Negation in Brazilian Portuguese is built around one small, busy word: não. It answers a question ("No."), it negates a verb ("I don't know"), it stacks with other negative words to reinforce them, and it even comes back at the end of a sentence as a warm, emphatic echo. The single most important thing for an English speaker to absorb is that Portuguese uses negative concord: piling up negatives makes the negation stronger, not positive. This page maps the whole system and points you to the detailed pages for each piece.
The core: 'não' before the verb
The default negator is não, and it sits immediately before the verb. Nothing comes between não and the verb except unstressed object pronouns (clitics).
Não sei o nome dele.
I don't know his name.
A gente não vai à praia hoje.
We're not going to the beach today.
Ela não me ligou ontem.
She didn't call me yesterday. (only the clitic 'me' sits between 'não' and the verb)
There is no auxiliary "do/does/did" the way English uses it. Where English inserts do just to carry the negation (I don't know), Portuguese simply puts não in front of the ordinary verb. This makes Portuguese negation, in one sense, simpler than English — there's no extra verb to conjugate.
The detailed mechanics — placement with clitics, compound tenses, and the answer-word use — are on the basic 'não' page.
Negative concord: the headline rule
Here is the rule that overturns an English instinct. In English you are taught that "two negatives make a positive": I didn't see nothing supposedly means I saw something. In Brazilian Portuguese the opposite is true. When a negative word like nada (nothing), ninguém (nobody), or nunca (never) comes after the verb, the não is obligatory. The two negatives do not cancel — they agree with each other. This is called negative concord, and it is correct standard Portuguese, not slang.
Não vi ninguém na rua.
I didn't see anyone on the street. (literally 'I didn't see nobody' — and that's correct)
Não tem nada na geladeira.
There's nothing in the fridge.
Eu não vou nunca mais àquele lugar.
I'm never going back to that place again.
Leaving out the não here would be a grammatical error. Saying Vi ninguém is wrong; you must say Não vi ninguém. The full positional logic — and the flip that happens when the negative word comes before the verb — is on the double negation page.
The emphatic tail: 'não...não'
Brazilians often add a second não at the very end of a sentence for emphasis or warmth. This doubled não doesn't cancel anything either — it intensifies the denial, often softening it into something friendly or insistent depending on tone. It is extremely common in speech (informal) and rare in formal writing.
Não fui não, juro!
I didn't go, I swear! (the final 'não' adds emphasis)
Não quero não, obrigado.
No, I don't want any, thanks. (gentle, friendly refusal)
Sometimes the tail não even appears alone after a verb, especially in the Northeast (regional: Nordeste): Sei não ("Nah, I don't know"). More on this in the negation without 'não' page.
Negative words
Portuguese has a set of inherently negative words that pair with — or sometimes replace — não:
| Word | Meaning | English counterpart |
|---|---|---|
| nada | nothing / anything | nothing / (not) anything |
| ninguém | nobody / anyone | nobody / (not) anyone |
| nunca, jamais | never | never |
| nenhum(a) | no, none, not any | no / none |
| nem | nor, not even | nor / not even |
Nenhum aluno entregou o trabalho.
No student handed in the assignment. (pre-verbal: no 'não' needed)
Ele não come carne nem peixe.
He eats neither meat nor fish.
The full inventory, including nem and the conjunction nem...nem, lives on the negative words and nem pages.
Negation without 'não'
Several negatives can negate a whole clause on their own, without não, as long as they stand before the verb. Nunca, ninguém, nada, nenhum and jamais all do this.
Ninguém veio à reunião.
Nobody came to the meeting.
Nunca vi nada parecido.
I've never seen anything like it.
Notice the second example: Nunca before the verb carries the negation (no não), and then nada after the verb is in concord with it. This positional behavior is the heart of the system, covered on the double negation and negation without 'não' pages.
Negative prefixes
Beyond sentence negation, Portuguese negates individual words with prefixes — in-/im-/i- (feliz → infeliz, possível → impossível, legal → ilegal), des- (fazer → desfazer, honesto → desonesto), and a- (moral → amoral). These are word-formation tools rather than clause negation, and they get their own treatment on the negative prefixes page.
É impossível desfazer o que já foi feito.
It's impossible to undo what's already been done.
Common Mistakes
❌ Eu vi ninguém na festa.
Incorrect — when 'ninguém' follows the verb, 'não' is obligatory in front of the verb.
✅ Eu não vi ninguém na festa.
I didn't see anyone at the party.
❌ Eu não fiz não nada hoje.
Incorrect — jamming everything together; the emphatic tail 'não' goes at the very end, after the object.
✅ Eu não fiz nada hoje não.
I really didn't do anything today. (emphatic tail at the end)
❌ Eu não faço sei isso.
Incorrect — there's no 'do'-support in Portuguese; 'não' attaches straight to the verb.
✅ Eu não sei fazer isso.
I don't know how to do that.
❌ Não ninguém veio.
Incorrect — when 'ninguém' is pre-verbal it already carries the negation, so 'não' is dropped.
✅ Ninguém veio.
Nobody came.
Key takeaways
- The default negator is não, placed immediately before the verb (only clitics may intervene). No "do"-support.
- Brazilian Portuguese uses negative concord: não + nada/ninguém/nunca after the verb is required and correct — the negatives reinforce, never cancel.
- When a negative word stands before the verb, não disappears (Ninguém veio, Nunca vi).
- The doubled não...não is an emphatic, friendly tail, common in (informal) speech.
- Word-level negation uses prefixes (in-, des-, a-), a separate mechanism from clause negation.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Basic Negation with 'Não'A1 — How 'não' works as both 'no' and 'not', where it sits relative to the verb and clitics, how it behaves in compound tenses, and the friendly doubled 'não...não'.
- 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: Nada, Nunca, Ninguém, NemA1 — The Brazilian Portuguese negative words and the positional rule that decides whether they need 'não' alongside them.
- 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.
- Double Negation ConfusionA2 — Why 'não vi nada' is correct, not wrong — Brazilian Portuguese requires negative concord, and the emphatic 'não...não' tail is a real feature, not an error.