In this lesson, we’ll learn about quantificadores universaisuniversal quantifiers . Universal quantifiers are quantifiers that apply to every element of a given group. In English, this would include words like all, none, any, both, and every. Let’s learn about each of the words used to express these concepts in Portuguese.
Todo, Toda, Todos, Todas
Todo and toda are the singular form equivalents to all, whole, every, or entire in English.
todoall, entire (masculine)
Limpei este quarto todo.I cleaned this entire room.
todaall, entire (feminine)
Passei a manhã toda a estudar.I spent the whole morning studying.
Todos and todas are the plural forms.
todosall, every (masculine)
Todos os patinhos sabem bem nadar!Every duckling knows how to swim!
todasall, every (feminine)
Vou guardar estas calças todas.I’m going to put away all of these trousers.
Nenhum, Nenhuma, Nenhuns, Nenhumas
Nenhum and nenhuma are singular form equivalents to the English none or not any. Examples:
nenhumnone(masculine)
Nenhum destes cartões é meu.None of these cards are mine.
nenhumanone(feminine)
Nenhuma destas gravatas é tua?None of these ties are yours?
Nenhuns and nenhumas are the plural forms. Examples:
nenhunsnone(masculine)
Não vi erros nenhuns.I did not see any mistakes.
nenhumasnone(feminine)
Nenhumas destas botas me agradam.None of these boots are to my liking.
Questions about when to use the singular or plural form? Check the Comments section below for a helpful explanation from Joseph. 🙂
Qualquer, Quaisquer
Qualquer is a singular form equivalent to the English any, and remains the same in both masculine and feminine contexts.
qualquerany
Qualquer lugar é bom.Any place is fine for me.
Quaisquer is the plural form.
quaisquerany
Quaisquer opções têm as suas desvantagens.Any (all) options have their disadvantages.
Eu não tive quaisquer dúvidas em relação a esta decisãoI didn't have any doubts regarding this decision
Ambos, Ambas
Ambos and ambas are equivalent to both in English.
ambosboth(masculine)
Ambos os irmãos são louros.Both brothers are blond.
ambasboth(feminine)
Eu enviei uma carta a ambas.I sent a letter to both of them.
Note: You may often hear os dois used instead, as in Nós os dois – Both of us, The two of us
Cada
Cada corresponds to each or every.
cadaeach
Cada um destes bonecos custa 5 euros.Each of these dolls costs 5 euros.
Trouxe um queque para cada pessoa.I brought a muffin for every person.
Even though I know all the words I find these summations very helpful. They invariably include a usage or construction of which I was not aware.
I’m revising all the units
In this one two of the examples puzzle me.
Nenhuma destas gravatas
Nenhumas destas botas.
In both the subjects are plural but the quantifiers are not.
Please explain.
Mac
Olá, Mac. In the second example you gave, the quantifier is indeed plural (“Nenhumas destas botas…”). In theory, grammatically speaking, it’s fine to use both singular and plural versions of the quantifier “nenhum”. Then, in practice, what happens is:
1) For many people, the singular forms “Nenhum(a)” have become dominant over the plural forms, which makes sense in a way, because what you’re really saying (still using the example of the boots) is that not one of those boots pleases you. An exception is made for double negations – the plural forms are often used for emphasis. For example, “Não vi erros nenhuns!” (“I did not see any mistakes!”) sounds perfectly natural for a native speaker.
2) It depends on the number of whatever it is that you’re talking about. Imagine a situation where someone is taking a multiple choice exam and they want to say that they don’t like any of the options. To my ears, saying it in the singular (“Nenhuma das opções me agrada“) fits better when the person is referring to just one of the questions. On the other hand, to talk about a number of questions or about the exam as a whole, the plural (“Nenhumas das opções me agradam“) seems more appropriate.
hello, i’m troubled by the place of “todo” or “toda”. To me, it would sound much easier if i were able to say “Passei toda a manhã a estudar” instead of ” Passei a manhã toda a estudar”. Or “Vou tirar daqui todas estas calças ” instead of “Vou tirar daqui estas calças todas” Would it sound strange in portuguese? Thank you, it’s wonderful to be able to get answers to any doubt we might have.
