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Eu não conheço esses amigos.

Eu não conheço esses amigos.
I don’t know those friends.

Breakdown of Eu não conheço esses amigos.

eu
I
o amigo
the friend
não
not
conhecer
to know
esses
those
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Questions & Answers about Eu não conheço esses amigos.

Can I leave out Eu, or do I always need to say it?

You can leave out Eu.

Portuguese is a “pro‑drop” language: the verb ending -o in conheço already tells you the subject is I.

So you can say:

  • Eu não conheço esses amigos.
  • Não conheço esses amigos. ✅ (very natural)

You only keep Eu if you want to emphasise “I” (e.g. I don’t know those friends, but someone else does).

Why does não come before conheço? Can it go somewhere else?

In Portuguese, não normally goes directly before the verb it negates.

  • Eu não conheço esses amigos. = I don’t know those friends.

You cannot move it to the end like in some casual English:

  • ❌ Eu conheço esses amigos não.

In neutral sentences, the pattern is:
[subject] + não + [verb] + [rest of the sentence].

What’s the difference between conhecer and saber?

Very roughly:

  • conhecer = to know / be acquainted with (people, places, things you’re familiar with)
  • saber = to know (information / facts / how to do something)

Examples:

  • Eu não conheço esses amigos.
    I’m not acquainted with those friends / I don’t know them personally.

  • Eu sei a resposta.
    I know the answer. (a piece of information)

  • Eu sei falar português.
    I know how to speak Portuguese.

With people, you normally use conhecer, not saber.

Would Eu não sei esses amigos ever be correct?

No, that’s incorrect in Portuguese.

With friends / people, you need conhecer, not saber:

  • ✅ Eu não conheço esses amigos.
  • ❌ Eu não sei esses amigos.

Using saber here sounds ungrammatical to a native speaker.

What exactly does esses mean here? Is it “these” or “those”?

In European Portuguese, esses usually corresponds to “those” (near the listener), not “these”.

Very simplified:

  • estes amigos = these friends (near me, the speaker)
  • esses amigos = those friends (near you, the listener, or just mentioned)
  • aqueles amigos = those friends over there (far from both of us)

In your sentence, esses amigos is like “those friends (you’re talking about / you know)”.

What’s the difference between estes amigos, esses amigos, and aqueles amigos?

In European Portuguese (PT‑PT):

  • estes amigos – “these friends”

    • Physically close to the speaker, or just introduced by the speaker.

  • esses amigos – “those friends”

    • Close to the listener, or already known in the conversation context.

  • aqueles amigos – “those friends over there”

    • Far from both speaker and listener (physically or mentally / in the story).

So:

  • Eu não conheço estes amigos.
    I don’t know these friends (near me).

  • Eu não conheço esses amigos.
    I don’t know those friends (you’re referring to).

  • Eu não conheço aqueles amigos.
    I don’t know those friends (over there / from that group).

Why is there no article like os before esses amigos?

You don’t use a normal definite article (o, a, os, as) together with a demonstrative like este/esse/aquele.

The demonstrative already acts like a determiner, so you say:

  • ✅ esses amigos
  • ❌ os esses amigos

You can combine a demonstrative with a possessive, though:

  • esses teus amigos = those friends of yours
How does gender and number agreement work in esses amigos?

Both the demonstrative and the noun must agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural):

  • esse amigo – that (male) friend
  • essa amiga – that (female) friend
  • esses amigos – those (male or mixed group) friends
  • essas amigas – those (female) friends

In your sentence, esses amigos is masculine plural, so esses matches amigos.

How would I say “I don’t know those friends of yours” in Portuguese from Portugal?

You can say:

  • Eu não conheço esses teus amigos.
    (literally: “I don’t know those your friends.”)

This structure demonstrative + possessive + noun (e.g. esses teus amigos) is very common and natural in European Portuguese.

What tense is conheço here, and is that the normal way to say “I don’t know”?

Conheço is present indicative, 1st person singular of conhecer:

  • (eu) conheço = I know / I am acquainted with

Portuguese usually uses this simple present for what English also expresses with simple present:

  • Eu não conheço esses amigos.
    I don’t know those friends.

You would not normally say something like “estou a conhecer esses amigos” to mean “I’m getting to know them” unless you really mean an ongoing, developing process (and even then, a different wording is more common).

How would I say simply “I don’t know them” if “them” refers to esses amigos?

You replace esses amigos with the direct object pronoun os (masculine plural):

  • Eu não os conheço.
    = I don’t know them.

Notice the position:

  • não comes first,
  • then os (the pronoun),
  • then conheço (the verb).

In European Portuguese, with não, the clitic pronoun must come after não and before the verb:
✅ Eu não os conheço.
❌ Eu não conheço-os.

How is the sentence pronounced in European Portuguese?

In a careful but natural European Portuguese pronunciation:

  • Eu não conheço esses amigos.
    roughly: “eh-o nawn ku-NEH-su EH-sish a-MI-gush”

More phonetic (IPA-style) approximation:
[eu̯ ˈnɐ̃w̃ kuˈne.su ˈɛ.sɨʃ ɐˈmi.ɣuʃ]

Some key points:

  • ão in não is a nasal sound, similar to French on but with more mouth opening.
  • The final s in esses and amigos is pronounced like English “sh” in European Portuguese: [ʃ].
  • r is soft here (there is no r in this sentence, but in related forms like conhecer, it would be a soft sound at the end).