Não vi nada. Não veio ninguém. Nunca digo nada a ninguém. These are the sentences that trip up every single English-speaking learner of Portuguese — and get them into the habit of "correcting" the grammar in their head before they speak, usually by wrongly dropping one of the negatives. This page exists to break that habit.
Portuguese is a negative-concord language. When a sentence is negative, every negative element within that sentence shows up as negative — não before the verb, nada / ninguém / nunca / nenhum / nem inside it. These do not cancel each other out. They agree with each other, in the same way plural nouns and plural verbs agree with each other. The whole sentence has one overall negative meaning; the multiple negative words are just the grammatical spelling of that single meaning.
This is shared with Spanish, Italian, French (loosely), and many other Romance languages. English is the outlier — an English teacher telling you "I don't see nothing means I see something" is teaching you English, not logic. Portuguese plays by different rules, and the rules are consistent.
The core rule — one sentence
When a negative word (nada, ninguém, nunca, nenhum, nem, nem... nem...) comes after the verb, não is obligatory before the verb.
That is the entire rule. If you get nothing else from this page, get that.
Não vi nada.
I didn't see anything. / I saw nothing.
Não comi nada desde ontem.
I haven't eaten anything since yesterday.
Não veio ninguém.
Nobody came.
Não conheço ninguém nesta cidade.
I don't know anyone in this city.
Não vou nunca a esse sítio.
I never go to that place.
Não tenho nenhuma dúvida.
I have no doubt at all.
Every one of these has two apparent negatives — não plus the post-verbal negative word — but the sentence expresses one negation. This is how the language works.
Why this is not cancellation
English speakers instinctively read não vi nada as logically equivalent to "I didn't see nothing" = "I saw something." Portuguese does not reason that way. The grammatical negatives are a single agreement feature: all the negative slots in a negative sentence have to come out negative. Saying Não vi algo ("I didn't see something") is not wrong in the way English speakers expect — it just does not mean "I didn't see anything." It means something different and much more marked: "there is something I didn't see."
Não vi nada.
I didn't see anything. (standard negative)
Não vi algo.
There's something I didn't see. (marked, unusual — positive existential in a negative sentence)
The second sentence is grammatical but almost never what a native speaker means. For the everyday meaning "I didn't see anything," you need nada, not algo.
The paired constructions
Here is the full list of não... X... pairs with examples. Each pair corresponds to an English not... any-word construction.
Não... nada — not anything
Não sei nada sobre isso.
I don't know anything about that.
Ela não disse nada durante o jantar.
She didn't say anything during dinner.
Não há nada no frigorífico — temos que ir às compras.
There's nothing in the fridge — we need to go shopping.
Não... ninguém — not anyone
Não vi ninguém quando cheguei a casa.
I didn't see anyone when I got home.
Não conheço ninguém que tenha feito isso.
I don't know anyone who's done that.
Não telefonou ninguém toda a tarde.
Nobody called all afternoon.
Não... nunca / jamais — never
Nunca is neutral; jamais is stronger and more literary.
Não vou nunca àquela pastelaria.
I never go to that pastry shop.
Não me esquecerei jamais do que me fizeste.
I'll never forget what you did to me. (emphatic / literary)
Não teria imaginado jamais uma coisa destas.
I would never have imagined something like this. (formal)
Não... nenhum / nenhuma / nenhuns / nenhumas — no, none
Nenhum agrees with the noun it modifies or refers to.
Não tenho nenhum amigo em Braga.
I don't have a single friend in Braga.
Não tenho nenhuma dúvida sobre isso.
I have no doubt about that.
Não li nenhum dos livros dele.
I haven't read any of his books.
A stylistic variant puts nenhum after the noun for extra emphasis — the pattern não + verb + noun + nenhum:
Não tenho amigo nenhum em Braga.
I don't have a single friend in Braga. (stronger)
Não há dúvida nenhuma.
There's absolutely no doubt.
Não quero problema nenhum.
I don't want any trouble whatsoever.
This post-nominal nenhum is a PT-PT emphatic structure worth learning — it is warmer and more colloquial than the pre-nominal form.
Não... nem... nem... — neither... nor...
Não quero nem café nem chá.
I don't want either coffee or tea.
Não falo nem francês nem alemão.
I speak neither French nor German.
Ele não come nem carne nem peixe — é vegetariano.
He eats neither meat nor fish — he's a vegetarian.
A related pattern drops the first nem and uses plain não... X nem Y:
Não quero café nem chá.
