Breakdown of Quer chova, quer faça sol, os adeptos vão ao estádio.
Questions & Answers about Quer chova, quer faça sol, os adeptos vão ao estádio.
In this sentence, “quer … quer …” is a fixed conjunction meaning “whether … or …”:
- Quer chova, quer faça sol
= Whether it rains or shines / whether it rains or it’s sunny
It historically comes from the verb querer (“to want”), but in modern Portuguese, in this structure it no longer carries the idea of “wanting”. It behaves like a set phrase:
- You don’t change it for person or number: it’s always “quer … quer …”, never “quero … quero …” or “querem … querem …” in this meaning.
- It’s used to introduce two alternative conditions, usually things that don’t affect the result:
Quer isto, quer aquilo, X acontece.
(Whether this or that, X happens.)
So think of “quer … quer …” as a single grammatical unit: “whether … or …”.
“Chova” and “faça” are in the present subjunctive, not the normal present indicative.
- chover → present indicative: chove; present subjunctive: chova
- fazer → present indicative: faz; present subjunctive: faça
The structure “quer … quer …” is one of those that trigger the subjunctive because it expresses hypothetical or alternative situations, not concrete facts at a specific time:
- Quer chova, quer faça sol…
Literally: Whether it may rain, whether it may be sunny…
Using chove / faz (quer chove, quer faz sol) would sound ungrammatical to native speakers in this pattern. With quer … quer …, you should always use the subjunctive form of the verb.
Both are 3rd person singular, present subjunctive forms:
chover (regular -er verb)
- present indicative: ele chove
- present subjunctive: (que) ele chova
fazer (irregular verb)
- present indicative: ele faz
- present subjunctive: (que) ele faça
In weather expressions, Portuguese often uses an implicit “it” subject (like English “it rains”):
- (Ele) chove. → It rains.
- (Ele) faz sol. → It’s sunny / The sun is shining.
In the subjunctive, that “it” is still there grammatically, but you don’t say it:
(Quer) chova, (quer) faça sol…
Portuguese uses two different patterns for weather:
- chover = “to rain” (a single verb)
- Está a chover. = It’s raining.
- fazer sol = literally “to make sun / to be sunny”
- Faz sol. = It’s sunny.
There isn’t a single everyday verb for “to shine (weather)” used in this idiomatic opposition. So the natural pairing in Portuguese is:
- chover ↔ fazer sol
Hence:
- Quer chova, quer faça sol, …
= Whether it rains or it’s sunny, …
Yes. A very common alternative is:
- Faça chuva ou faça sol, os adeptos vão ao estádio.
Here:
- faça is still present subjunctive of fazer.
- chuva and sol are nouns: “rain” and “sun”.
Both sentences are idiomatic and very natural in European Portuguese:
- Quer chova, quer faça sol, …
- Faça chuva ou faça sol, …
They mean essentially the same: “rain or shine” / “no matter the weather.”
Portuguese very often uses the present indicative to express:
- Habits / general truths, and
- Future events that are regular or strongly expected.
Here, “os adeptos vão ao estádio” means:
- “The fans go to the stadium (whenever this happens / as a rule).”
So it’s describing a habitual behavior in any such situation, not one specific future event. Using “irão” would be possible but would sound more like a specific future (“they will go (on that occasion)”), and less like a timeless rule.
So:
- Quer chova, quer faça sol, os adeptos vão ao estádio.
= “Rain or shine, the fans (always) go to the stadium.”
In European Portuguese:
- os adeptos = the fans / supporters, especially sports fans.
It’s the standard term you’ll hear in news and commentary.
Comparison:
- fãs
- comes from English “fans”
- more general: fans of a band, actor, brand, etc.
- can also be used for sports, but “adeptos” sounds more native-formal in the sports context in Portugal.
- torcedores
- is the usual word for sports fans in Brazilian Portuguese.
- In Portugal, “torcedores” sounds clearly Brazilian.
So in European Portuguese sports talk:
- os adeptos ≈ “the (sports) fans / supporters.”
Portuguese often uses the definite article with nouns to refer to a group in general:
- Os adeptos vão ao estádio.
= Fans go to the stadium / The fans (in general) go to the stadium.
If you say “adeptos vão ao estádio” without the article, it sounds:
- less natural in this kind of general statement, and
- more like just “some fans” or an incomplete headline-style phrase.
So:
- For a general, habitual statement about all fans: use “os adeptos”.
- Dropping the article is possible in titles, posters, headlines, but in normal sentences, “os adeptos” is the natural form.
No, that would be incorrect for two reasons:
Mood:
After “quer … quer …”, Portuguese requires the subjunctive for these alternative situations, so you need:- chova, not chove
- faça sol, not faz sol
Structure:
In this pattern, “quer … quer …” behaves like a conjunction that expects parallel, subjunctive clauses:- ✔ Quer chova, quer faça sol, …
- ✔ Quer venhas, quer fiques em casa, …
- ✘ Quer chove, quer faz sol, …
So to sound natural and grammatical, keep the subjunctive with “quer … quer …”.
“Quer … quer …” is:
- Completely natural in spoken European Portuguese,
- Also common in written language (news, opinion pieces, etc.).
It leans slightly toward a neater / more “constructed” style than something like “seja chuva, seja sol” or “faça chuva ou faça sol”, but it’s not restricted to formal contexts.
You might hear, for instance:
- Quer trabalhe, quer esteja de férias, ele levanta-se cedo.
(Whether he’s working or on holiday, he gets up early.)
Yes. The clause with “quer … quer …” can be moved, and the meaning stays the same, only the focus changes slightly. For example:
- Quer chova, quer faça sol, os adeptos vão ao estádio.
- Os adeptos vão ao estádio, quer chova, quer faça sol.
- Os adeptos, quer chova quer faça sol, vão ao estádio.
All are correct. The first and second are the most common. Note that you’ll often see commas around the “quer … quer …” part, as it behaves like an adverbial clause (“in any weather”).