No festival, eu vejo vários amigos na multidão.

At the festival, I see several friends in the crowd.

Breakdown of No festival, eu vejo vários amigos na multidão.

• eu: I
• o amigo: the friend
• em: in
• em: at
• ver: to see
• o festival: the festival
• vários: several
• a multidão: the crowd

Questions & Answers about No festival, eu vejo vários amigos na multidão.

In this sentence, why does no mean “at the festival”? Isn’t no a negative word like English no?

In Portuguese, no here is not negative at all.

• no = em + o (a contraction)
  • em = in / on / at
  • o = the (masculine singular article)

So no festival literally means “in the/at the festival”.

The negative word in Portuguese is não, not no:

• não = not / no
• no = in the / at the

So:

• No festival = At the festival
• Não vou ao festival. = I’m not going to the festival.

Why is there a comma after No festival? Is it required?

No festival is an introductory phrase showing where the action happens. In Portuguese, when you put this kind of phrase at the beginning, you can separate it with a comma:

• No festival, eu vejo vários amigos na multidão.

However, with a short phrase like this, many writers also omit the comma:

• No festival eu vejo vários amigos na multidão.

Both are acceptable. The comma just gives a small pause and emphasis to the setting (“At the festival…”), but it’s not grammatically mandatory here.

Do I have to say eu, or can I just say No festival, vejo vários amigos na multidão?

You don’t have to say eu. Portuguese is a pro‑drop language: the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

• Eu vejo = I see
• Vejo alone also clearly means I see (because of the -o ending)

So both are fine:

• No festival, eu vejo vários amigos na multidão. (more explicit, sometimes more emphatic)
• No festival, vejo vários amigos na multidão. (more natural/neutral in many contexts)

In everyday speech and writing, people very often omit the subject pronoun when it’s clear from the verb.

What verb form is vejo? How is it conjugated?

Vejo is the 1st person singular (eu) of the verb ver (to see) in the present indicative.

• Infinitive: ver (to see)
• Present tense:
  • eu vejo – I see
  • tu vês – you see (informal singular, used in Portugal)
  • ele / ela vê – he / she sees
  • nós vemos – we see
  • vocês veem – you (plural) see
  • eles / elas veem – they see

So eu vejo = “I see / I am seeing” depending on context. Portuguese usually uses the simple present for both English “I see” and “I am seeing” in this kind of sentence.

Why is there no preposition before vários amigos? Could it ever be vejo a vários amigos?

In this sentence, vários amigos is a direct object of vejo (“I see …”), so no preposition is needed:

• (Eu) vejo vários amigos. – I see several friends.

You normally don’t say vejo a vários amigos here. The preposition a can appear in some dialects before specific, personal direct objects (the so‑called “personal a”), but:

• it’s more common with definite objects (vejo a Maria, vejo o João),
• and much less with an indefinite plural like vários amigos.

In European Portuguese, vejo vários amigos is the natural, standard form.

What exactly does vários mean? Is it more like “several” or “many”? How is it different from muitos or alguns?

Vários is close to English “several” / “a number of”. It suggests more than a few, but not necessarily a very large number.

Approximate nuances:

• alguns amigos – some friends (neutral, maybe a small number)
• uns amigos – some friends (colloquial, a few, not specified)
• vários amigos – several friends (a good handful, more than just two or three)
• muitos amigos – many friends / a lot of friends

So vejo vários amigos suggests you see a fair number of friends, but not necessarily a huge crowd of just your friends.

Why is vários before amigos? Can I say amigos vários?

Quantifiers like vários, muitos, poucos, alguns normally come before the noun:

• vários amigos – several friends
• muitos amigos – many friends
• poucos amigos – few friends

Saying amigos vários would sound unusual or poetic/marked. In everyday Portuguese, you should keep vários before the noun: vários amigos.

Why is it na multidão and not em a multidão? What does na literally mean?

Na is another contraction:

• na = em + a (in/on/at + the, feminine singular)

So:

• em + a multidão → na multidão
  (in the crowd)

Just like no = em + o (masc.), na = em + a (fem.).

You almost never say em a multidão; the contraction na multidão is the normal, correct form.

Does na multidão mean “in the crowd” or “among the crowd”? Is there a nuance?

Na multidão most directly means “in the crowd” (physically inside the crowd of people).

Depending on context, it can be understood as:

• “in the middle of the crowd”
• “among the crowd”

So:

• vejo vários amigos na multidão – I see several friends in/among the crowd.

If you really want to stress “among”, you can also say:

• entre a multidão – among the crowd

But na multidão is perfectly natural and already gives the image of people spread through a big group of other people.

Why don’t we say os amigos here? Why is it just vários amigos, without an article?

With words like vários, muitos, alguns, you typically don’t use an article:

• vários amigos – several friends
• muitos amigos – many friends
• alguns amigos – some friends

The phrase is indefinite: you’re not talking about a specific, identified group, just “several friends”.

If you want to refer to a specific group of friends (for example, my friends), you’d normally show that with a possessive or article:

• vejo os meus amigos na multidão – I see my friends in the crowd.
• vejo muitos dos meus amigos na multidão – I see many of my friends in the crowd.

In the original sentence, vários amigos is general, so no article is needed.