Breakdown of Ainda que o isolamento seja difícil, a terapeuta lembra-me que isto é temporário.
Questions & Answers about Ainda que o isolamento seja difícil, a terapeuta lembra-me que isto é temporário.
Ainda que is a conjunction that means “even though / even if / although.”
In this sentence:
- Ainda que o isolamento seja difícil ≈ Even though isolation is difficult / Even if isolation is difficult
It introduces a concessive idea: something that is true (or may be true) but does not prevent what is said in the main clause.
You can usually replace ainda que with embora without changing the meaning much:
- Embora o isolamento seja difícil, a terapeuta lembra-me que isto é temporário.
In European Portuguese, ainda que sounds a bit more formal/literary than embora, but both are correct and both require the subjunctive afterwards (seja).
Because ainda que (like embora, mesmo que, etc.) triggers the subjunctive in Portuguese.
- ser in the present indicative: é
- ser in the present subjunctive: seja
After ainda que, you must use the subjunctive:
- ✅ Ainda que o isolamento seja difícil…
- ❌ Ainda que o isolamento é difícil… (ungrammatical)
The indicative (é) would be used in a simple factual statement without that kind of conjunction:
- O isolamento é difícil. = Isolation is difficult.
Seja is the present subjunctive of ser.
- Present subjunctive: que eu seja, que tu sejas, que ele/ela seja…
- Future subjunctive: quando eu for, quando tu fores, quando ele/ela for…
With ainda que, you use the present subjunctive to express something that is taken as real or as a possibility in the present or future:
- Ainda que o isolamento seja difícil…
≈ Even though isolation is (or may be) difficult…
You would not use the future subjunctive (for) in this structure. That appears with different conjunctions like quando, se, logo que, etc.:
- Quando o isolamento for menos difícil, voltamos a sair.
(When isolation is less difficult, we’ll go out again.)
Yes. In this sentence they are essentially interchangeable:
- Ainda que o isolamento seja difícil, a terapeuta lembra-me que isto é temporário.
- Embora o isolamento seja difícil, a terapeuta lembra-me que isto é temporário.
Both mean “Although / Even though isolation is difficult…”
Nuance:
- Embora is more common in everyday speech.
- Ainda que can sound more formal, emphatic, or literary, but is also used in normal conversation.
European Portuguese uses the definite article o/a/os/as much more than English.
Here o isolamento = the isolation or simply isolation in English. The article is natural because you’re talking about a specific, known situation of isolation (your current one), not the concept in general.
Compare:
- O isolamento é difícil. = Isolation (this period of isolation) is difficult.
- Isolamento é um conceito interessante. = Isolation is an interesting concept. (more abstract/general)
In this sentence, leaving out o (“Ainda que isolamento seja difícil…”) sounds unnatural.
In European Portuguese, nouns referring to specific people (professions, roles, etc.) are usually preceded by an article:
- a terapeuta = the therapist (female)
- o médico = the doctor (male)
- a professora = the (female) teacher
Here you’re talking about a specific therapist, so a terapeuta is expected. Dropping the article (“terapeuta lembra-me…”) would sound wrong in this context.
Also, terapeuta is a common noun that takes a for a female therapist and o for a male therapist:
- a terapeuta (feminine)
- o terapeuta (masculine)
The position lembra-me is European Portuguese word order: an enclitic pronoun (attached to the end of the verb).
- a terapeuta lembra-me = the therapist reminds me
In Brazilian Portuguese, the usual word order would indeed be me lembra:
- a terapeuta me lembra (Brazilian style)
In European Portuguese, in affirmative main clauses without “attractors” (like negatives, some conjunctions, etc.), the default is to put the pronoun after the verb:
- Ela lembra-me disso.
- Eu digo-te a verdade.
- Eles ajudam-nos muito.
So, in European Portuguese:
- ✅ a terapeuta lembra-me
- ❌ a terapeuta me lembra (sounds Brazilian)
The verb lembrar has two common patterns:
lembrar alguém de algo / lembrar alguém de que…
- Lembra-me de comprar pão. = Remind me to buy bread.
- Ela lembrou-me de que o prazo acaba amanhã.
lembrar-se de algo (reflexive: to remember)
- Eu lembro-me de ti. = I remember you.
In everyday European Portuguese, when lembrar means “to remind” and is followed by a que-clause, dropping de is very frequent and natural:
- A terapeuta lembra-me que isto é temporário. (very common and idiomatic)
- A terapeuta lembra-me de que isto é temporário. (more formal/careful)
Lembrar-me de isto is not correct; you’d say:
- Lembra-me disto. (using disto, the contracted de + isto)
Portuguese distinguishes three demonstratives:
- isto = this (near the speaker / what I’m experiencing / about to mention)
- isso = that (near the listener / what you just said)
- aquilo = that (far from both / more distant in time or context)
Here, isto refers to the current situation of isolation that the speaker is living through, so it’s felt as close to the speaker:
- …lembra-me que isto é temporário.
≈ “…reminds me that this (what I’m going through now) is temporary.”
If someone else had just described your situation and you were referring back to what they said, isso could appear in other contexts, but in a sentence like this, isto is the natural choice.
Isto is a neutral demonstrative pronoun; it doesn’t have grammatical gender like masculine/feminine nouns.
When you say:
- Isto é temporário.
the adjective temporário is in the default masculine singular, which is what Portuguese uses in neutral/unspecified cases. You are not agreeing temporário with a feminine noun; you’re just using the unmarked form.
If you explicitly named a feminine noun, then the adjective would change:
- Esta situação é temporária.
(situation = situação, feminine → temporária)
Difícil is an adjective that has the same form for masculine and feminine in the singular:
- o isolamento é difícil (masculine)
- a tarefa é difícil (feminine)
In the plural it becomes difíceis:
- os tempos são difíceis
- as tarefas são difíceis
So in o isolamento seja difícil, difícil is already the correct singular form; there is no separate “masculine” or “feminine” version.
Yes, that’s possible and natural:
- A terapeuta lembra-me que isto é temporário, ainda que o isolamento seja difícil.
Meaning is the same. Putting ainda que… at the beginning or the end just changes the rhythm and focus slightly, not the basic sense:
- Beginning: emphasis first on the difficulty, then on what the therapist reminds you of.
- End: start with the therapist’s reminder, then add the concession about difficulty.
Yes, it’s a nuance of aspect (general vs ongoing):
Ainda que o isolamento seja difícil…
= Even though isolation is (in general) difficult.
(more timeless, general difficulty)Ainda que o isolamento esteja a ser difícil…
= Even though isolation is being difficult / is proving difficult (right now).
(emphasises the ongoing, current experience)
Both use the subjunctive (seja, esteja a ser) because of ainda que. The original sentence chooses a more general, less explicitly “right now” aspect with seja difícil.