Breakdown of Que surpresa se não houver nenhuma barreira cultural!
não
not / no
haver
to be (there is / there are)
que
what (before a noun)
a surpresa
the surprise
se
if
nenhum
no / none / not any (quantity)
a barreira
the barrier
cultural
cultural
Questions & Answers about Que surpresa se não houver nenhuma barreira cultural!
Why do we use houver instead of há or haverá in this sentence?
Is houver an irregular verb form? How do I build it?
Yes, haver is irregular. To find the future subjunctive of an irregular verb, you take its "they" form in the simple past tense (houveram), drop the -am, and add the future subjunctive endings. For the "it" form used here (meaning "there is"), the ending is blank, leaving us with houver.
Why are there two negative words (não and nenhuma) right next to each other?
Portuguese requires double negatives to reinforce a negative idea. Whenever a negative word like nenhum or nenhuma (no/none/any) comes after the verb, you must also put não before the verb. So, "if there is no barrier" translates literally to "if there is not no barrier" (se não houver nenhuma barreira).
Why is there no word for "a" in Que surpresa?
When making an exclamation with Que followed by a noun (like "What a surprise!" or "What a day!"), Portuguese does not use the indefinite article (um or uma). You simply connect Que directly to the noun to get Que surpresa!
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