Hi, Marie. Well, let me solve your troubles: you can definitely change the placement like you suggested; it would sound perfectly natural to the Portuguese, since we can and do say it both ways. I suppose you want to make it closer to how you would say it in French, which is smart, for easier memorization 🙂
Okay, this is a bit off subject, and perhaps a bit nit-picking, but being a linguist, I specifically discern a soft palatized letter d in Rui’s articulation of the words “nadar”, and “cada” above, as opposed to his harder palatization of d in the word “agradam” from the examples above. I’ve noticed this type of articulation in some instances with other native Portuguese speakers, as well. Is there some sort of rule, or other explanation of how the tongue and palate are articulating here? Thanks!
No worries about drifting a bit off subject 🙂 As far as I know, European Portuguese doesn’t formally contemplate any variations in the pronunciation of the letter D; by default, it’s always regarded as a regular, hard, alveolar D. You will notice some variability in the real world, due to regional accents or just individual differences, but these don’t follow any special rule or logic and shouldn’t throw you off. Same for other similar consonants, such as T, which some people aspirate sometimes, while others never do.
This is so interesting as I’ve noticed this as well. I kind of got a feel for when to use this softer D and when to use the harder one. As Joseph mentioned, there doesn’t seem to be a hard and fast rule about this but for sure there seems to be some patterns.
Obrigado, Joseph. I though as much. Maybe I’ll rack this one up to the headphones and my iPad!!
Hi guys, I have several questions regarding the examples in the exercises following this unit:
1) Am I right in saying that ‘eu conheço nenhum dos meus avós’ translates to ‘I know none of my grandparents’ while ‘eu não conheço nenhum dos meus avós’ translates to ‘I don’t know any of my grandparents’? Are they both acceptable, as in English do they mean basically the same thing, is one form preferred?
2) Is there a difference between ‘Vocês podem convidar qualquer pessoa’ and ‘Vocês podem convidar quaisquer pessoas’? Does the first mean you can invite strictly one person and the second mean you can invite multiple people?
3) What is the difference between ‘O trânsito é cada dia a mesma porcaria!’ and ‘O trânsito é todos os dias a mesma porcaria!’?
Apologies for so many questions but a surprising amount came up for me on this unit 😛
Thanks as always for the help!
Olá, Michael 🙂
1) We wouldn’t say “Eu conheço nenhum…”, only “Eu não conheço nenhum…”. You need to keep that pairing “não… nenhum” for the sentence to be grammatically correct. The word ‘não’ can only be omitted if the element that you’re negating comes before the main verb, as in the second example below:
– Não conheço nenhum vizinho (I don’t know any neighbour).
– Nenhum vizinho me conhece (No neighbour knows me).
2) The way we generally use them, there’s no difference between them. The singular form would be the preferred option, but we’d just interpret it as “anyone”, not as “only one”. Any limitations on the number of people would probably need to be indicated more explicitly!
3) “Cada dia” = “each day”. “Todos os dias” = “every day”. I’d only use “todos os dias” in your example.
olá
I have some doubts in the difference between the words “qualquer” and “nenhum”
In the exercise that follows this page, one of the sentences is:
“Ele não tem quaisquer dificuldades”
Can I say “Ele não tem nenhuns dificuldades” ?
Do they mean the same?
It’s like the difference between any (quaisquer) vs. no/none (nenhumas). In negative sentences, the two words can be used with identical meaning:
– Ele não tem quaisquer dificuldades – He doesn’t have any difficulties
– Ele não tem nenhumas dificuldades – He has no difficulties
Otherwise, in affirmative sentences, the word qualquer/quaisquer can be used, but never the word nenhum/nenhuns, which is always negative.
– Podes convidar qualquer amigo – You can invite any friend
– Não podes convidar nenhum amigo – You can’t invite any friend
I am confused by the use/meaning of “Nenhum”.
Given the English translation you gave (none or not any) this example you gave makes sense to me: “ Nenhum destes cartões é meu”.
But this does not make sense to me :”Eu não conheço nenhum dos meus avós.”, it looks like a double negation to me, like “I don’t know none of my grandparents”.
Can you clarify please.
Having read on I found the explanation in “Forming Negative Phrases”, so all clear and vivid.
