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Por mais genial que seja a piada, o público não ri.

Por mais genial que seja a piada, o público não ri.
However brilliant the joke may be, the audience does not laugh.
From Lesson 406:Adjectival concessive clauses (por mais que)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about Por mais genial que seja a piada, o público não ri.

Why do we use the subjunctive "seja" instead of the indicative "é" in this sentence?
The structure por mais + adjective + que (meaning "however" or "no matter how") always triggers the subjunctive. It sets up a hypothetical or extreme degree that doesn't change the outcome of the main clause. Because the main verb (ri) is in the present tense, we use the present subjunctive seja.
Is the word "mais" mandatory for this grammar structure to work?
Not strictly! You can also use por + adjective + que (like por genial que seja). Adding mais or muito is very common and simply adds emphasis, making it feel closer to "no matter how much of a brilliant joke it is."
Why is the subject "a piada" placed after the verb "seja"?
Grammatically, you could say por mais genial que a piada seja, which follows standard subject-verb order. However, in Portuguese relative and concessive clauses starting with que, it is extremely common and sounds much more natural to invert the subject and verb, giving us que seja a piada.
Does "genial" mean "friendly" or "cheerful" here, like it does in English?
No, this is a classic false friend! In Portuguese, genial relates to the word génio (genius). It means brilliant, awesome, or highly inventive.
Since an audience is made up of many people, why is the verb "ri" in the singular?
The word o público is a collective noun. Even though it refers to a group of people, the grammatical noun itself is singular. Therefore, it must take the third-person singular verb ri rather than the plural riem.

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