Negation: não + verb; double negation patterns

• Basic negation: não + verb — Não falo inglês

• Double negative: não + verb + nada / ninguém / nunca / nenhum — and it's CORRECT, not sloppy

• Negative words: nada, ninguém, nunca, jamais, nenhum, nem

• Negative word first → drop the não: Ninguém veio

• não... mais (no longer) · ainda não (not yet)

• Very Brazilian: a second não at the end — Não sei não

• Position: negatives sit before the conjugated verb

Portuguese negation quietly breaks English-speaker brains: what sounds wrong in English is right in Portuguese. Não vi nada is literally "I didn't see nothing" — and it's perfect grammar. Get comfortable here and you'll stop translating negatives one-to-one, understand why a Brazilian says não two or three times in a single breath, and catch the friendly sentence-final não (Não sei não) that colours everyday speech. From a flat Não quero to an emphatic Não, não e não!, this is how you say no like you mean it.

Basic negation: NÃO before the verb

Position: right before the conjugated verb.

With other verb forms — the não still comes first:

Basic negation

• "Não entendo português muito bem." (I don't understand Portuguese very well.)

• "Ela não mora mais aqui." (She doesn't live here anymore.)

• "Não podemos sair hoje." (We can't go out today.)

• "Não sei o que fazer." (I don't know what to do.)

Double negation

• "Não vi ninguém na festa." (I didn't see anyone at the party.)

• "Não comprei nada no shopping." (I didn't buy anything at the mall.)

• "Não tenho nenhum dinheiro." (I don't have any money.)

• "Não como nem carne nem peixe." (I eat neither meat nor fish.)

Negative word first? Drop the não

When a negative word comes before the verb, you don't add não:

• Ninguém veio. (Nobody came.)

• Nada funciona. (Nothing works.)

• Nunca pensei nisso. (I never thought of that.)

"Nem" = not even

On its own, nem means "not even" — perfect for quick reactions:

• Nem pensar! (No way! / Don't even think about it!)

• Nem morto! (Not in a million years! — lit. "not even dead")

• Nem a pau! (No way! — very colloquial)

Here's a negation trap that has nothing to do with grammar. In Brazil, a clerk or waiter greets you with "Pois não?" — which, despite literally containing não (no), means "Yes? How can I help you?". Its mirror image, "Pois sim!" (literally "well, yes"), drips with sarcasm and means the opposite: "Yeah, right — no way!". So the phrase with "no" says yes, and the one with "yes" says no.

Sources: O significado de "pois não" — Rio & Learn