When pursuing ambitious life goals, you need a strong mindset. To express relentless determination in Portuguese, you will often use a highly expressive, repetitive verb structure that translates to "no matter what" or "whatever happens."
To say that an action will happen regardless of the circumstances, Portuguese uses a "reduplicative" concessive phrase. This means you repeat the same verb twice, sandwiching a relative word like o que (what), quem (who), or onde (where) in the middle.
The formula is:
Present Subjunctive + relative word + Future Subjunctive
Because both verbs are in the subjunctive mood, irregular verbs will show a clear difference in form between the first and second half of the phrase. For example, the verb fazer (to do) becomes faça in the present subjunctive, but fizer in the future subjunctive.
Fixed Third-Person Expressions
Many of these phrases act as fixed, standalone idioms in the third-person singular. You can attach them to the beginning or end of a sentence to show that your conviction is unshakable against adversity.
Common examples include:
- custe o que custar: whatever it costs / at all costs
- aconteça o que acontecer: whatever happens
- venha o que vier: whatever comes / come what may
- doa a quem doer: no matter who it hurts
Adapting to the Subject
While some expressions are fixed, this structure is entirely productive. This means you can use it with almost any verb, and you can conjugate it to match the specific person you are talking about—whether that is "they" (eles/elas) or an informal "you" (tu).
Just remember that both verbs in the phrase must be conjugated to match the subject!