"Muito se tem pensado sobre essas regiões."
Translation:There has been much thought about those regions.
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I'm native and I don't really remember what rule dictates the function of "se" in this sentence. I think that "se" compensates the absence of a subject... But this is a very common expression in Portuguese. Other examples, for clarify this:
"A lot has been done for a safer life" (Muito se tem feito para uma vida mais segura) "A lot has been said about technology" (Muito se tem falado sobre tecnologia)
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I think muito is not the subject, it is an adverb. We call this se "índice da indeterminação do sujeito: Eles falam muito sobre estas regiões ( subject: eles). Falam muito sobre estas regiões (s: undetermined); Fala-se muito sobre estas regiões: subj. und.) Tem-se falado muito: subj. und. ( cf. Falam mal de você por aí > Fala-se mal de você > Muito se tem falado de você...Quem tem falado muito?) Thinking about, I now see: it is not passive voice, tem falado has a unknown subject, active)
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You've piqued my curiosity. But, wouldn't it be: "Fala-se o muito desta região" if "muito" were used as a noun?
@Danmoller edited (since I couldn't reply directly): If muito is an adverb (which it is here, modifying the verb falar) then it can't be the subject.
This is a very awkward English sentence. I think that "there" functions as the dummy subject and the real subject is "those regions".
Those regions have been much discussed/much talked about. (in less stilted English): Those regions have been discussed a lot.
I don't think this is possible. The Portuguese sentence focuses on the fact that there has been a lot of "thinking," but your translation focuses on "it" has been thought. This implies that a specific thing has been thought about. The Portuguese sentence is not saying that a specific thing has been thought about, only that "thinking" in general has happened.