Yes/No Questions in Portuguese
There are a number of different ways to form questions in Portuguese. We’ll start with those for which the answers are either affirmative or negative. These are the easiest Portuguese questions to ask because very few changes have to be made to turn a statement into a question.
1. Add a question mark to the end of a statement
Tu estás em PortugalYou are in Portugal
Tu estás em Portugal?Are you in Portugal?
By adding a ‘?’ to a statement, all we have to do is change the intonation of the sentence and it becomes a “yes or no” question.
2. Add a phrase like “não é?” to the end of a statement
Ela é portuguesaShe is Portuguese
Ela é portuguesa, não é?She is Portuguese, isn’t she?, She is Portuguese, right?
This type of question is used when you’re almost sure of what you’re saying, sometimes even as a rhetorical question. Não é is the most common phrase, but you can also apply this to other questions by replacing é with other verbs. For example:
Ela está em casa, não está?She's at home, right?
Answering Yes/No Questions
In English, you could answer these questions simply by saying “yes” or “no”, but in Portuguese, responding with only simyes or nãono , would sound a little too abrupt or incomplete. Instead, you respond using the same verb from the question. For example:
- Tu estás em Portugal?Are you in Portugal?
- Ela é portuguesa, não é?She is Portuguese, isn’t she?
- Vocês cozinham?Do you(pl.) cook?
- Tu gostas de vinho tinto?Do you like red wine?
Repeating the verb like this is similar to saying “Yes, I do” or “No, I don’t” in English, but in Portuguese you just have to be a little more specific.
Open-ended Questions in Portuguese
Other questions require more elaborate answers, so we need to make use of pronomes interrogativosinterrogative pronouns and advérbios interrogativosinterrogative adverbs , which you can think of as simply Portuguese “question words”. By using these pronouns and adverbs, you can ask for more detailed or specific information. These words are often followed by the words é que, which we will cover later in the Questions unit.
Interrogative pronouns replace nouns and are used to ask about the identity, quality, or quantity of that person, place, or thing.
These are the most common Portuguese question words:
Quê?What?
Quem?Who?
Qual?Which?
Quanto?How much?
Interrogative adverbs, on the other hand, refer to the reason, time, place, or manner. These are the most common:
Porquê?Why?
Quando?When?
Onde?Where?
Como?How?
Let’s take a look at some examples for each of these words that we use to ask open-ended questions in Portuguese:
Que (What)
Although not mandatory, when asking questions, the pronoun que is frequently preceded by the definite article o. When it appears at the end of the question, you have to add an accent (ê).
O quê?What?
O que estás a fazer?What are you doing?
The only rule is: when que is followed by a noun, you don’t add the article o before it.
Que dia é hoje?What day is today?
Quem (Who)
Quem és?Who are you?
Quem disse isso?Who said that?
Qual (Which)
Qual queres?Which (one) do you want?
Qual also means “what” sometimes, depending on the context. Qual must match the number of the noun (singular or plural), so you also need to know the plural form: quais.
Quais preferes?Which (ones) do you prefer?
Quanto (How much/many)
Quanto custa?How much does it cost?
Quanto must match both the gender (quanto/quanta) and number (quantos/quantas) of the noun it refers to.
Quantas batatas comes?How many potatoes do you eat?
Onde (Where)
Onde fica a saída?Where is the exit?
Onde estás?Where are you?
Como (How)
Como fazem isso?How do they make it?
Another way to ask how? in the sense of to what degree? is with the word quão along with an adjective, as in: Quão fácil é isso?How easy is it?
Quando (When)
Quando fazes anos?When is your birthday?
Porquê (Why)
If you just want to ask why?, without using any other words, you spell it with an accent, like this:
Porquê?Why?
If you want to be more specific by adding more words to the question, the adverb drops the ^ accent:
Porque dizes isso?Why do you say that?
Porque estás triste?Why are you sad?
Learning More
Later in this unit, we’ll cover more on questions in Portuguese, such as how to use “é que” and how to form questions containing prepositions.
But for now, let’s practice what we just learned in the next lesson!
Great lesson, thank you!
Just wanted to inform you that the sound button is missing in most places. Not sure if that’s how it was designed, just thought i’ll bring it to your notice :):)
Thanks for checking! Don’t worry, these are on the list to be added. We record in batches, so sometimes we go ahead and include the example sentences before the audio is ready.
oh ok! Thank you for always replying promptly!
