Learn Spanish (Latin America): Por muy cansado que estés, tienes que destejer esa bufanda. - No matter how tired you are, you have to unravel that scarf.

Por muy cansado que estés, tienes que destejer esa bufanda.

No matter how tired you are, you have to unravel that scarf.

Breakdown of Por muy cansado que estés, tienes que destejer esa bufanda.

tener

to have

estar

to be (location/state)

Questions & Answers about Por muy cansado que estés, tienes que destejer esa bufanda.

Why does this sentence use por muy to say 'no matter how'?

The phrase por muy combined with an adjective or adverb and the word que is a very natural Spanish structure for 'no matter how [adjective/adverb]'. It highlights the degree of the trait, so por muy cansado que literally maps to 'for very tired that' but translates to 'no matter how tired'.

Why is estar in the subjunctive (estés) here instead of the indicative (estás)?

The structure por muy + adjective/adverb + que generally triggers the subjunctive when referring to a current or future state. Even if the speaker knows for a fact that you are currently tired, they use the subjunctive estés to express 'regardless of the fact that you are tired'.

If a woman were being addressed, would it change to por muy cansada?

Yes. Because cansado functions as an adjective describing the person being spoken to, it must agree in gender and number. If speaking to a woman, it would be por muy cansada que estés, and if speaking to a group, por muy cansados que estén.

How is the word destejer formed?