Breakdown of Ainda que o helicóptero ajudasse muito, o vento forte espalhava o fumo.
Questions & Answers about Ainda que o helicóptero ajudasse muito, o vento forte espalhava o fumo.
Ainda que is a conjunction meaning roughly “even though / although / even if”. It introduces a contrast between two facts.
- Ainda que o helicóptero ajudasse muito ≈ Even though the helicopter helped a lot
- It always takes the subjunctive in the clause that follows.
Comparison:
- embora: very similar in meaning and also takes the subjunctive.
- Embora o helicóptero ajudasse muito, ... (almost the same as the original)
- apesar de: followed by de + noun or de + infinitive, not by a finite subjunctive verb.
- Apesar de o helicóptero ajudar muito, ...
- Apesar da ajuda do helicóptero, ...
Ainda que and embora tend to sound a bit more formal or written than apesar de in everyday European Portuguese.
Because ainda que is one of those conjunctions that requires the subjunctive.
In Portuguese, certain conjunctions automatically trigger the subjunctive in the clause they introduce, regardless of whether the situation is real or hypothetical. Ainda que is one of them.
So you must say:
- Ainda que o helicóptero ajudasse muito, ... ✅
and not - ✗ Ainda que o helicóptero ajudava muito, ...
The subjunctive here doesn’t mean the helicopter might be helping; it just follows the grammar of ainda que.
The two verbs are in different moods because they play different roles:
- ajudasse (imperfect subjunctive) is in the clause with ainda que, which demands the subjunctive.
- espalhava (imperfect indicative) describes what actually happened in the situation being narrated.
So the sentence says:
Even though the helicopter was helping a lot, the strong wind was spreading the smoke.
Both parts are presented as real, not hypothetical.
If you said:
- Ainda que o helicóptero ajudasse muito, o vento forte espalhasse o fumo. ❌
this would sound wrong or, at best, extremely odd, because you’d be using the subjunctive for something that is supposed to be a factual result.
A more natural hypothetical version would change both verbs:
- Mesmo que o helicóptero ajudasse muito, o vento forte espalharia o fumo.
(Even if the helicopter helped a lot, the strong wind would spread the smoke.)
Here, ajudasse = hypothetical condition; espalharia = conditional result.
Both come from espalhar (to spread), but:
- espalhava = imperfect → ongoing, repeated, or background action in the past.
- espalhou = preterite (simple past) → a single, completed event.
In this sentence:
- o vento forte espalhava o fumo suggests something continuous or repeated, e.g. throughout a fire, the wind kept spreading the smoke, or that was the general situation at that time.
If you said:
- ... o vento forte espalhou o fumo, it would sound more like one specific completed act of spreading, rather than a continuing situation.
Given the context with ajudasse and a descriptive, narrative feel, espalhava is the more natural choice.
Imperfect subjunctive forms in Portuguese are built from the 3rd person plural preterite (past simple) minus -ram, plus specific endings.
- Preterite (3rd person plural) of ajudar:
- ajudaram
- Remove -ram:
- ajudá-
- Add the imperfect subjunctive endings: -sse, -sses, -sse, -ssemos, -sseis, -ssem
So we get:
- eu ajudasse
- tu ajudasses
- ele / ela / você ajudasse
- nós ajudássemos
- vós ajudásseis (rare in modern speech)
- eles / elas / vocês ajudassem
In the sentence, ajudasse refers to o helicóptero (3rd person singular).
Yes, with small changes:
With embora (very straightforward):
- Embora o helicóptero ajudasse muito, o vento forte espalhava o fumo.
Meaning and structure are almost identical to the original.
- Embora o helicóptero ajudasse muito, o vento forte espalhava o fumo.
With apesar de (you change the verb form after it):
- Apesar de o helicóptero ajudar muito, o vento forte espalhava o fumo.
(You use ajudar in the infinitive after de.)
- Apesar de o helicóptero ajudar muito, o vento forte espalhava o fumo.
In European Portuguese, you’ll see both de o and the contraction do in this structure; for learners, Apesar de o helicóptero ajudar muito is clear and correct.
In Portuguese, adjectives usually come after the noun:
- vento forte = strong wind
- fumo espesso = thick smoke
Putting the adjective before the noun is possible, but it often sounds:
- more poetic or emphatic, or
- somewhat marked in everyday speech.
So forte vento could appear in poetry, song lyrics, or very literary style, but vento forte is the neutral, normal order you should learn and use in standard prose and conversation.
Both can translate as smoke, but usage differs by variety of Portuguese:
In European Portuguese (Portugal):
- fumo is the normal everyday word for smoke (from fire, cigarettes, etc.).
- fumaça sounds archaic, literary, or dialectal and is much less common in standard modern speech.
In Brazilian Portuguese:
- fumaça is very common for smoke.
- fumo is also used, but more often for tobacco (the substance), or in specific contexts.
Since you’re learning Portuguese from Portugal, fumo is the natural word here.
Portuguese uses definite articles more consistently than English when referring to specific, identifiable things, even if English might omit the.
In this sentence, contextually we are talking about:
- o helicóptero – a particular helicopter involved in this situation
- o vento forte – the strong wind present at that moment
- o fumo – the smoke from that fire
So Portuguese treats them as definite, known elements, and uses o:
- o helicóptero
- o vento forte
- o fumo
English could say:
- Even though *the helicopter helped a lot, the strong wind spread the smoke.*
or might drop some the in other contexts, but Portuguese keeps the articles in such concrete, specific descriptions.
Yes. Both orders are grammatical:
- Ainda que o helicóptero ajudasse muito, o vento forte espalhava o fumo.
- O vento forte espalhava o fumo, ainda que o helicóptero ajudasse muito.
The difference is mainly in emphasis:
- Starting with Ainda que... highlights the concession/contrast first.
- Starting with O vento forte espalhava o fumo presents the main fact first, then adds the contrast as a kind of afterthought.
Meaning and grammar remain the same.
It is describing a real past situation.
In Portuguese, the subjunctive is often used because of the conjunction, not necessarily because the situation is imaginary or unreal. Ainda que demands the subjunctive even when the event is factual.
So here:
- o helicóptero ajudasse muito – the helicopter really was helping a lot
- o vento forte espalhava o fumo – the strong wind really was spreading the smoke
To clearly mark a hypothetical situation, Portuguese would typically use a conditional in the main clause, e.g.:
- Mesmo que o helicóptero ajudasse muito, o vento forte espalharia o fumo.
(Even if the helicopter helped a lot, the strong wind would spread the smoke.)
In your original sentence, it’s a real, descriptive past scenario.