Breakdown of Se bem que todos estejam cansados, nenhum manifestante pensa em desistir da manifestação.
Questions & Answers about Se bem que todos estejam cansados, nenhum manifestante pensa em desistir da manifestação.
Se bem que is a concessive conjunction. In this sentence it means roughly although / even though:
Se bem que todos estejam cansados…
Although everyone is tired…
In European Portuguese:
- se bem que and embora often overlap in meaning.
- Here you could also say: Embora todos estejam cansados, nenhum manifestante…
Nuances:
- embora is a very standard, neutral way to say although.
- se bem que is also common, and can feel a bit more idiomatic/colloquial or conversational in many contexts, especially in speech.
- In other contexts, se bem que can also mean well, actually… or soften a contradiction, e.g.
Ele é simpático, se bem que às vezes seja um bocado arrogante.
He’s nice, although / well, sometimes he’s a bit arrogant.
In all its concessive uses (like in your sentence), se bem que is normally followed by the subjunctive.
Because se bem que (like embora, ainda que, mesmo que) normally requires the subjunctive when it introduces a concessive clause.
- estão = present indicative (factual statement)
- estejam = present subjunctive
After concessive conjunctions, Portuguese prefers the subjunctive even if the situation is real and true:
- Se bem que todos estejam cansados…
- Embora todos estejam cansados…
- Mesmo que todos estejam cansados…
Using estão here (Se bem que todos estão cansados) sounds clearly wrong to native speakers in standard European Portuguese.
Estejam is present subjunctive, 3rd person plural, of estar.
Present subjunctive of estar (European Portuguese):
- (eu) esteja
- (tu) estejas
- (ele / ela / você) esteja
- (nós) estejamos
- (vocês / eles / elas) estejam
It is formed from the stem estej- plus the subjunctive endings:
- -a, -as, -a, -amos, -am
So esta- becomes estej-, then:
- estej-
- -am → estejam.
We use this form after conjunctions that trigger the subjunctive, like se bem que in your sentence.
Todos here is a pronoun meaning everyone / all of them. The full idea is understood from context:
- Se bem que todos estejam cansados…
≈ Se bem que todos (os manifestantes) estejam cansados…
In Portuguese it is very common to omit the noun after words like:
- todos, alguns, muitos, poucos, nenhum, etc.
when the noun is obvious from context. So:
- Todos estão cansados. → They are all tired.
- Todos os manifestantes estão cansados. → more explicit
Both are correct; the original sentence just chooses the shorter, more natural version.
In Portuguese, nenhum manifestante is grammatically singular, so the verb also stays singular:
- nenhum manifestante pensa
literally: no protester thinks
Even though in English we often say none of the protesters think (plural verb), in Portuguese:
- nenhum + singular noun + singular verb is the standard pattern:
Examples:
- Nenhum aluno sabe a resposta.
None of the students knows / know the answer. - Nenhuma pessoa quer isto.
No one wants this.
If you want to be more explicit about the group, you can say:
- Nenhum dos manifestantes pensa em desistir da manifestação.
Here you still use the singular verb pensa with nenhum, even though dos manifestantes is plural:
- Nenhum dos alunos sabe a resposta.
- Nenhum dos carros funciona.
The verb pensar has different constructions in Portuguese, with slightly different meanings.
pensar em + infinitive
= to think about doing something (consideration, not a firm plan)- Nenhum manifestante pensa em desistir.
None of the protesters is thinking of giving up.
This is the natural choice here, because they are thinking of / about giving up, not explicitly planning to.
- Nenhum manifestante pensa em desistir.
pensar + infinitive (without em)
More like intend / plan to do something, especially in European Portuguese in more formal or careful speech:- Penso mudar de emprego.
I’m thinking of changing / I plan to change jobs.
You could say nenhum manifestante pensa desistir, and it would be understood, but in everyday European Portuguese pensa em desistir sounds more idiomatic here.
- Penso mudar de emprego.
pensar de is not used before verbs.
You can say pensar de only in very specific, mostly archaic or set expressions. For normal modern usage:- O que pensas disto? (What do you think of this?)
- O que pensas sobre isto? (What do you think about this?)
But not pensas de desistir in standard European Portuguese.
Because the verb desistir is used with the preposition de:
- desistir de algo = to give up (on) something / to quit something
Structure in your sentence:
- desistir de + a manifestação
→ desistir da manifestação (de + a contracts to da)
So:
- desistir de um curso → to drop a course
- desistir de um projeto → to abandon a project
- desistir de ti → to give up on you
- desistir da manifestação → to give up on the protest / stop taking part
Using desistir a is ungrammatical in this sense in Portuguese.
Yes, you can absolutely say:
- Nenhum manifestante pensa em desistir.
In most contexts, listeners will automatically understand desistir da manifestação from context (you were already talking about a particular protest).
Nuance:
- nenhum manifestante pensa em desistir
Focuses on giving up in general. - nenhum manifestante pensa em desistir da manifestação
Explicitly says giving up the protest / on the protest.
Both are correct; the full version is just more explicit.
You could also replace da manifestação with a pronoun:
- Nenhum manifestante pensa em desistir dela.
(dela = de + ela, referring to a manifestação)
Yes, the comma is obligatory in this position, and yes, you can change the order.
Your original sentence:
- Se bem que todos estejam cansados, nenhum manifestante pensa em desistir da manifestação.
Here, the concessive subordinate clause (Se bem que todos estejam cansados) comes first. In Portuguese, when a subordinate clause comes before the main clause, you normally must use a comma to separate them.
You can also invert the order:
- Nenhum manifestante pensa em desistir da manifestação, se bem que todos estejam cansados.
In this case, the comma is also used, but now it separates the main clause (first) from the subordinate clause (second).
So:
- Subordinate first → comma
Se bem que todos estejam cansados, … - Main clause first → comma
…, se bem que todos estejam cansados.
Leaving out the comma in either position would be considered incorrect in standard writing.
manifestante = protester / demonstrator (a person)
- o manifestante (male)
- a manifestante (female)
- os / as manifestantes (plural)
manifestação = demonstration, protest (event) (a gathering / march)
- a manifestação
- as manifestações
Other common related words in European Portuguese:
protesto (noun) = protest (can be an action, a statement, or sometimes a street protest)
- Houve um grande protesto contra a medida.
protestar (verb) = to protest
- As pessoas foram para a rua protestar.
manifestar-se (reflexive verb) = to demonstrate / to protest (in the streets)
- Os trabalhadores manifestaram-se em frente ao parlamento.
In the context of political or social demonstrations on the street, manifestação and manifestante are very common and natural in European Portuguese.
Yes, you can use several other concessive conjunctions with very similar meanings. All of them still require the subjunctive.
Possible variants:
- Embora todos estejam cansados, nenhum manifestante pensa em desistir da manifestação.
- Mesmo que todos estejam cansados, nenhum manifestante pensa em desistir da manifestação.
- Ainda que todos estejam cansados, nenhum manifestante pensa em desistir da manifestação.
Nuances (subtle):
- embora: very common, neutral although.
- mesmo que: often emphasises the contrast a bit more, like even if / even though.
- ainda que: can sound a bit more formal or literary in many contexts.
- se bem que: conversational and idiomatic; here it works just like embora.
In your sentence, all four are grammatically correct and very close in meaning. The choice is mostly about style and personal preference.