When catching up with old friends, you often want to confirm facts or check if someone agrees with you. While English uses a wide variety of tag questions at the end of a sentence ("aren't you?", "didn't we?", "does he?"), Portuguese simply uses two fixed phrases depending on whether your statement is affirmative or negative.
Confirming Affirmative Statements
If you are making an affirmative statement and want to confirm it (expecting a "yes"), simply add não é? to the end of the sentence.
| Our class was very big, wasn't it? | A nossa turma era muito grande, não é? |
| You remember our teacher, don't you? | Tu lembras-te da nossa professora, não é? |
| You miss school a lot, don't you? | Tu tens muitas saudades da escola, não é? |
Confirming Negative Statements
If your statement contains a negative word (such as não or nunca) and you want to confirm it, use pois não? at the end instead.
| You guys are not from my class, are you? | Vocês não são da minha turma, pois não? |
| He doesn't remember me, does he? | Ele não se lembra de mim, pois não? |
| They don't miss the tests, do they? | Eles não têm saudades dos testes, pois não? |
Putting It All Together
Notice how the confirmation tag always strictly matches whether the main clause is affirmative or negative:
| Our teacher is bald, isn't he? | O nosso professor é careca, não é? |
| Your brother is not bald, is he? | O teu irmão não é careca, pois não? |
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