I don't want coffee or tea. (lighter variant)
Both are natural; the double-nem version is more emphatic.
Não... tampouco — nor (formal)
Tampouco is the formal counterpart of também não (neither). It belongs to writing and careful speech.
Não li o livro, tampouco vi o filme.
I didn't read the book, nor did I see the film. (formal)
Não concordo, tampouco me oponho abertamente.
I don't agree, nor do I openly object. (formal)
In everyday speech, reach for também não instead — Não li o livro, também não vi o filme.
Stacking: triple and quadruple negation
Because Portuguese is a negative-concord language, stacking is grammatical and natural. Each additional negative word reinforces rather than complicates the meaning.
Não disse nada a ninguém.
I didn't say anything to anyone.
Não digo nunca nada a ninguém.
I never say anything to anyone.
Não vi ninguém fazer nada.
I didn't see anyone do anything.
Nunca falei com ninguém sobre nada disto.
I've never spoken to anyone about any of this.
Não tem nada a ver com nenhum de nós.
It has nothing to do with any of us.
Three or four negatives is not flamboyant — it is the standard way to say "never anything to anyone" in Portuguese.
Fixed expressions built on double negation
Certain set phrases rely on double negation and should be learned as chunks.
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Não faz mal nenhum | It doesn't matter at all |
| Não tem nada a ver | It has nothing to do (with it) |
| Não sei nada de nada | I know absolutely nothing |
| Não tenho nada contra | I have nothing against |
| Não é nada de especial | It's nothing special |
| Não há nada a fazer | There's nothing to be done |
| Não custa nada | It costs nothing / It's no trouble |
| Não deixa nada a desejar | It leaves nothing to be desired |
| Não serve de nada | It's no use |
| Não dá para nada | It's useless / no good for anything |
— Desculpa ter chegado tarde. — Não faz mal nenhum.
— Sorry I'm late. — It doesn't matter at all.
Isso não tem nada a ver com o que estávamos a falar.
That has nothing to do with what we were talking about.
Ele chegou a Portugal há um mês e já não sabe nada de nada do país.
He arrived in Portugal a month ago and still knows absolutely nothing about the country.
Não tenho nada contra ele, mas preferia não trabalhar juntos.
I have nothing against him, but I'd rather not work together.
Discutir com ele não serve de nada.
Arguing with him is no use.
Nada as an intensifier — "not at all"
Nada has a second life as an adverbial intensifier meaning at all. It sits after the adjective or adverb it modifies:
Não estou nada cansado.
I'm not tired at all.
Ele não é nada tímido.
He's not shy at all.
A comida não estava nada boa.
The food wasn't good at all.
Não gosto nada disso.
I don't like that at all.
Isto não me parece nada bem.
This doesn't look good to me at all.
This adverbial nada is one of the most useful rhetorical intensifiers in PT-PT — it lets you turn a mild "not tired" into a strong "not tired at all." Learn to use it.
Contrast with English — the core divergence
English uses a single negator in negative sentences (didn't see anyone), with polarity-sensitive words (any, anyone, ever, at all) that only appear in negative or interrogative contexts. Portuguese uses negative-concord: every negative slot is overtly negative.
| English | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| I didn't see anyone. | Não vi ninguém. |
| She didn't say anything. | Ela não disse nada. |
| We never go there. | Não vamos nunca lá. / Nunca vamos lá. |
| I don't want any. | Não quero nenhum. |
| He said nothing to anyone. | Ele não disse nada a ninguém. |
| Neither of them helped. | Nenhum deles ajudou. / Não ajudou nenhum deles. |
Contrast with Spanish — shared negative concord, different vocabulary
Spanish and Portuguese work identically on double negation — this is where the two Iberian languages agree and English is the odd one out. But the vocabulary differs:
| English | Spanish | Portuguese |
|---|---|---|
| nothing | nada | nada |
| nobody | nadie | ninguém |
| never | nunca / jamás | nunca / jamais |
| no, none | ningún / ninguna | nenhum / nenhuma |
| neither... nor... | ni... ni... | nem... nem... |
Spanish learners coming to Portuguese have it easy on this structural point — the grammar is the same. English speakers have to rewire.
Edge case: negative words fronted — no não
When the negative word is moved before the verb, não is omitted. This is a separate pattern treated in depth at Negation Without Não. A quick preview:
Ninguém veio.
Nobody came.
Nunca vi tal coisa.
I've never seen such a thing.
Nada me surpreende já.
Nothing surprises me anymore.
Nenhum aluno passou no exame.
Not a single student passed the exam.
