Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Ele tinha mostrado muita teimosia ontem. - He had shown a lot of stubbornness yesterday.

Ele tinha mostrado muita teimosia ontem.

He had shown a lot of stubbornness yesterday.

Breakdown of Ele tinha mostrado muita teimosia ontem.

Questions & Answers about Ele tinha mostrado muita teimosia ontem.

Why is tinha mostrado used here instead of the simple past (mostrou)?

Tinha mostrado is the past perfect (pluperfect) tense, meaning "had shown". It describes an action that happened before another past event. While the second event isn't stated here, the sentence implies he had already shown this stubbornness before something else occurred ontem (yesterday).

Could I use havia mostrado instead of tinha mostrado?

Yes, you can. In Portuguese, the auxiliary verb haver can replace ter in compound tenses. Havia mostrado means the exact same thing but sounds slightly more formal or literary in everyday speech.

Since our current lesson is about the subjunctive, why is this sentence in the indicative mood?

This sentence is a straightforward statement of fact. Because it lacks a trigger like nem que (even if) and doesn't express doubt, emotion, or a hypothetical condition, the verb remains in the indicative.

How does the word teimosia relate to other vocabulary I might know?

It is the noun form of the adjective teimoso (stubborn). Adding the suffix -ia is a common way to turn adjectives into abstract nouns in Portuguese, just like adding "-ness" in English.