Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

Spanish (Spain)

### No Matter How Much

Sometimes, an action will not change the outcome no matter how hard someone tries. Express this futility using the phrase **por mucho que** (no matter how much).

Use the **subjunctive** after *por mucho que* when referring to a future or hypothetical effort where the outcome is already decided.

{{item:1227943}}

This structure is very useful when dealing with someone who is **terco** (stubborn).

{{item:1227945}}

### However Much

An equally common and interchangeable phrase is **por más que** (however much). Just like *por mucho que*, it is followed by the subjunctive when describing future or hypothetical actions that won't change a thing.

{{item:1227947}}

You might use this when talking to someone who is **cabezota** (pig-headed), a very common term in Spain.

{{item:1227949}}

### Discussing Stubbornness

When talking about futile efforts, you will frequently use verbs like **suplicar** (to plead), **razonar** (to reason), or **empeñarse en** (to insist on). Because these actions are set up as fruitless, they are conjugated in the subjunctive right after *por mucho que* or *por más que*. 

{{item:1227952}}

{{item:1227956}}

{{item:1227959}}

### Refusing to Give Up

Even when talking about someone refusing to **desistir** (give up) or your attempts to **persuadir** (persuade) them, the grammatical rule remains the same: if the effort is ultimately useless, use the subjunctive.

{{item:1227961}}

{{item:1227968}}

Concessions of futility (por mucho que)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Singular subjects and 'ser' (yo soy, esto es)

Plural nouns and definite articles (los, las)

Plural pronouns and 'ser' (somos, sois, son)

Adjective agreement (-o, -a, -os, -as)

Indefinite articles (un, una, unos, unas)

Simple negation (no)

Yes/no questions

Regular '-ar' verbs (-o, -as, -a...)

Regular '-er' verbs (-o, -es, -e...)

Regular '-ir' verbs (-o, -es, -e...)

Locative adverbs (aquí, allí)

Question words (quién, cómo)

The verb estar (estoy, estás)

The preposition en (en)

Ser vs. estar

The verb tener (tengo, tienes)

Possessive determiners (mi, tu, su)

Origin and possession (de, del)

The verb ir (voy, vas)

Destination (a, al)

The personal 'a' (a)

Stem-changing verbs: e to ie

Stem-changing verbs: o to ue

Irregular first-person verbs

Reflexive verbs (me, te, se)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, dos, tres)

Numbers 11 to 20 (once, doce, trece)

Counting by tens to 100 (treinta, cuarenta, cien)

Compound numbers up to 99 (veintiuno, treinta y uno)

Days of the week (el lunes, el martes)

The family and the personal 'a' (a mi tío, a mi prima)

Months of the year

Telling time (es la, son las)

Verbs of liking (me gusta)

Plural agreement with verbs of liking (gustan)

Degree modifiers (muy, mucho)

Formal address (usted, ustedes)

Direct object pronouns (lo, la, los, las)

The near future (ir a)

Obligation (tener que)

Present continuous (-ando, -iendo)

Affirmative commands (tú, vosotros)

Basic Food and Drink

The Human Body: Head and Arms

The Human Body: Legs and Health

Wardrobe Essentials

Fresh Produce

Meals and Proteins

Public Transport

Hello and goodbye (hola, ¿qué tal?)

Thank you, sorry, OK (gracias, vale)

There is, there are (hay)

My building (la escalera, el ascensor)

Describing people (moreno, rubio, tímido)

Land and sea (el mar, el río, el norte)

Sightseeing (la plaza, la catedral)

Asking the way (cerca, a la derecha, todo recto)

In class (¿puedes repetir?)

Verb + infinitive (quiero comer, sé leer)

What's your name? (me llamo, encantado)

Phone, computer and email

Hundreds and thousands (doscientos, mil)

What do you do? (¿a qué te dedicas?)

Personal details (la edad, la fecha de nacimiento)

Me neither (también, tampoco, ni)

How much is it? (el precio, la vuelta)

What's the weather like? (hace sol, nieva)

Free time (el concierto, el tenis)

At the bar (¿qué vas a tomar?)

The Natural World

Demonstratives (este, ese, aquel)

Prepositions of place (encima de, debajo de)

Prepositional pronouns (para mí, contigo)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primero to décimo)

Adverbs of frequency (a veces, nunca)

Exclamations (¡qué...!)

Indefinite pronouns (algo, alguien)

Indefinite determiners (algún, ningún)

Indirect object pronouns (le, les)

Double object pronouns (me lo, te la)

Double object pronouns (se lo, se la)

Verbs of preference (encantar, interesar)

Impersonal obligation (hay que)

Starting and finishing actions (empezar a, terminar de)

Adjective comparatives (más que, menos que)

Comparatives of equality (tan como)

Noun comparatives (tanto como)

Question	Answer
no matter how much	por mucho que
No matter how much you cry, I will not buy you the toy.	Por mucho que llores, no te compraré el juguete.
stubborn	terco
My brother is stubborn and does not listen to anyone.	Mi hermano es terco y no escucha a nadie.
however much	por más que
However much you insist, the answer is no.	Por más que insistas, la respuesta es no.
pig-headed	cabezota
You are very pig-headed, no matter how much you deny it.	Eres muy cabezota, por mucho que lo niegues.
The girl that we met yesterday is a bit pig-headed.	La chica que conocimos ayer es un poco cabezota.
to plead	suplicar
However much you plead with me, I am not going.	Por más que me supliques, no voy.
This week I have pleaded with him to come.	Esta semana le he suplicado que venga.
to reason	razonar
It is impossible to reason with such a stubborn person.	Es imposible razonar con una persona tan terca.
No matter how much we reason, he will do what he wants.	Por mucho que razonemos, él hará lo que quiera.
to insist on	empeñarse en
Why do you insist on doing that?	¿Por qué te empeñas en hacer eso?
However much you insist on driving, I will not allow it.	Por más que te empeñes en conducir, no lo permitiré.
to give up (an attempt, an idea)	desistir
He is never going to give up, no matter how much it costs him.	Él nunca va a desistir, por mucho que le cueste.
The woman who brought us here does not want to give up.	La mujer que nos trajo aquí no quiere desistir.
the stubbornness	la terquedad
His stubbornness is a very serious problem.	Su terquedad es un problema muy grave.
However much we talk about her stubbornness, she will not change.	Por más que hablemos de su terquedad, no cambiará.
to persuade	persuadir
Today we have tried to persuade my sister.	Hoy hemos intentado persuadir a mi hermana.
No matter how much you try to persuade the judge, you will lose.	Por mucho que intentes persuadir al juez, perderás.