Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): É uma pena não termos mais tempo para descansar. - It’s a pity we don’t have more time to rest.

Ser is used for:
- General statements
- Judgments, evaluations, opinions
- More permanent or abstract ideas
Estar is used for:
- Temporary states
- Locations
- Ongoing situations

É uma pena is a fixed, very common expression meaning “It’s a pity / What a shame.”
You are making a general evaluation about the situation, not describing a temporary state of something physically “being sad.” So:

✅ É uma pena não termos mais tempo…
❌ Está uma pena não termos mais tempo… (sounds wrong / unidiomatic)

Why do we say uma pena instead of just pena?

Both are possible, but there is a nuance:

É uma pena…
Very common and slightly more natural in everyday speech. It’s like English “It’s a pity / It’s a shame.”
É pena…
Also correct and common, a bit shorter and sometimes feels a touch more formal or neutral:
- É pena não termos mais tempo.
- É pena que ele não venha.

In Portugal, you will hear both É uma pena and É pena, with É uma pena being very natural in speech in this kind of sentence.

Why is pena feminine? Is there a reason?

Pena is grammatically feminine because of how the noun is classified in Portuguese:

a pena = the pity / the shame
uma pena = a pity / a shame

Many abstract nouns in Portuguese are feminine (e.g. a alegria, a tristeza, a sorte, a vontade), but this is largely arbitrary and must be memorized.

You can see the gender agreement in:

uma pena (feminine article)
If you added an adjective: É uma grande pena. (adjective grande agrees in form, but here it’s same in both genders)

Why is it não termos and not não temos?

Termos here is a personal infinitive, not a normal present tense verb.

não temos = we don’t have (present indicative, finite verb)
não termos = (for) us not to have / our not having (personal infinitive)

The structure of the sentence is:

É uma pena (nós) não termos mais tempo para descansar.
Literally: “It is a pity (for us) not to have more time to rest.”

In English, this corresponds to a clause like:

It’s a pity that we don’t have more time…
It’s a shame not to have more time…

In Portuguese (especially in European Portuguese), instead of:

É uma pena que não temos mais tempo… (acceptable but less elegant) Portuguese often prefers:
É uma pena não termos mais tempo… (personal infinitive after the evaluation)

What exactly is the personal infinitive, like termos here?

The personal infinitive is a special Portuguese form where the infinitive agrees with the subject. It exists in both European and Brazilian Portuguese, but is especially frequent and natural in European Portuguese.

Infinitive of ter:

ter – impersonal infinitive (no subject specified)
termos – personal infinitive, 1st person plural (we)
terem – personal infinitive, 3rd person plural (they)

Rough pattern (for regular verbs):

falar
- eu: falar
- tu: falares
- ele/ela/você: falar
- nós: falarmos
- eles/elas/vocês: falarem

In our sentence:

Subject (implied): nós
Verb: ter → termos

É uma pena não termos mais tempo…
= “It’s a pity (for us) not to have more time…”

Could I say É uma pena que não temos mais tempo instead?

You can say that, and it will be understood, but:

In European Portuguese, after expressions of emotion or evaluation (é uma pena, é bom, é importante, é possível, etc.), the more natural patterns are:
- É uma pena não termos mais tempo… (personal infinitive – very natural)
- É uma pena que não tenhamos mais tempo… (subjunctive – also correct, slightly more formal)

So, comparing:

✅ É uma pena não termos mais tempo… (most natural here)
✅ É uma pena que não tenhamos mais tempo… (correct, more “grammar-book” style)
⚠️ É uma pena que não temos mais tempo…
— understandable, but sounds less idiomatic in careful European Portuguese.

Why is there no article with tempo? Why not o tempo?

Here tempo is used in a general, abstract sense (“time in general, more time available”) rather than a specific, defined block of time.

Compare:

não temos mais tempo
= “we don’t have more time (in general / enough time)”
não temos mais o tempo
→ sounds like a specific time previously mentioned, e.g. “We no longer have the (previously mentioned) time.”

In practice:

Talking about time as a resource in general → usually without article:
- Não tenho tempo. – I don’t have time.
- Precisamos de mais tempo. – We need more time.

So mais tempo fits this “general/quantity” usage.

Why is it para descansar and not para descansar-mos or para descansarmos?

All of these are possible, but they are not identical:

para descansar
- Infinitive without a marked subject
- General purpose: “to rest / in order to rest”
- The subject is understood from context (we, from não termos)
para descansarmos (personal infinitive)
- Explicitly marks we as the subject of descansar
- É uma pena não termos mais tempo para descansarmos.
  → “It’s a pity we don’t have more time for us to rest.”

In everyday European Portuguese, para descansar here is perfectly natural, because:

the subject is already clear from não termos,
and speakers often keep only one verb in the personal infinitive, not both.

para descansar-mos with a hyphen is simply wrong spelling. Personal infinitives do not attach pronouns with a hyphen; -mos here is not a pronoun, it’s just the ending of the verb (descansar → descansarmos).

What is the difference between mais tempo and something like tempo extra?

Both are understandable, but they’re used differently:

mais tempo
- Literally “more time”
- Very common, neutral, and natural in this context
- Refers to additional time in general
tempo extra
- Feels more specific / technical or context-based
- Common in contexts like sports (extra time in a match), schedules, or formal plans

In this sentence, mais tempo is the idiomatic, everyday choice:

É uma pena não termos mais tempo para descansar.
Sounds completely natural.
É uma pena não termos tempo extra para descansar.
Understandable, but sounds more like a special “extra time slot,” less like natural conversation.

Could we change the word order and say É uma pena termos não mais tempo para descansar?

No. That word order is not natural or correct in Portuguese.

Rules relevant here:

The negation word não normally comes directly before the verb it negates.
The sequence in this structure is:
- não
  - personal infinitive → não termos

So the natural order is:

✅ não termos mais tempo
→ não (negation) + termos (verb) + mais tempo (object + quantifier)

The version:

❌ termos não mais tempo
breaks this standard pattern and sounds wrong to native speakers.

Is this sentence more typical of European Portuguese or Brazilian Portuguese?

The sentence:

É uma pena não termos mais tempo para descansar.

is perfectly fine in both European Portuguese (EP) and Brazilian Portuguese (BP). However:

The personal infinitive (termos) is:
- Very natural and frequent in European Portuguese.
- Used in Brazilian Portuguese as well, but everyday speech in Brazil might sometimes favor other constructions, such as:
  - É uma pena que a gente não tenha mais tempo para descansar.

If you are specifically learning Portuguese from Portugal, your sentence is exactly the kind of structure you should get used to and imitate.