A declarative sentence makes a statement — it tells, rather than asks (interrogative), commands (imperative), or exclaims (exclamatory). It is the most common sentence type in any language and the default mode of speaking. In Brazilian Portuguese the declarative is built on stable SVO order and falling intonation, and it comes in two forms: affirmative ("she lives here") and negative ("she doesn't live here"). The headline news for English speakers is how cleanly Portuguese handles negation: there is no auxiliary "do," no "doesn't" or "don't" — you simply drop não in front of the verb.
Affirmative declaratives
The affirmative statement is the baseline. Subject, then verb, then whatever completes the verb, said with the pitch falling toward the end.
Ela mora aqui.
She lives here.
O ônibus passa às oito.
The bus comes at eight.
Eu trabalho num escritório no centro.
I work in an office downtown.
The order does not shuffle around the way it does in questions. In a yes/no question, spoken Brazilian keeps the same word order and only raises the final pitch — Ela mora aqui? differs from Ela mora aqui. purely by intonation, not by word order. That makes the declarative the structural anchor: questions are declaratives with rising intonation, and commands are declaratives with the subject usually dropped.
Negative declaratives: just add não
To negate a statement, place não immediately before the verb. That is the entire rule for basic negation.
Ela não mora aqui.
She doesn't live here.
Eu não sei.
I don't know.
Eles não vieram à reunião.
They didn't come to the meeting.
Compare what English forces you to do. English cannot say "She not lives here"; it has to summon a helper verb — "She does not live here," "They did not come" — and that auxiliary even carries the tense (does, did) while the main verb reverts to its base form. Portuguese does none of this. The main verb stays fully conjugated (mora, vieram) and não simply sits in front of it. There is no "do-support," no auxiliary, no change to the verb.
Where não goes with object pronouns
When an object pronoun comes before the verb (the normal spoken Brazilian position), não goes before the whole cluster — não first, then the pronoun, then the verb.
Eu não te vi na festa.
I didn't see you at the party.
Ela não me ligou.
She didn't call me.
The order is fixed: não + pronoun + verb. You never split them.
Double negation is correct
This surprises English speakers, who are taught that two negatives "cancel out." In Portuguese, negative words like nada (nothing), ninguém (nobody), nunca (never), and nenhum (none) usually require não before the verb as well. Two negatives reinforce; they do not cancel.
Eu não sei nada sobre isso.
I don't know anything about that.
Ninguém veio. / Não veio ninguém.
Nobody came.
Ela nunca chega atrasada.
She's never late.
When the negative word comes after the verb, you need não before the verb: Não vi ninguém ("I didn't see anybody"). When the negative word comes before the verb, the não is dropped: Ninguém veio ("Nobody came") — you do not say Ninguém não veio in standard Brazilian. So the rule is positional: negative word after the verb → keep não; negative word before the verb → drop não.
Nunca vi esse filme.
I've never seen that movie. (negative word before verb — no 'não')
Não vi esse filme nunca.
I've never seen that movie. (negative word after verb — keep 'não')
Quick reference
| Type | Structure | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Affirmative | S – V – (O) | Ela mora aqui. |
| Negative | S – não – V – (O) | Ela não mora aqui. |
| Negative + pronoun | não – pron – V | Não te vi. |
| Negative word after verb | não – V – ... – nada/ninguém | Não sei nada. |
| Negative word before verb | ninguém/nunca – V (no 'não') | Ninguém veio. |
Common Mistakes
❌ Ela não does mora aqui.
Incorrect — Portuguese has no 'do/does' auxiliary; negate the verb directly.
✅ Ela não mora aqui.
She doesn't live here.
❌ Eu não sei nada → Eu sei nada.
Incorrect — when the negative word follows the verb, you still need 'não'.
✅ Eu não sei nada.
I don't know anything.
❌ Eu te não vi.
Incorrect — 'não' must precede the pronoun-verb cluster, not split it.
✅ Eu não te vi.
I didn't see you.
❌ Ninguém não veio.
Incorrect in standard BR — drop 'não' when the negative word precedes the verb.
✅ Ninguém veio.
Nobody came.
The two reflexes to build: never reach for "do/does/did" — não goes straight in front of the verb — and accept that Portuguese stacks negatives rather than canceling them, with the position of the negative word deciding whether não stays or goes. Get those, and declarative statements, the most frequent sentences you will ever produce, become automatic.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Negative SentencesA1 — How Brazilian Portuguese builds negatives with não before the verb, the obligatory double negation with words like nada and ninguém, nem, nunca/jamais, and the emphatic sentence-final não.
- SVO Word Order in BRA1 — Brazilian Portuguese is a Subject-Verb-Object language, but a flexible one — adjectives follow nouns, the subject is often dropped, and some verbs put their subject last.
- Simple SentencesA1 — A simple sentence has exactly one finite verb — one subject, one predicate. This page covers the copular, transitive, and intransitive patterns, plus why Brazilian Portuguese can drop the subject.
- Negative Words: Nada, Nunca, Ninguém, NemA1 — The Brazilian Portuguese negative words and the positional rule that decides whether they need 'não' alongside them.