Breakdown of Eu quero conhecer alguém novo no bairro.
Questions & Answers about Eu quero conhecer alguém novo no bairro.
In Portuguese, conhecer and saber both relate to “knowing,” but they’re used differently:
- conhecer = to know in the sense of:
- to be acquainted with a person or place
- to meet someone for the first time
- saber = to know information or how to do something
In Eu quero conhecer alguém novo no bairro, you’re talking about meeting / getting to know a person, so conhecer is the correct verb.
You would use saber in sentences like:
- Eu quero saber a resposta. – I want to know the answer.
- Eu sei falar português. – I know how to speak Portuguese.
You can absolutely drop Eu and say:
- Quero conhecer alguém novo no bairro.
Portuguese is a pro-drop language: the verb ending (-o in quero) already shows the subject is eu (I).
Using Eu:
- adds a bit of emphasis on I (for contrast, like “I want to meet someone new…”)
- is very common in spoken Brazilian Portuguese, especially in more casual speech
So both are correct:
- Eu quero conhecer alguém novo no bairro.
- Quero conhecer alguém novo no bairro.
Both are possible, but they feel slightly different.
- alguém novo = someone new (one person, unspecified)
- uma pessoa nova = a new person (more explicitly “a person”)
alguém is a pronoun meaning someone / somebody. It already implies “a person,” so you don’t normally add pessoa after it.
Subtle differences:
- Eu quero conhecer alguém novo no bairro.
Sounds like you’re looking to meet one new person (romantically or socially), but it can also be understood as “someone who is new in the neighborhood.” - Eu quero conhecer uma pessoa nova no bairro.
Very similar meaning; slightly more neutral or “spelled out.”
In real conversation, Brazilians might even prefer:
- Eu quero conhecer gente nova no bairro. – I want to meet new people in the neighborhood. (more natural if you mean “new people” in general)
Context decides, and this phrase can be a bit ambiguous.
- alguém novo can mean:
- a new person (someone you don’t know yet)
- a young person (a person who is young in age)
Because you’re saying conhecer alguém novo no bairro, many native speakers may first understand it as:
- “to meet someone who is new in the neighborhood”
or possibly - “to meet a young person in the neighborhood”
If your main idea is “new to me, not young,” it’s often clearer to say:
- conhecer gente nova no bairro (new people, not necessarily young)
- conhecer pessoas novas no bairro
or if you really mean “young people”: - conhecer alguém jovem no bairro
- conhecer gente jovem no bairro
In Portuguese, adjectives normally come after the noun or pronoun they describe:
- alguém novo – literally “someone new”
- uma pessoa nova – “a new person”
You cannot say novo alguém; that sounds wrong to native speakers.
General rule:
- with nouns/pronouns like alguém, ninguém, todo mundo, the adjective comes after:
- alguém especial – someone special
- ninguém importante – nobody important
- todo mundo cansado – everyone tired
Yes, alguém is always singular and refers to one unspecified person.
To talk about some new people, you have other options:
- gente nova – literally “new people” (very natural)
- Quero conhecer gente nova no bairro.
- algumas pessoas novas – “some new people”
- Eu quero conhecer algumas pessoas novas no bairro.
Notice:
- gente is grammatically singular (you say a gente é, gente nova, not gentes novas), but it refers to a group of people.
- pessoas is the regular plural of pessoa (person → people).
no is a contraction of the preposition em (in, on, at) + the masculine singular article o (the):
- em + o = no
- em + a = na
- em + os = nos
- em + as = nas
So:
- no bairro = em + o bairro = “in the neighborhood”
You wouldn’t normally say em bairro here; that sounds unnatural because Portuguese usually uses a definite article with bairro in this sense.
Examples:
- Moro no bairro Centro. – I live in the Centro neighborhood.
- Tem um parque no bairro. – There is a park in the neighborhood.
You can say encontrar, but it changes the nuance:
- conhecer alguém
- to meet someone (often for the first time)
- or to get to know someone (become acquainted)
- encontrar alguém
- to find someone or bump into someone
- more about the physical act of encountering
In this sentence:
- Eu quero conhecer alguém novo no bairro.
Focus: you want to meet / get to know a new person. - Eu quero encontrar alguém novo no bairro.
Can sound more like you want to locate or come across some new person (less about forming a relationship, more about the act of finding).
For social/romantic contexts, conhecer is usually the better choice.
Quero is neutral and very common in everyday speech. It’s not rude by itself, but it can sound a bit direct.
More polite or softer options:
- Eu gostaria de conhecer alguém novo no bairro.
– I would like to meet someone new in the neighborhood. - Eu queria conhecer alguém novo no bairro.
– Literally “I wanted to meet…”, but used like “I’d like to…”
Use:
- quero with close friends, casual speech, when just stating a desire.
- gostaria de or queria in more polite, formal, or tentative situations, or when you want to sound less pushy.
By default, conhecer alguém can mean:
to meet someone for the first time
- Eu quero conhecer alguém novo no bairro.
→ I want to meet some new person (first-time encounter).
- Eu quero conhecer alguém novo no bairro.
to get to know someone (better) – usually clarified with extra words:
- Eu quero conhecer melhor as pessoas do bairro.
– I want to get to know the people in the neighborhood better.
- Eu quero conhecer melhor as pessoas do bairro.
In your exact sentence, most people will first understand it as “meet (a) new person/people”, not necessarily deeply “get to know” them, unless you add something like melhor (better) or context clues.