Breakdown of Mesmo ofegante, o meu colega não parou de correr.
não
not / no
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
meu
my (m/f/pl: meu, minha, meus, minhas)
o
him/it (m)
parar
to stop
correr
to run
o colega
the colleague
mesmo
even (mesmo eu = even I)
ofegante
panting
Questions & Answers about Mesmo ofegante, o meu colega não parou de correr.
Why is there no verb after mesmo in this sentence?
In Portuguese, you can create a concise concessive phrase by pairing mesmo directly with an adjective or participle, skipping the verb. Instead of using a full clause like mesmo que estivesse ofegante (even though he was panting), you can simply say mesmo ofegante (even panting). The subject and tense are automatically understood from the main clause.
The word colega ends in "-a". Why does it use the masculine articles o meu here?
Would ofegante change if the sentence was about a female colleague?
No, it would not. Adjectives ending in -e in Portuguese are typically uniform, meaning they have the exact same form for both masculine and feminine nouns.
Could I drop the preposition and just say não parou correr?
No, the verb parar requires the preposition de before an infinitive when it means "to stop doing an action". If you used the preposition para instead (não parou para correr), it would completely change the meaning to "did not stop in order to run".
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