Question 1

Why use houve here instead of havia? Both mean "there was".

Accepted Answer

We use houve (the simple past of haver) because the protest is being treated as a specific, completed event ("did a protest actually take place?"). If we were describing a background setting ("there was a protest going on when...") or a continuous state, we would use havia (the past continuous).

Question 2

Doesn't algum usually mean "some"? Why does it translate to "any" in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

You are right that algum often means "some" in affirmative statements. However, in questions and "if/whether" clauses like this one (introduced by se), algum translates more naturally to "any" in English. The speaker is asking about the existence of even a single protest.

Question 3

Is se in this sentence a reflexive pronoun, like in chamar-se?

Accepted Answer

No, here se is a conjunction meaning "if" or "whether". You can tell because it connects the two halves of the sentence: the action of asking (perguntei) and the thing being asked about (houve algum protesto geral).

Question 4

Why does geral come after protesto instead of before it?

Accepted Answer

geral is an adjective meaning "general" or "widespread". In Portuguese, descriptive adjectives almost always come directly after the noun they modify, so it becomes protesto geral rather than the English word order of "general protest".

Perguntei se houve algum protesto geral.

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