Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Tu nunca tiveste barba na universidade, pois não? - You never had a beard at university, did you?

We use pois não? because the main sentence is negative, thanks to the word nunca (never). When you want to say 'did you?' or 'right?' to confirm a negative statement, you must use pois não?. If the sentence were positive, you would use não é?.

Wait, if the sentence is negative, why isn't there a não before the verb?

Because nunca comes directly before the verb tiveste. In Portuguese, if a negative word like nunca (never) appears before the verb, you drop the não. You only use double negatives if the negative word comes after the verb.

Why use the simple past tiveste here instead of the continuous past tinhas? Having a beard is an ongoing state, right?

Both can work, but they give a slightly different feeling. Using tiveste treats the university years as one completed, closed block of time in the past. It asks if you had a beard at any point during that specific era. Using tinhas would focus on the ongoing background state of having a beard back then.

Why is it na universidade rather than just em universidade?

Unlike English, Portuguese generally requires you to use the definite article ('the') with places like school, university, or church. So we combine em (in/at) with the feminine article a to make na.