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Você conhece alguém novo no bairro ou continua com os mesmos amigos?

Você conhece alguém novo no bairro ou continua com os mesmos amigos?
Do you know anyone new in the neighborhood or do you keep the same friends?
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Questions & Answers about Você conhece alguém novo no bairro ou continua com os mesmos amigos?

Why is it você conhece and not something like você conheces?

In Brazilian Portuguese, você takes third-person singular verb forms, not second-person ones.

  • Conjugation of conhecer (present):
    • eu conheço
    • você / ele / ela conhece
    • nós conhecemos
    • vocês / eles / elas conhecem

So the correct form with você is você conhece, never você conheces.

The form conheces is used with tu in varieties that really use tu with its own conjugation (more common in Portugal and some regions of Brazil):

  • (tu) conheces alguém novo no bairro?

In most of Brazil, você is the normal “you,” and it always uses third-person verb endings.

Why is it conhecer and not saber in this sentence?

Portuguese distinguishes conhecer and saber, a bit like Spanish conocer vs. saber:

  • conhecer = to be acquainted with / to know personally (people, places)
  • saber = to know (facts, information, how to do something)

Because we’re talking about knowing people (friends, someone new), you must use conhecer:

  • Você conhece alguém novo no bairro?
    = Are you acquainted with / Have you met anyone new in the neighborhood?

Using saber with people would be wrong in this context:

  • ✗ Você sabe alguém novo no bairro? (incorrect)
Can você conhece alguém novo no bairro? also mean “Have you met anyone new in the neighborhood?” even though it’s present tense?

Yes. Brazilian Portuguese often uses the simple present where English uses the present perfect.

So:

  • Você conhece alguém novo no bairro?

    is naturally understood as:

  • “Do you know anyone new in the neighborhood?” or
  • “Have you met anyone new in the neighborhood?”

If you want to be very clearly about a recent action, you could also say:

  • Você conheceu alguém novo no bairro (recentemente / ultimamente)?
    = Have you met anyone new in the neighborhood (recently / lately)?

But in everyday speech, the original present tense works fine for the idea of “have you met / gotten to know” as well.

What does alguém mean exactly, and why don’t we use an article with it?

Alguém is an indefinite pronoun that means “someone” or “anyone.”

  • Você conhece alguém novo no bairro?
    = Do you know someone/anyone new in the neighborhood?

Because alguém is already an indefinite pronoun, you do not add an article (um/uma). You don’t say:

  • ✗ um alguém novo (incorrect)

If you want to use a regular noun, then you do use an article:

  • Você conhece alguma pessoa nova no bairro?
    = Do you know any new person in the neighborhood?

Here, alguma (any/some) is a determiner modifying pessoa (person).

Why is it alguém novo no bairro and not novo alguém no bairro?

In Portuguese, adjectives usually come after the noun or pronoun they modify, especially in neutral, everyday speech.

  • alguém novo = a new person / someone who is new
  • ✗ novo alguém is not natural; that order doesn’t work with alguém.

So:

  • Você conhece alguém novo no bairro…
    literally: “Do you know someone new in the neighborhood…?”

The structure is:

  • alguém (someone)
    • novo (new)
      • no bairro (in the neighborhood)

Putting novo before alguém is ungrammatical here.

Does alguém novo no bairro mean “someone who is young” or “someone who is new to the neighborhood”?

In this sentence, alguém novo no bairro is understood as:

  • someone who is new to the neighborhood (a recent arrival)

The phrase novo no bairro is a very common way to say “new in the neighborhood.”

If you wanted to emphasize that the person is young (in age), you’d normally make it clearer:

  • alguém jovem no bairro = someone young in the neighborhood
  • um rapaz novo no bairro = a young guy in the neighborhood

Here, the most natural interpretation is about being new to that place, not about age.

What exactly is no bairro? Why not just em bairro or no seu bairro?

No is a contraction of em + o (in + the):

  • em + o bairro → no bairro
    = in the neighborhood

So:

  • no bairro = in the neighborhood

You could say other things depending on context:

  • no seu bairro = in your neighborhood
  • nesse bairro = in that neighborhood
  • aqui no bairro = here in the neighborhood

But no bairro by itself is very natural when it’s clear from context which neighborhood you mean (usually the one where the speaker and listener live).

Could I leave out você and just say Conhece alguém novo no bairro…?

Yes. Subject pronouns (like eu, você, ele) are often dropped in Portuguese when the verb form already makes the subject clear.

So all of these are possible:

  • Você conhece alguém novo no bairro…?
  • Conhece alguém novo no bairro…? (implied “you”)
  • Você continua com os mesmos amigos?
  • Continua com os mesmos amigos? (implied “you”)

Leaving out você can sound a bit more casual or conversational, but it’s very common and perfectly correct.

Why is it continua and not continua a or continua tendo?

The verb continuar can be used in different structures, all with the idea of still / continue / remain:

  1. continuar + com + noun

    • Você continua com os mesmos amigos?
      = Are you still with the same friends?

  2. continuar + a + infinitive

    • Você continua a morar aqui?
      = Do you still live here?

  3. continuar + gerúndio (–ndo form) (more common in Brazil)

    • Você continua morando aqui?
      = Are you still living here?

In your sentence, continuar + com + noun is used:

  • continua com os mesmos amigos
    literally: “continue with the same friends” → “still have the same friends / still hang out with the same friends.”
What does com os mesmos amigos literally mean, and why is os there?

Literally, com os mesmos amigos is:

  • com = with
  • os = the (masculine plural article)
  • mesmos = same (masculine plural)
  • amigos = friends (masculine plural)

So:

  • com os mesmos amigos = with the same friends

The article os is required because:

  • mesmos and amigos are masculine plural, and in Portuguese the article agrees in gender and number:
    • o mesmo amigo (singular, masc.)
    • a mesma amiga (singular, fem.)
    • os mesmos amigos (plural, masc.)
    • as mesmas amigas (plural, fem.)
Does amigos here mean only male friends, or can it include female friends too?

In Portuguese, the masculine plural is used for:

  • a group of only men/boys, or
  • a mixed group (men + women), or
  • people in general when gender is not specified

So os mesmos amigos can mean:

  • the same male friends, or
  • the same friends (some or all may be female; it’s just the generic plural).

If you mean a group of only women, you can say:

  • as mesmas amigas = the same (female) friends
Why is the question formed just by word order and a question mark? There’s no do/does like in English.

Portuguese doesn’t use a helper verb like do/does to form yes/no questions. The structure is usually the same as a statement, and it becomes a question through:

  • intonation (in speech) and/or
  • question mark (in writing)

So:

  • Statement: Você conhece alguém novo no bairro.
  • Question: Você conhece alguém novo no bairro?
    (spoken with rising intonation)

You don’t need to change the word order or add an auxiliary verb as English does.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral in Brazilian Portuguese?

Using você is standard, everyday informal-to-neutral Brazilian Portuguese. It’s what people commonly use with:

  • friends
  • colleagues
  • most everyday situations

To sound more formal or distant, someone might:

  • avoid directly asking about your friends, or
  • use more formal wording, but they would still likely use você in modern Brazil.

Using o senhor / a senhora would be more formally polite:

  • O senhor conhece alguém novo no bairro…?
  • A senhora continua com os mesmos amigos?

But that’s reserved for showing respect (to an older person, in very formal service situations, etc.). The original sentence is perfectly natural in most normal contexts.