Eu tenho menos amigos do que tu.

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Breakdown of Eu tenho menos amigos do que tu.

• tu: you
• o amigo: the friend
• ter: to have
• do que: than
• menos: fewer

Questions & Answers about Eu tenho menos amigos do que tu.

Why is the word menos used in the sentence, and does it translate to both "less" and "fewer" in English?

In Portuguese, menos is used as the comparative for both countable and uncountable nouns. While English differentiates between “less” (for uncountable items) and “fewer” (for countable items), Portuguese employs menos universally. So even though “I have fewer friends than you” is the natural English interpretation, the literal word-for-word translation might seem off from an English standpoint.

What does the phrase do que mean, and why is it necessary in this sentence?

Do que functions similarly to the word “than” in English comparisons. It combines the preposition de with the article o and the conjunction que, thereby linking the two parts of the comparison. In this sentence, it introduces the person being compared—indicating that the speaker’s number of friends is measured against yours.

Why is the pronoun tu used instead of você, and does this choice affect the tone of the sentence?

In European Portuguese, particularly in informal settings, tu is the common second-person singular pronoun. While in Brazilian Portuguese você is more widely used for informal communication, opting for tu in Portugal signals a familiar, informal relationship. Therefore, using tu helps set the tone and context appropriate for the region.

Why isn’t the verb repeated after tu (for example, saying "tu tens")?

Repeating the verb in such comparative constructions is unnecessary because the meaning is already clear from the context. Although the full sentence could be expanded to “Eu tenho menos amigos do que tu tens,” it is common—and stylistically preferred in Portuguese—to omit the second verb when it can be easily inferred. This omission avoids redundancy, much like in English when we say “I have fewer friends than you” instead of “I have fewer friends than you have.”

Can the sentence structure be rearranged, or is Eu tenho menos amigos do que tu the fixed form for such comparisons?

The structure for comparative sentences in Portuguese is quite fixed. The standard pattern is: [Subject] + [Verb] + menos + [Noun] + do que + [Comparison Element]. Altering this order might lead to confusion or an unidiomatic expression. Therefore, Eu tenho menos amigos do que tu is the natural and correct way to express this comparison in Portuguese.