No que diz respeito à hipótese

You’ll usually find this phrase at the very beginning of a sentence to set the stage, or right after a comma to pivot the conversation. The most important part to remember is the à. That little accent (the crase) is the contraction of the preposition a and the feminine article a that precedes hipótese. If you leave it off, a Portuguese teacher might lose their cool, but a regular person will just think you're in a hurry. You follow the phrase immediately with your analysis or the consequence of that hypothesis. It’s a bridge between a concept and its implications.

This is a solid 'Formal' on the scale. You probably won't hear this at a Sunday barbecue while someone is flipping steaks—unless they're debating the physics of heat distribution in a very nerdy way. It lives and breathes in academic papers, legal documents, high-stakes business meetings, and serious LinkedIn 'thought leadership' posts. If you use it in a casual WhatsApp group with friends, they might ask if you’ve been replaced by an AI or if you’re finally writing that thesis you’ve been avoiding for three years. Use it to command respect, not to order a pizza.

Imagine you’re in a job interview on Zoom. The recruiter asks, 'What happens if we lose our main investor?' You take a breath and say, No que diz respeito à hipótese de perdermos o investidor, temos um plano de contingência. Boom. You sound like a CEO already. Or maybe you're watching a Netflix documentary about space. The narrator might say, No que diz respeito à hipótese de vida em Marte, os dados ainda são inconclusivos. It adds a layer of 'serious science' that simple words just can't reach. It’s the phrase people use when they want their words to have weight and staying power.

Use this when you need to be extremely specific about which part of a complex problem you are addressing. It’s great for project proposals, feedback on a colleague's theory, or when writing a formal email to a professor. It’s also incredibly useful in debates. If someone throws three different arguments at you, you can say, No que diz respeito à hipótese A... to pick them apart one by one. It shows you have a structured mind and that you’ve actually been listening, which is always a nice surprise in a conversation.

Do not use this for everyday trivialities. If your partner asks if you want sushi or pizza, saying No que diz respeito à hipótese do sushi... makes you sound like a robot trying (and failing) to pass for human. Also, avoid it if you aren't actually talking about a hypothesis. If something is a proven fact, calling it a 'hypothesis' with this much formality might make you sound unsure or even a bit condescending. Keep it for the big 'ifs' and the 'could-bes,' not for the 'is' and 'was.'

One of the biggest hurdles is the grammar. Many people write no que diz respeito a hipótese without the accent. That’s a no-go in professional writing. ✗ No que diz respeito a hipótese → ✓ No que diz respeito à hipótese. Another mistake is redundancy. Don't say No que diz respeito à hipótese de que talvez possivelmente...—you're already using a formal 'maybe' phrase, so don't stack three more on top of it. Keep the rest of the sentence lean so the phrase can actually do its job of providing clarity.

You might hear Quanto à hipótese or Em relação à hipótese. These are like the cousins of our phrase. Quanto à is a bit shorter and snappier, while Em relação à is just as formal but slightly more common in everyday business emails. If you want to go full 'Old World' formal, you could say Pelo que tange à hipótese, but honestly, only use that if you’re wearing a monocle or testifying in court. Our main phrase strikes the perfect balance between 'professional' and 'actually usable.'

Is it too formal for an email? Not if it's a work email about a serious topic! Can I use it for people? Not really; it’s for ideas or theories. Is à always used? Yes, because hipótese is feminine. What if I use a masculine word? Then it becomes ao que diz respeito ao plano. Does it work in Brazil and Portugal? Absolutely, it’s a universal formal standard. Can I use it in a tweet? Only if you’re trying to be ironic or 'smart-tweeting.' Does it mean 'I think'? No, it means 'Regarding the idea that...'