Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Vocês não comem a carne?

Vocês não comem a carne?

Don't you eat the meat?

Breakdown of Vocês não comem a carne?

Questions & Answers about Vocês não comem a carne?

Why does the verb end in -em here?

The verb is comer (to eat). For vocês (you plural) and eles/elas (they), regular verbs ending in -er drop that ending and add -em. That gives us comem.

Why is não placed between vocês and comem?

In Portuguese, to make a sentence negative, you usually just put não directly before the verb. Unlike English, there is no need for a helper word like "do" or "don't". You just say vocês não comem (literally: you all not eat).

Since comem is the "they" form, why does this mean "you"?

In European Portuguese, the plural "you" is vocês. Even though it means "you", it always acts like a third-person word, so it borrows the same verb conjugation used for eles and elas (they). The word vocês tells us the subject is "you all".

Is there a rule to know that carne is feminine?

Not an easy one! Unlike words ending in -o (usually masculine) or -a (usually feminine), words ending in -e can be either. You just have to learn them as you go. Seeing the feminine article a right before it is your clue that carne is feminine.