Brazilian Portuguese has a small family of dedicated negative words — nada (nothing), ninguém (nobody), nunca/jamais (never), nenhum/nenhuma (no, none), and nem (nor, not even). Knowing each word is the easy part. The part that trips up every English speaker is the rule that governs whether you also need não in the sentence, and that rule turns entirely on where the negative word sits relative to the verb. This page teaches the words and, more importantly, the positional logic that ties them together.
The core list
| Word | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| nada | nothing, anything | invariable |
| ninguém | nobody, anyone | invariable |
| nunca | never, ever | invariable |
| jamais | never (emphatic) | stronger than nunca |
| nenhum / nenhuma | no, none, not any | agrees in gender/number |
| nem | nor, not even | see the dedicated page |
Notice that nenhum is the odd one out: it is an adjective/pronoun and therefore agrees with its noun — nenhum carro (no car), nenhuma ideia (no idea), nenhuns and nenhumas in the plural (rare but real). The others never change form.
The positional rule: this is the whole game
Here is the single most important fact on this page. A negative word's relationship to não depends on whether it comes before or after the verb.
- After the verb → you also need não before the verb.
- Before the verb → you do not use não at all.
Watch the same idea expressed both ways:
Não quero nada.
I don't want anything.
Nada me interessa hoje.
Nothing interests me today.
In the first, nada follows the verb, so não is mandatory. In the second, nada is the subject sitting in front of the verb, so não would be wrong. The two negatives in "Não quero nada" do not cancel out — this is negative concord, the same system Spanish, Italian and older English used. It is fully correct Brazilian Portuguese. (For the full treatment of why two negatives reinforce rather than cancel, see the double negation page.)
More post-verbal examples (these all require não):
Não vi ninguém na festa.
I didn't see anyone at the party.
A gente não viaja nunca.
We never travel.
Ela não comprou nenhum presente ainda.
She hasn't bought any present yet.
And the pre-verbal versions, which take no não:
Ninguém me avisou.
Nobody warned me.
Nunca vou a esses lugares.
I never go to those places.
Nenhum aluno entregou a tarefa.
No student handed in the assignment.
Why English speakers find this hard
Standard English has the opposite instinct. After "I don't…", English forces a positive indefinite: "I don't want anything", "I didn't see anyone". English treats two negatives as a logical contradiction ("I don't want nothing" sounds substandard or means the reverse). Portuguese does the opposite: the negative word and não agree, like two soldiers marching in step. So the literal-sounding "I didn't see nobody" is exactly how Brazilian Portuguese works — Não vi ninguém — and trying to "fix" it by dropping one negative produces a broken sentence.
The trade-off is that English never moves the indefinite to the front to drop the auxiliary, while Portuguese does this constantly. The fronted Ninguém me avisou has no clean English mirror — you have to render it as "Nobody warned me", reorganizing the whole clause.
Pairing negative words
You can stack several negatives in one clause; they all reinforce. As long as one negator stands before the verb (either não or a fronted negative word), the chain is grammatical.
Não falei nada com ninguém.
I didn't say anything to anyone.
Ninguém nunca me ajudou em nada.
Nobody ever helped me with anything.
In the second sentence three negatives co-occur (ninguém, nunca, nada) and the meaning is simply strongly negative — not triple-negated back to positive.
Post-nominal "nenhum": the emphatic trick
There is a stylistic move worth learning early because natives use it constantly. Normally nenhum sits before the noun. But you can place it after the noun for emphasis, roughly equivalent to English "…whatsoever" or "…at all". This always requires não on the verb.
Não tenho medo nenhum de cachorro.
I'm not afraid of dogs at all.
Ele não tem razão nenhuma.
He's not right in the slightest.
Não fez diferença nenhuma.
It made no difference whatsoever.
Compare Não tenho nenhum medo (neutral "I have no fear") with Não tenho medo nenhum (emphatic "I have no fear at all"). Same words, but moving nenhum behind the noun cranks up the intensity. This is one of those touches that makes you sound like a native rather than a textbook.
That last point surprises learners: algum normally means "some", but placed after a noun in a negative context it means "no … at all". Não há dúvida alguma = "There's no doubt whatsoever". It is the (more formal/literary) twin of post-nominal nenhum.
Nunca vs jamais
Both mean "never". Nunca is the everyday word. Jamais is stronger and more emphatic, leaning (formal/literary), and often carries a flavour of "not ever, under any circumstances". In speech, doubling them — nunca jamais — is a colloquial intensifier ("never ever").
Jamais imaginei que isso fosse acontecer.
I never imagined this would happen.
Nunca jamais faço isso de novo!
I'll never ever do that again!
Nem in one line
Nem means "nor / not even" and is rich enough to deserve its own page. The short version: it negates and adds, and it follows the same positional rule. Não comi nem dormi = "I didn't eat or sleep". See the dedicated nem page.
Não tenho tempo nem dinheiro.
I have neither time nor money.
Common Mistakes
❌ Eu vi nada.
Incorrect — a post-verbal 'nada' still needs 'não' on the verb.
✅ Não vi nada.
I didn't see anything.
English speakers drop the não because "I saw nothing" has only one negative. In Portuguese the post-verbal negative is not enough on its own.
❌ Não ninguém veio.
Incorrect — a fronted negative word cannot also take 'não'.
✅ Ninguém veio.
Nobody came.
Once the negative word is in front of the verb, não is forbidden. Use one or the other, never both in this configuration.
❌ Não quero nenhum coisa.
Incorrect — 'nenhum' must agree with the feminine noun 'coisa'.
✅ Não quero nenhuma coisa.
I don't want anything.
Remember nenhum is the one negative word that inflects: nenhum carro, nenhuma casa.
❌ Não vi alguém.
Incorrect — in a negative clause use 'ninguém', not 'alguém'.
✅ Não vi ninguém.
I didn't see anyone.
This is direct English interference: "I didn't see anyone" tempts you toward alguém (someone/anyone), but a negative clause demands the negative pronoun ninguém.
❌ Não tenho nenhuma medo.
Incorrect — 'medo' is masculine, so the agreeing form is 'nenhum'.
✅ Não tenho nenhum medo. / Não tenho medo nenhum.
I'm not afraid at all.
Key Takeaways
- The five core negative words: nada, ninguém, nunca/jamais, nenhum/-a, nem.
- Only nenhum agrees in gender and number; the rest are invariable.
- Positional rule: after the verb → keep não; before the verb → drop não.
- Stacking negatives reinforces meaning — this is correct concord, not a double-negative error.
- Post-nominal nenhum (and post-nominal algum) is an emphatic "…at all / …whatsoever".
Now practice Portuguese
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Negation: OverviewA1 — How Brazilian Portuguese says no — 'não' before the verb, obligatory negative concord, the emphatic 'não...não' tail, and a map of the whole negation system.
- Double Negation in BRA2 — Negative concord in Brazilian Portuguese: why 'não vi nada' is correct and required, when 'não' is obligatory, and the positional rule that makes it disappear.
- Negative Words at Sentence Start (No 'Não' Needed)A2 — All the ways Brazilian Portuguese expresses negation without using 'não' — fronted negative words, 'sem', 'nem', prefixes, and lexical negatives.
- 'Nem': Multifaceted NegativeB1 — A deep look at 'nem' in Brazilian Portuguese — nor, not even, the 'nem... nem' correlative, 'nem que' + subjunctive, and the scoped idioms.