Não puxe a porta; você tem que empurrar.

Because this is a command: Don’t pull the door.

In Brazilian Portuguese, negative commands are formed with não + present subjunctive:

• não puxe = don’t pull
• não fale = don’t speak
• não abra = don’t open

So puxe here is the command form of puxar used with você.

For comparison:

• você puxa = you pull
• não puxe = don’t pull

So puxa is a normal present-tense form, while puxe is the command form used here.

Puxe is the imperative/subjunctive-based command form of the verb puxar (to pull), used with você.

The basic verb is:

• puxar = to pull

Some related forms:

• você puxa = you pull
• puxe! = pull!
• não puxe! = don’t pull!

In this sentence, puxe is not describing an action; it is telling someone what not to do.

Because Portuguese uses the definite article a (the) in many cases where English also uses the.

• a porta = the door

Here it refers to a specific door, probably the one right in front of the listener.

Portuguese often uses articles very naturally and frequently, so porta by itself would usually sound less complete in a sentence like this.

Both are possible, but they feel a little different.

• você tem que empurrar = you have to push
• empurre a porta = push the door

The version with você tem que sounds more like an explanation or correction:

• Don’t pull; you have to push.

The direct imperative empurre a porta sounds more like a straightforward instruction:

• Push the door.

So the original sentence is slightly more explanatory, not just a blunt command.

Tem que means have to or must.

• você tem que empurrar = you have to push

This structure is extremely common in spoken Brazilian Portuguese:

• tenho que sair = I have to leave
• tem que esperar = you have to wait / one has to wait
• você tem que empurrar = you have to push

A close alternative is ter de:

• você tem de empurrar

That is also correct, but ter que is very common in everyday Brazilian speech.

Yes, it often can.

You could say:

• Não puxe a porta; tem que empurrar.

This is natural in conversation, especially when the subject is obvious.

However, você is often kept in Brazilian Portuguese for clarity, emphasis, or natural spoken rhythm. Since tem could also mean he/she has, keeping você makes it explicit that the speaker is addressing the listener.

So both are possible, but você sounds perfectly normal here.

In Brazilian Portuguese, você is the most common everyday singular word for you in many regions.

It is usually:

• normal
• neutral
• very common in speech

It is not necessarily especially formal or especially intimate.

Depending on the region, people may also use tu, but você is widely understood and standard in Brazil.

So this sentence sounds natural and everyday in Brazilian Portuguese.

With tu, the sentence would change, at least in standard grammar.

Standard forms would be:

• Não puxes a porta; tu tens que empurrar.

But in Brazil, actual usage varies a lot by region. Many speakers mix tu with verb forms that historically go with você, for example:

• Tu tem que empurrar
• Não puxa a porta

That kind of mixing is common in real-life speech in some places, even though it is not the traditional textbook pattern.

For a learner, você tem que empurrar is a very safe and useful model for Brazilian Portuguese.

Because that is how standard negation works in Portuguese: não usually comes directly before the verb.

Examples:

• não sei = I don’t know
• não quero = I don’t want
• não abra = don’t open
• não puxe = don’t pull

So não puxe follows the normal Portuguese pattern for negation.

They are opposites:

• puxar = to pull
• empurrar = to push

This is a very useful pair to memorize together.

Examples:

• Puxe a gaveta. = Pull the drawer.
• Empurre a porta. = Push the door.

In the sentence you gave, the speaker is correcting the action:

• not pull
• but push

The semicolon connects two closely related parts:

• Não puxe a porta
• você tem que empurrar

It works a lot like in English:

• Don’t pull the door; you have to push.

It shows a stronger break than a comma, but a closer link than a full stop.

You could also see similar punctuation written as:

• Não puxe a porta. Você tem que empurrar.
• Não puxe a porta — você tem que empurrar.

The semicolon is just a neat way to connect the warning and the explanation.

Yes, but on a sign, Portuguese often uses even shorter wording.

Very common sign-style versions would be:

• Empurre = Push
• Puxe = Pull
• Não puxe. Empurre. = Don’t pull. Push.

Your full sentence is natural, especially if a person is speaking to someone who is using the door the wrong way. On a sign, shorter forms are usually more common.

In Brazilian Portuguese, puxe is roughly pronounced like POO-shee or POO-sheh, depending on accent.

A few helpful notes:

• pu sounds like poo
• x here sounds like sh
• final e in Brazil is often a light ee/i sound in many accents

So puxe often sounds approximately like:

• POO-shee

And empurrar is roughly:

• em-poo-HAR

The exact pronunciation varies by region, but that will get you close.

It is the most normal one here.

• Não puxe a porta is the standard order:
  verb + object

You could change word order in special contexts for emphasis, but that would be much less neutral. For everyday speech and instructions, Não puxe a porta is the natural choice.

So for a learner, this is the pattern to remember:

• Não + verb + object

Example:

• Não abra a janela.
• Não feche a caixa.
• Não puxe a porta.