Breakdown of A sua teimosia é horrível.
ser
to be
a
to / at (direction)
horrível
horrible
seu
your (formal) / his / her (all forms: seu, sua, seus, suas)
a teimosia
the stubbornness
Questions & Answers about A sua teimosia é horrível.
The translation says 'His stubbornness', but doesn't sua also mean 'your' or 'her'?
Yes! In Portuguese, a sua can mean his, her, your (formal), or its. To avoid ambiguity, native speakers often use a teimosia dele for 'his' and a teimosia dela for 'her'. The use of a sua here is completely correct and very common when the context already makes it clear who we are talking about.
Is teimosia related to the adjective for stubborn?
Why use é here instead of está, if someone's stubbornness might just be a temporary mood?
Because the subject of the sentence is the abstract concept of teimosia (stubbornness), and definitions or qualities of concepts always use ser. If you wanted to emphasize that the person is only acting stubborn right now, you would describe the person rather than the noun: Ele está a ser teimoso (He is being stubborn).
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