The verb is always flanked by exactly one negator — either não before the verb, or a pre-verbal negative word. Never both. Ninguém não veio is ungrammatical.
A note on regional and colloquial não repetition
In Brazilian Portuguese — especially northeastern varieties — you hear sentences like Não vi ninguém não with a second não tacked onto the end as an emphatic reinforcement. This is not standard PT-PT. European Portuguese keeps the clean Não vi ninguém pattern. If you hear the final não in speech, it is likely regional (especially north Portugal in certain contexts) or influenced by Brazilian speakers.
Não vi ninguém.
I didn't see anyone. (standard PT-PT)
Não vi ninguém não.
I didn't see anyone. (Brazilian / very informal regional PT)
At A2, stick with the standard pattern. Recognise the final não when you hear it, but don't imitate it.
Common mistakes
❌ Eu vi nada.
Missing não. When a negative word follows the verb, não is obligatory before the verb.
✅ Eu não vi nada.
I didn't see anything.
❌ Não vi alguém na rua.
Wrong pronoun — alguém is positive 'someone'. A negative sentence needs ninguém.
✅ Não vi ninguém na rua.
I didn't see anyone in the street.
❌ Não sei algo sobre isso.
Same problem — for 'I don't know anything about that', use nada, not algo.
✅ Não sei nada sobre isso.
I don't know anything about that.
❌ Não quero um café ou um chá.
For negated alternatives, Portuguese uses nem (or nem... nem...), not ou.
✅ Não quero café nem chá. / Não quero nem café nem chá.
I don't want coffee or tea.
❌ Ele não disse nada a alguém.
Same two-place error — with não, 'to anyone' becomes a ninguém, not a alguém.
✅ Ele não disse nada a ninguém.
He didn't say anything to anyone.
❌ Não tenho duvida nenhum.
Agreement — dúvida is feminine, so nenhum must also be feminine: nenhuma. (Also watch the diacritic: dúvida, not duvida.)
✅ Não tenho nenhuma dúvida. / Não tenho dúvida nenhuma.
I have no doubt at all.
❌ Nunca não fui lá.
Overshooting — nunca is already a negator before the verb, so não is not needed. Choose one.
✅ Nunca fui lá. / Não fui nunca lá.
I've never been there.
❌ Ele comeu nada.
Without não, the sentence sounds like 'he ate nothing' in a marked, literary register. In everyday PT, you want não + nada.
✅ Ele não comeu nada. / Nada comeu. (literary, marked)
He didn't eat anything.
Key takeaways
- Negative concord is the core principle: if a negative word follows the verb, não must come before the verb. Double negation does not cancel.
- The paired constructions: não... nada, não... ninguém, não... nunca/jamais, não... nenhum, não... nem (... nem), não... tampouco.
- Use negative forms (nada, ninguém, nenhum), not positive ones (algo, alguém, algum), in negative sentences.
- Triple and quadruple negation is standard — Não digo nunca nada a ninguém.
- Pre-verbal negative words drop não: Ninguém veio, Nunca vi — see Negation Without Não.
- Nada as intensifier: não estou nada cansado = "not tired at all."
- The verb is always flanked by exactly one negator — never ninguém não veio.
Related Topics
- Negation OverviewA1 — How to make sentences negative in Portuguese — from the basic não before the verb to the double-negation system, pre-verbal negatives, tag questions, and emphatic strengthenings.
- Basic Negation with NãoA1 — Placing não before the verb — the full rulebook for European Portuguese, covering clitics, modals, compound tenses, progressive aspect, questions, and the hyphenated não- compounds.
- Negative Words (Nada, Ninguém, Nenhum, Nunca, Nem)A2 — The main negative pronouns and adverbs of European Portuguese — what each one means, how it inflects, where it sits, and how to choose between them.
- Negation Without NãoB1 — When negative words — ninguém, nada, nunca, nenhum, nem — appear before the verb, não disappears. The symmetric counterpart to double negation, with topicalisation, literary fronting, and answer fragments.
- Algum vs Nenhum (Positive/Negative Indefinites)A2 — The agreeing indefinites algum and nenhum — some/any and none — with gender, number, and preposition contractions
- Indefinite Pronouns (Alguém, Ninguém, Algo, Nada, Tudo)A2 — Referring to unspecified people and things — someone, no one, something, nothing, everything
- Adverbs of Affirmation and NegationA2 — Saying yes, no, and indicating truth value — sim, pois, claro, de facto, não, nem, tampouco, talvez, se calhar, and the mood split between talvez and se calhar.