Hi, Thanks for this useful topic, I got all the point, just could you please tell more regarding “de que”! Normally when we have to use it? What is the difference between “de que” , “o que” and “que” also when we can Substitute “de que” and “qual e” with together
Usually de means of, about, or from, so it can appear with que in the Portuguese translation of questions like What is the book about?, What is this made of?, What is this from?
De is also sometimes used in contexts where we wouldn’t use a preposition in English, so those are harder to predict. It’s more about learning over time how things are worded in Portuguese. For example: De que raça é o cão? means What breed is the dog?, but more literally would translate to “Of what breed is the dog?”
In questions like these, De que and Qual é can be used interchangeably, as long as you make the necessary sentence modifications: De que raça é o cão? (Of what breed is the dog?) => Qual é a raça do cão? (What is the dog’s breed?)
As for o que vs que: the o is optional, except when que is followed by a noun. In that case you would not include the o. I hope that helps!
These learning notes will appear later in this unit, but you can link to them now for more info about forming questions:
Using “de” and other prepositions in questions
Using “é que” in questions
Muito obrigado pela rápida resposta.
This was really helpful! Is there any difference in pronunciation between porquê and porque?
Yes, there is 🙂 In “porquê”, “quê” is the stressed syllable and the final E sounds like a medium E, as in “conheço”. In “porque”, “por” is the stressed syllable and the final E sounds like a closed E, as in “sabe”. To clearly hear these differences in the E vowel, you can check this very thorough guide about the Portuguese vowel sounds: Open & Closed Vowels in European Portuguese (scroll down for the table)
Hi ! Thank you for your amazing work, I’m using your website every day 🙂
I wonder if I can find any information about Pronomes Relativos? I was looking for it, but it seems like you haven’t yet written anything about it?
Do you maybe have plans on writing a UNIT about it?
muito obrigado:)
Hi Sara, Funny you should mention this because we’re working on a Pronomes Relativos unit right now! It’s not quite ready yet, but shouldn’t be too much longer. 🙂
I am new in Portugal and I want to speak Portuguese can you help me speak
Hello! I’m studying portuguese in my university. I like this great article and I would like to ask a question about which tenses do we use when asking a rhetorical question? Thank you in advance!
Hi, Gabriela! There’s no specific tense to use for rhetorical questions. Whatever is suitable in context is what you should use 🙂
If quanto(s)/quanta(s) has to match the gender, why isn’t “quanto custa” quanta custa? Is custa a masculine noun that ends in ‘a’?
Obrigada!
Good question! “Custa” is a verb – it’s the 3rd person singular present tense conjugation of the verb custar (to cost).
Quanto – How much
custa – does it cost?
There’s no gender agreement involved when quanto is used to modify a verb like that. Gender comes into play only when you are using quanto/quanta to modify a noun (as in Quantas batatas – How many potatoes).
A question of bags.
How many names are there for bag in portuguese and which type of bags do the names represent?
I have seen Saco. Bolsa. Mala. Mochila. When asked a question I invariably choose the wrong one!
Olá, David. Generally speaking:
– Mochila -> For backpacks (all types: school, gym, travelling…).
– Mala -> The broadest term, which covers purses/handbags, gym bags, satchels, briefcases, suitcases and the like.
– Bolsa -> A partial synonym of the two terms above, mainly covering some backpacks (e.g. those smaller ones, with drawstrings instead of wide straps), purses/handbags, gym bags and satchels. The term is common in European Portuguese, but even more so in Brazilian Portuguese, where they prefer it over “mala”, unlike us on this side of the ocean.
– Saco -> Mainly for shopping bags, sacks, tote bags, trash bags.
– Pasta -> For folders and briefcases.
– Carteira -> For wallets or smaller handbags.
This topic was added to our content ideas, by the way. Plenty to cover 🙂
Pode adicionar saquinhos de chá. Eles são muito importante para nós inglês!!
Thank-you for this!
Really helpful – I always find it confusing the difference between porquê with an accent, and porque without. This helps clarifying it. Is there a further section specifically on this?
Olá, Matteo. Thanks for your comment! We have this unit dedicated to questions in Portuguese: Practice Portuguese – Questions Unit
However, for more reading specifically about porquê vs. porque, I would recommend this forum post: Practice Portuguese Forum – How to say why?
