Adversative coordinative conjunctions (conjunções coordenativas adversativas) indicate a contrast between parts of the sentence.
The most common ones are masbut and no entantohowever
Examples:
O cão é calmo; no entanto pode morderThe dog is calm; however, it may bite
Tu tens sono, mas não podes dormirYou are tired, but you can't sleep
Some less common adversative conjunctions are:
- porémhowever
- contudohowever
- todaviahowever
- ainda assimeven so, still
- apesar dissodespite that, nevertheless
Keep in mind that porém, contudo, and todavia are more appropriate for formal or written language, and may sound odd in an informal conversation.
Examples:
Ela não tem fome, porém tem de comerShe is not hungry; however, she has to eat
Estou doente, contudo vou trabalharI am sick; however, I go to work
Eu trabalho muito, todavia ganho poucoI work a lot; however, I earn little
Eu não nado. Ainda assim, entro na águaI do not swim. Even so, I enter the water
Não gosto de álcool. Apesar disso, vou experimentarI do not like alcohol. Despite that, I will try
The conjunctions eand , agoranow , and quandowhen can sometimes have a similar meaning as masbut . They can appear in the middle of a sentence or at the beginning. Examples:
Tu falas, e não dizes nadaYou speak and you don't say anything
Sou bom, agora, parvo não souI am nice but I'm not an idiot
Tu erraste, quando poderias ter acertadoYou messed up when you could have been right
Está a chover. Mas vou sair à mesmaIt is raining. But I'll go anyway
Gosto de doces. No entanto, sou magroI like sweets. However, I'm skinny
I have probably done the lessons (but forgotten) when to use the various Portuguese conjunctions for however, etc. Could you please remind me or point me to the appropriate lessons that I should go to?
N.B. Your site is keeping me from becoming totally engulfed by “Cabin Fever” during these testing times.
I hope you’re all well and coping. Congratulations to Portugal for the superb way it has handled the crisis. Long may it’s success continue. Madeiran people have been so disciplined which has helped keep cases very low and, at the time of writing, no deaths. Praise to the health workers and (never thought I would say this) our (Portuguese) politicians.
Muito obrigado.
Of course! If you go to the main Units page, you can scroll down to the Coordinating Conjunctions unit and right after that is the Subordinating Conjunctions unit. They should be about a third of the way down the page. Happy to help with the cabin fever! Having work to focus on is helping me stay sane too. 🙂 So glad to hear that things are under control in Madeira.
So could you say Tu falas mas não dizes nada, as well?
Yes, you could! 🙂
Acho que o examplo “Sou bom agora, parvo não sou” – falta as palavras – “um idiota” no final. Se diz em inglês ” I am good now, but I’m not “
Parvo is another word for idiot — it just looks like something is missing because this sentence uses a different word order than we would normally use in English. This is basically like saying “I am nice, but an idiot I am not”
Thanks Molly. My misunderstanding of the word ‘parvo’. I didn’t check it out then. I have just checked it on Translator which gives a very unsavoury interpretation. A bit different to idiot.
Ola.
Nessa frase das práticas, porque é que se usa o “o” antes do substantivo?
Eu corro muito; no entanto, não corro o suficiente
Olá, Claudine. Nesses casos, é porque “o suficiente” funciona como expressão fixa adverbial (locução adverbial ou adverbial phrase, em inglês). Pode mesmo ser substituído pelo advérbio “suficientemente” sem mudança de significado. Por outro lado, sem o “o”, a palavra “suficiente” isolada é encarada como um adjetivo e perde o valor adverbial. Alguns exemplos:
Uso adverbial:
Ele chegou cedo o suficiente (correto)
= Ele chegou suficientemente cedo (correto)
=/= Ele chegou cedo suficiente (incorreto).
Uso como adjetivo:
Eu corro com velocidade suficiente (correto)
=/= Eu corro com velocidade o suficiente (incorreto)
=/= Eu corro com suficientemente velocidade (incorreto)
Que é complicado, mas muito bem explicado com os exemplos, e eu compreendo. Muito obrigada!
Porém, contudo e todavia- como eles são diferentes?
Não são diferentes, todos eles são sinónimos 🙂 E todos eles são formais. No dia a dia, o habitual é dizermos “mas”.
In the examples, you punctuate the English correctly with semicolons (I work a lot; however, I earn little), yet there are commas in the Portuguese translation. Does Portuguese not use semicolons? Are comma splices legal in Portuguese? In English this would create a comma splice and I would mark it wrong.
Great question, Grace! In Portuguese, both commas and semicolons are acceptable before the conjunctions shown in this article, which is why you see differences in punctuation between the two languages.
“Vou sair à mesma”
Mesma is a noun here? I thought that it was mesmo
“Mesmo” is generally classified as a demonstrative pronoun and it’s a variable word (so, there’s mesmo, mesma, mesmos and mesmas). In this particular case, the feminine singular form is being used as part of the fixed idiom “à mesma”/”na mesma”, which should be looked at as a single unit. “À mesma”/”Na mesma” means “anyway” 🙂