the implied structure is:
- por mais que (está/esteja) frio → “even though it is cold”
There is no ele because ele would suggest a specific masculine noun (e.g. “he” or “it” referring to something specific). For impersonal weather expressions, Portuguese leaves the subject unexpressed.
So esteja simply agrees with an implicit, impersonal subject (“it” in English), which Portuguese doesn’t spell out.
They are related, but they’re not used in the same way.
- está frio = “it is cold” (the weather / environment is cold)
- está com frio = “he/she is cold” (a person feels cold)
So:
- por mais que esteja frio = “even though it is cold (outside / in general)”
- por mais que estejam com frio = “even though they are cold (they feel cold)”
Since the sentence is clearly about the weather condition as an obstacle, frio (weather) is the right choice here.
Yes, you can:
- As jogadoras treinam todos os dias, mesmo que esteja frio.
This is very natural and close in meaning: “The players train every day, even if/though it’s cold.”
Nuance:
- por mais que can carry a stronger idea of “no matter how much / however (cold it may be)”.
- mesmo que is very often translated as “even if / even though” and is very common in speech.
In practice, in this sentence, the difference is subtle. Both sound natural in European Portuguese; mesmo que is probably more frequent in everyday conversation, while por mais que can sound slightly more formal or emphatic.
Yes, that’s also possible and idiomatic:
- As jogadoras treinam todos os dias, embora esteja frio.
Embora also takes the subjunctive and means roughly “although / even though”.
Subtle differences:
- embora esteja frio = “although it’s cold” (straightforward concession)
por mais que esteja frio = “however cold it is / no matter how cold it is” (often sounds a bit more emphatic)
All three are acceptable:
- por mais que esteja frio
- mesmo que esteja frio
- embora esteja frio
The core meaning is the same: they keep training despite the cold.
Both can be understood, but they’re not used in the same way.
- todos os dias = “every day / all the days” (most common way to express a routine)
- cada dia = “each day” (more emphatic, often used when you’re highlighting each day as separate or stressing progression)
In this sentence, todos os dias is the default, idiomatic choice for a regular habit:
- As jogadoras treinam todos os dias… ✅ (natural)
- As jogadoras treinam cada dia… ❌ (odd in most contexts; you’d more likely say cada dia with some added detail, e.g. cada dia melhor, “better each day”)
So todos os dias is simply the normal expression for every day.
Yes, that’s completely correct and natural.
Both orders are fine:
- As jogadoras treinam todos os dias, por mais que esteja frio.
- Por mais que esteja frio, as jogadoras treinam todos os dias.
When you put por mais que esteja frio at the beginning, you give a bit more emphasis to the condition (the cold). When it comes at the end, the emphasis is more on the habit (training every day), with the cold added as a kind of afterthought.
Grammatically, both are equivalent.
The sentence:
- As jogadoras treinam todos os dias, por mais que esteja frio.
is perfectly acceptable in both European and Brazilian Portuguese.
Possible small differences in Brazil:
- Intonation and rhythm in speech will sound Brazilian, of course.
- Some speakers might more often use mesmo que esteja frio or embora esteja frio, but por mais que esteja frio is also used in Brazilian Portuguese.
Structurally and grammatically, though, this sentence works the same way in both varieties.