Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Ninguém veio cá e não sei porquê.

Ninguém veio cá e não sei porquê.

Nobody came here, and I don't know why.

Breakdown of Ninguém veio cá e não sei porquê.

Questions & Answers about Ninguém veio cá e não sei porquê.

Why do we use veio for 'nobody'?

veio is the past tense (Pretérito Perfeito) of the irregular verb vir (to come) for the 'he/she/you' form. Pronouns like ninguém (nobody) or alguém (somebody) always take the third-person singular verb form, just like 'ele' or 'ela'.

Could I say aqui instead of cá?

Yes, but cá is much more natural here. Both mean 'here', but in European Portuguese, cá is heavily used with verbs of movement or direction, like vir (to come). The word aqui is usually preferred for exact, fixed locations without movement.

If ninguém is a negative word, shouldn't there be a não before the verb?

You only need a double negative if ninguém comes after the verb, as in Não veio ninguém. Because ninguém appears before the verb in this sentence, it already makes the phrase negative on its own, so we do not add não.

Why does porquê have an accent mark?