Negation and basic question words
To negate a Portuguese verb, drop não in front of it. To ask a yes/no question, raise your intonation — written Portuguese marks the question only with a final ?, not the inverted Spanish-style mark. To ask for specific information (where? who? why?), start with a question word. Today you'll meet the full set: quem, o quê, onde, quando, como, porquê, quanto.
Negation: não before the verb
Não falo inglês = I don't speak English. Ele não tem fome = He's not hungry. Não estamos em casa = We're not at home. The pattern is rigid — não sits right before the conjugated verb, even if a subject pronoun comes earlier: Eu não gosto de cães. The same word não also works on its own as the answer 'no'.
Two 'não' in a row — not a typo
Portuguese often doubles não for emphasis or a softer feel: Não, não sei = No, I don't know. Não, não tenho = No, I don't have any. The first não is the answer 'no'; the second is the negation glued to the verb. Saying just Não sei is also fine — the doubling is conversational, not required.
Yes/no questions
No flip of word order, no extra words. Just take a statement and ask it: Tu falas português. → Tu falas português? = Do you speak Portuguese? Ele tem um cão. → Ele tem um cão? = Does he have a dog? In writing, the only marker is the final ?. In speech, it's all in the intonation — the voice rises at the end.
The question words
quem = who. o quê = what (also just que before a verb: Que comes? = What are you eating?). onde = where (de onde = from where; para onde = to where). quando = when. como = how. porquê = why (in writing, porque without the accent means 'because'; we'll get to the spelling rules below). quanto = how much (quantos = how many, masc.; quanta/quantas = fem.).
porque vs porquê — a quirk
Spoken aloud they sound the same, but in writing Portuguese keeps four versions of the 'why/because' word, and pt-PT and pt-BR even spell them slightly differently. Today's takeaway: ask 'why?' with Porquê? at the end of a sentence, or Por que at the start (Brazilian writing prefers Por que); answer with porque (one word, no accent): — Porque tenho fome. = Because I'm hungry. We'll dig into all four spellings later — for now, write Porquê? standalone and porque for 'because' and you'll be safe.
Word order in question-word questions
The question word comes first; the subject usually comes after the verb (or is dropped): Onde vives? = Where do you live? (tu dropped). Onde mora a Ana? = Where does Ana live? (subject after verb). Como estás? = How are you? Quando trabalhas? = When do you work?
