Questions and negatives in Portuguese

Level A1

Questions and negatives in Portuguese

At a building entrance, find out whether someone works or lives there. Keep the familiar word order to ask, and put não before the verb to deny the information. Practise short replies using verbs you already know.

A few familiar words

Eu means I, você means you (one person), and aqui means here. Trabalho / trabalha mean I work / you work; moro / mora mean I live / you live. Sou / é mean I am / you are in these identity sentences, and tenho / tem mean I have / you have; estudante is a student, and um livro is a book. Listen to the review sentences below: Portuguese can leave out eu when the person is clear. Sim is yes; não can be a no reply or the negative word before a verb, shown as two cards for those two uses.

Ask with the familiar word order

Compare Você trabalha aqui. (You work here.) with Você trabalha aqui? (Do you work here?): the words stay in the same order, and your voice signals the question. Listen and copy the question's intonation rather than adding English do or moving the verb. The same approach works in the other questions below: Você mora aqui? asks about a home, Você é estudante? about being a student, and Você tem um livro? about having a book. These are affirmative yes/no questions; other kinds of question come later.

Você trabalha / mora aqui?

Confirm or correct the information

After Você trabalha aqui?, Trabalho. is a natural yes reply: repeat the known verb as trabalho for yourself, rather than repeating trabalha for the listener. You can also say Sim. or Sim, trabalho. when confirming this affirmative question. To say no, use Não. alone, or add the information: Não trabalho aqui. Put não before the verb in these short sentences: Não moro aqui. and Não tenho. (I don't have one.) work the same way. Unlike English, these negatives need no don't; you can also keep eu: Eu não trabalho aqui.

Não trabalho / moro aqui.

At the entrance: who works here?

A works in the building; B lives there but does not work there. Listen to B correct the first guess, confirm the second, and then ask A the same work question. The final Sim, trabalho. confirms that A works here; the location is already clear from the question.

Try another visitor's answers

Imagine you work in this building, live elsewhere and have no book with you. Ask whether another visitor works here, then answer that question for yourself using only the verb. Ask whether they live here, then give your own negative answer with the location. Finally, ask whether they have a book, then give your own negative answer with the verb. Check the six model lines in that order and say them aloud. Remember: familiar order and question intonation to ask; the verb or sim to confirm an affirmative question; não alone or before the verb to deny it.

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