Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil): Todo mundo gosta de caminhar no parque.

In Brazilian Portuguese, though, todo mundo is a very common everyday way to say “everyone / everybody”, not just “the whole world” in a global sense.

So in this sentence:

Todo mundo gosta de caminhar no parque.
→ “Everyone likes to walk in the park.”

you should understand todo mundo as “everyone”, not think too much about the literal “all the world.” Context almost always makes the intended meaning clear.

Is todo mundo grammatically singular or plural? Why is it gosta and not gostam?

Grammatically, todo mundo is treated as singular, even though its meaning is plural.

That’s why the verb is:

Todo mundo gosta … (singular: gosta)
and not
❌ Todo mundo gostam …

You can think of it like English “everybody likes” (singular verb) rather than “all people like” (plural verb).

So you also say:

Todo mundo está aqui. – “Everyone is here.” (singular está, not estão)

Are there other ways to say “everyone” in Brazilian Portuguese instead of todo mundo?

Yes. Common alternatives include:

Todos
- Todos gostam de caminhar no parque.
- A bit more neutral/formal than todo mundo.
Todas as pessoas – literally “all the people”
- Todas as pessoas gostam de caminhar no parque.
- Sounds more formal or written.

In everyday Brazilian speech, todo mundo and todos are the most common.
Todo mundo feels slightly more casual/colloquial; todos can feel a bit more generic or formal depending on context.

Why do we say gosta de caminhar and not just gosta caminhar?

Because in Portuguese the verb gostar is almost always used with de:

gostar de + noun
- Eu gosto de café. – “I like coffee.”
gostar de + verb (infinitive)
- Eu gosto de caminhar. – “I like to walk / walking.”

So the pattern is:

[person] + gostar de + [thing or activity you like]

You cannot drop the de:

❌ Todo mundo gosta caminhar no parque. (incorrect)
✅ Todo mundo gosta de caminhar no parque. (correct)

What’s the difference between gostar de caminhar and gostar de caminhar no parque?

gostar de caminhar = “to like walking / to like to walk” (in general)
gostar de caminhar no parque = “to like walking in the park” (more specific)

Grammatically, it’s:

gostar de
- caminhar (infinitive verb)
and then you further describe caminhar with no parque (“in the park”).

The de belongs to gostar, not to parque.

What’s the difference between caminhar, andar, and passear?

All can relate to moving on foot, but they have different usual shades of meaning:

caminhar
- Basic meaning: to walk (especially as an activity, exercise, or going somewhere on foot).
- Eu gosto de caminhar no parque. – “I like to walk in the park.” (often feels like regular walking or exercise)
andar
- Very general “to go / move / walk.”
- Can be used for walking, riding, being on something:
  - andar a pé – to go on foot
  - andar de bicicleta – to ride a bike
- Eu andei no parque. – “I walked in the park” (more neutral, can sound a bit more about the fact that you walked, not that you enjoy it as an activity).
passear
- More like “to stroll, to go for a walk/outing, to hang out.”
- Emphasizes leisure, enjoying yourself, not just the physical act of walking.
- Eu gosto de passear no parque. – “I like to stroll / hang out in the park.”

In your sentence, caminhar fits well because it suggests the activity of walking (often as a habit or exercise).

Why is it no parque and not em o parque?

No is a contraction:

em (“in / at / on”) + o (“the”, masculine singular)
→ em o
→ contracts to no

So:

em + o = no
em + a = na
em + os = nos
em + as = nas

Therefore:

caminhar no parque = “to walk in the park”
literally: caminhar em o parque → contracted to no parque

You almost always use the contracted form in speech and writing in Brazilian Portuguese.

Can I say em parque instead of no parque?

In this kind of sentence, no parque is the natural way; em parque sounds wrong/unfinished.

For generic places in Portuguese, you usually include the article:

no parque – in the park
na escola – at school
no supermercado – at the supermarket

There are some fixed expressions without an article (like em casa = “at home”), but parque normally takes an article: o parque → no parque.

Could I say Todo mundo gosta de andar no parque instead? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can:

Todo mundo gosta de caminhar no parque.
Todo mundo gosta de andar no parque.

Both are understandable and correct.

Nuance:

caminhar slightly emphasizes the activity of walking, often as exercise or a deliberate walk.
andar is more general: just the fact of moving around on foot in the park; the nuance of “exercise walk” is weaker.

In everyday conversation, many Brazilians would use andar, caminhar, or passear depending on the image they have in mind, and all would be understood.

What’s the difference between todo, toda, todos, todas, and tudo?

They all come from the idea of “all,” but are used differently:

todo – “all / every” (masculine singular)
- todo dia – every day
toda – “all / every” (feminine singular)
- toda semana – every week
todos – “all / every” (masculine plural)
- todos os dias – every day / all the days
- Todos gostam de caminhar no parque. – “Everyone / They all like to walk in the park.”
todas – “all / every” (feminine plural)
- todas as pessoas – all the people
tudo – “everything” (neuter, no plural)
- Eu gosto de tudo. – I like everything.

Todo mundo is a fixed expression using todo + mundo (“world”), and as a unit it means “everyone.”

Is todo mundo formal or informal? Can I use it in any context?

Todo mundo is very common and natural in Brazilian Portuguese. It’s fine in:

Casual conversation
Semi-formal situations
Many kinds of writing (messages, blogs, dialogues, etc.)

In very formal or academic writing, people might prefer alternatives like:

todos, todas as pessoas, toda a população, etc.

But in normal spoken Brazilian Portuguese, todo mundo is absolutely standard and not considered “slang.”

How would I make this sentence negative? Does não go before or after todo mundo?

Não usually goes before the verb, not before todo mundo:

Todo mundo não gosta de caminhar no parque.

This means roughly “Everyone does not like walking in the park”, but in practice it often sounds like you mean “Nobody likes walking in the park.” There can be ambiguity.

If you want to clearly say “Not everyone likes to walk in the park,” a more natural option is:

Nem todo mundo gosta de caminhar no parque.

So:

Todo mundo gosta de… – Everyone likes…
Nem todo mundo gosta de… – Not everyone likes…
Ninguém gosta de… – Nobody likes…

Can I turn this into a yes/no question just by changing the intonation, like in English?

Yes.

In spoken Brazilian Portuguese, you can often keep the word order exactly the same and just use a questioning intonation:

Todo mundo gosta de caminhar no parque?
(Rising intonation at the end)

This corresponds to English:

“Does everyone like to walk in the park?”

You can also add a question word or tag in other contexts, but for a simple yes/no question, intonation on the same sentence is perfectly natural.

How should I pronounce caminhar and todo mundo so I sound more Brazilian?

Key points:

caminhar
- ca – like “cah”
- mi – like “mee”
- nh – similar to the “ny” in canyon or onion
- har – the r at the end is often a soft h sound in Brazilian Portuguese (especially in many accents), so more like “camee-nyar(h)”.
todo mundo
- to – like “toh” (close to English “toe”, but shorter)
- do – also “doh”
- In relaxed speech the two o sounds can sound very similar and the words can flow: to-do-mun-do.
- mun – like “moon” (slightly nasalized)
- do – again “doh”

Practicing them in rhythm:

TO-do MUN-do GOS-ta de ca-mi-NHAR no PAR-que

will help you get a natural flow.