Breakdown of Apesar de as ondas serem enormes, os marinheiros não têm medo.
ser
to be
não
not / no
ter
to have
apesar de
despite
o medo
the fear
enorme
huge
a onda
the wave
o marinheiro
the sailor
Questions & Answers about Apesar de as ondas serem enormes, os marinheiros não têm medo.
Why isn't 'de' and 'as' contracted into 'das' here?
This is a special and very important rule for the personal infinitive. When a preposition like de comes right before the subject of the infinitive verb (in this case, as ondas is the subject of serem), you cannot contract them. You must keep them separate: Apesar de as ondas instead of Apesar das ondas.
Why do we use serem (personal infinitive) instead of just ser (impersonal infinitive)?
After the phrase apesar de (despite), you need to use an infinitive verb. Because the two halves of the sentence have different subjects (as ondas versus os marinheiros), we must conjugate the infinitive to show what is huge. Serem is the 'they' form of ser, matching the waves.
Could I use the subjunctive here to show the contrast instead?
Not with apesar de. That phrase strictly requires the infinitive. However, if you want to use the subjunctive to express the exact same idea, you can swap apesar de for embora (even though): Embora as ondas sejam enormes, os marinheiros não têm medo.
Why do we say têm medo instead of using a verb for 'to be'?
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