Thanks Joseph, the links were very useful
How do I ask how I say something in English. Como você diz…?
The best way would be asking “Como se diz…?”
🙂
Would Como fácil é isso mean something different than Quão fácil é isso, if it can be said.
“Como fácil é isso” can’t be said, it’s grammatically incorrect 🙂 In Portuguese, “Quão” means something like “How much”. It’s used to quantify (literally or figuratively) something. In the case of “Quão fácil é isso?”, it’s like measuring just how easy it is. “Como” means “how” in the sense of how something is done or how something happened, so it’s used in completely different contexts.
Thank you for your prompt reply Joseph.
Went from YouTube to this website and loving the content, q and a. Thanks!
From way back in my PracticePortuguese-learning experience I have been wondering about question formation in Portuguese. Just a few days ago, before I had reached the lesson on questions, I sent in a request for a simple clarification/confirmation and, as usual, Molly provided fast and helpful reply. Now, with this lesson, much more, good help has been realised. I greatly enjoyed this lesson. Thanks for your excellent work.
Martin.
You write “Qual also means “what” sometimes, depending on the context.” – do you have any examples of this? Thanks, love your website!
Of course!
A few examples:
Qual é a tua cor preferida? / What is your favorite color? (informal)
Qual é a razão para isto? / What is the reason for this?
Qual é a melhor maneira de resolver o problema? / What is the best way to solve the problem?
Keep in mind that these questions can be made without the “é”: Qual a tua cor preferida?
It’s the same as “What is” and simply “What’s”! “Qual é” or simply “Qual”. The only difference is that in English we tend to shorten to “What’s” and in Portuguese we tend to add the “é”: “Qual é”. Both forms are correct.
Great, thank you so much! Appreciate the quick reply, have a nice day! 🙂
Hi,
I’ve studied Spanish, and a little Brazilian Portuguese, and I think that in both you use “por que” (with space) for “why” and “porque” (no space) for “because”. Is the usage different in European Portuguese?
Olá! Yes, European Portuguese is different from Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish in this regard. Maybe this forum post can help: How to say why? | Practice Portuguese Forum
Great explanations and explanation of the questions. I noticed that under ‘Onde’ you can’t add ‘onde estas’ to the vocabulary review you can only listen to it. Is that on purpose? All the other ones can be added.
Many thanks for this great page. It’s so much fun learning Portuguese here 🙂
That was a minor glitch. Thanks for noticing! It’s been fixed! You can now add the sentence “Onde estás?” to your Smart Review if you wish. 🙂
So if you answer “Estou sim”, there is no comma between the two words?
The comma should be optional between those two words 🙂
If Porque is “why” then como se diz “because” em portugues?
The same word can be used for both! For example:
– Porque estás feliz? / Porque consegui um emprego. (Why are you happy? Because I got a job)
Hi, I’m confused when I need to use é que, the final question words you gave as examples don’t structure but the only explanation was given when que is followed by a noun? Thankyou!
Good question! This first Learning Note is just for the basics, and then we will discuss using “é que” here: Using é que in European Portuguese Questions. But if you’re in the Questions unit currently, just wait because the “é que” Learning Note will show up right after you finish Lesson 2. 🙂
The short explanation is: You can add “é que” after the question word (e.g. como, quando, quem, que, etc…). It’s technically optional, but very common in European Portuguese.
Is “…não é?” also used with negative statements, e.g. “Não temos leite, não é?”
…or does that sound unnatural?
Good question! “…não é?” usually reinforces affirmative statements, while negative statements are usually reinforced by “…pois não?”.
– Não temos leite, pois não?
“…não é?” in an affirmative statement sounds less natural than “…pois não?”.
Obrigada!
The pronunciation of quem in the stand-alone “quem?” and in a question sentence “quem és?” sounds different. Why? The spelling is the same in both cases.
Thanks!
Both spelling and pronunciation are the same! The variation you’re noticing is likely due to the natural changes in intonation and stress that occur in connected speech. When “quem” is said in isolation, it may be pronounced with more emphasis and clarity, whereas in a sentence, the pronunciation can be influenced by the surrounding words and the overall rhythm of the phrase. Aside from that, “quem” has no variations in both spelling and pronunciation. 🙂
Understood. Thanks!