Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Não atravesses a rua sem olhar. - Don't cross the street without looking.

Não atravesses a rua sem olhar.

Don't cross the street without looking.

Breakdown of Não atravesses a rua sem olhar.

Questions & Answers about Não atravesses a rua sem olhar.

Why does atravesses end in '-es' when the verb is atravessar (an '-ar' verb)?

Because this is a negative command. To tell someone not to do something, Portuguese doesn't use the regular imperative; it uses a form called the present subjunctive. For regular '-ar' verbs, the tu (informal you) ending becomes '-es'. So, instead of the regular present tense atravessas, we use não atravesses.

What would the affirmative command ('Cross!') be for this same person?

If you wanted to tell the same person to cross, you would say Atravessa. For the informal tu, affirmative commands use the normal present tense but drop the final 's'. Notice how the ending vowel changes completely between the affirmative (Atravessa) and the negative (Não atravesses)!

Who is being addressed in this sentence, and how would you say it formally?

This sentence is talking to an informal 'you' (tu), which we know from the '-es' ending on atravesses. If you were speaking formally to someone using você, the ending for an '-ar' verb in the negative command would be '-e': Não atravesse a rua sem olhar.

Why does the sentence use the infinitive olhar (to look) instead of a word like olhando (looking)?