NEGATIVES IN PORTUGUESE

Hello everybody! If you are following the series of articles for beginners, at this time you already know some vocabulary and affirmative phrases structures. Now I will show you basic topics about Portuguese negative phrases.

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You already know about the structure for simple sentences in Portuguese:
[subject pronoun] + verb + complement + .

Usually to make negative sentences you place NÃO before the verb:
[subject pronoun] + "não" + verb + complement + .

Examples:
Eu não gosto de gatos [I don't like cats].
Eu não sei falar inglês [I don't know how to speak English / I don't speak English]

Other negatives may precede or follow the verb. If they precede the verb, their behavior will be similar to the "NÃO". But If they follow the verb they must be a double negative. The structure will be like this:
[subject pronoun] + "não" + verb + second negative + complement + .

Examples:
Eu nunca vou ao cinema [I never go to the cinema]
Eu não vou nunca ao cinema [I never go to the cinema]

Let's see some examples in this video:

Here is a list of negative words to compound your phrases:
não [no]
nada [nothing, (not) anything]
ninguém [nobody, (not) anybody]
nenhum(a) [no one]
tampouco [nor, either, neither]
nem [nor]
nem ... nem [neither... nor]
sequer [not even]
nunca [never, ever*]
jamais [never, ever*]

NOTE:
"Nunca" means "ever" when it follows a comparative; "jamais" means "ever" when it follows an affirmative verb.

Let's see more examples now:

Nada é impossível. [Nothing is impossible]
Eu não tenho nada. [I have nothing]
Ninguém está em casa. [There is nobody at home]
Eu não sou nem inglês nem japonês. [I am neither English nor Japanese]
Eu não tenho nenhum livro. [I don't have any book]
Não gosto de maças, tampouco de bananas. [I don't like apples or bananas either]
Eu jamais acordo cedo. [I never wake up early]
Não acordo cedo jamais [I never wake up early]
Eu não tenho livros e nem cadernos [I dont have books or notebooks]

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