Ah good, glad you found it! Here’s a link in case anyone else has this question: Forming Negative Phrases The short answer is just that double negatives are acceptable in these contexts in Portuguese, and it’s similar to how we use the word “any” in English.
One of the examples in this unit is
I’m putting away all of these trousers.
The translation offered is
Vou tirar daqui estas calças todas.
I’ve come across the verb “guardar” in other lessons and one of its many meanings is “to put away.” Wouldn’t this be a better option here:
Estou a guardar estas calças todas.
Olá, Peter. Both are possible, depending on context.
I can imagine someone saying “Vou tirar daqui estas calças todas” if they were informing someone that they were going to put away/move their trousers elsewhere. In this case, the present continuous “I’m putting away” would actually be referring to a future action, not something currently ongoing. The choice of words in the Portuguese translation, “tirar daqui”, is pretty idiomatic.
On the other hand, I imagine someone saying “Estou a guardar estas calças todas” if that were something that they were already doing at present and someone asked them about it (e.g. “What are you doing?” “I’m putting these away”). This is a more straightforward translation.
I do find it difficult that a sentence can mean two different things. This often occurs when I check the meaning in the look up and find a new Portuguese sentence for the thing I’m looking at !
Portuguese can be a very tricky languages sometimes! Just let us know every time you come across something like that that might have you confused. We’re here to help! And just keep in mind that within context – and with time and practice – you’ll end up knowing exactly the meaning of every sentence.
Example of nehuma plural above. Nenhumas destas botas me agradam.
In Lesson 1, there is a similar sentence but Nenhuma is used instead of Nehumas, and the verb is also in 2nd person singular form.
Nenhumas destas camisolas lhe agrada.
Is there a reason for this?
“Nenhuma destas camisolas lhe agrada” The object is one camisola (sweater), so “nenhuma” is used. “Not one/None of these sweaters IS to his/her/your (sing. form.) liking”.
“Nenhumas destas botas me agradam” The objects are two boots (one pair of boots), so “nenhumas” is used. “None of these boots ARE to my liking”. It could also be “Nenhum destes pares de botas me agrada” = “Not one/None of these pairs of boots is to my liking.”, referring to a singular pair (of two boots) and not directly to the (two) boots. 🙂
Sorry to be pedantic, but “quaisquer opções têm as suas desvantagens” translated as “any options have their disadvantages” seems like more of a literal translation as opposed to how it would be said in English (something like “any option has its disadvantages” or “all options have their disadvantages”).
I added this phrase to my smart review, and I get thrown a little given it seems more like a literal rather than actual translation 🙂 .
Olá 🙂 Thanks for your feedback. Indeed, this is a more literal translation. We generally try to strike a balance between literal vs. idiomatic, going one way or another depending on how well we can align with the target Portuguese sentence without creating added confusion (or sounding too absurd!). Your more idiomatic suggestions, for example, might be confusing here. That’s because, when translating from English to Portuguese, “Any option has its disadvantages” would become “Qualquer opção tem as suas desvantagens”, while “All options have their disadvantages” would become “Todas as opções têm as suas desvantagens”. None of those match our proposed example. In any case, we’re always open to reviewing translations as needed, so please keep reaching out whenever you see something that doesn’t make sense for you personally!
I’m confused about when Nenhum becomes plural. In the sentence: “Nenhuma destas camisolas lhe agrada”, why isn’t it Nenhumas? Likewise, in the sentence “Nenhuma destas gravatas é tua?”, why isn’t it Nenhumas? And then in a similar sentence with “botas” “nenhuma” is plural?
Good question! Joseph provided a good explanation of this up above in reply to the comment from Mac (check near the top of the Comments section). I think this will help. If you have any follow-up questions, reply to Joseph and I’m sure he’d be happy to answer.
I don’t understand the word order. In some of the examples the quantifiers precede whatever they’re describing such as in “Nenhum destes cartões é meu” and “Todos os patinhos sabem bem nadar”. This formation I’ve found to be more common, but now I’m seeing the contrary like in “Passei a manhã TODA a estudar”, “Vou guardar estas calças TODAS”, and “Não vi erros NENHUNS”. Is the latter way done out of emphasis or is there an actual grammatical need for it?
In “Nenhum destes cartões é meu”, “Nenhum” is the subject of the sentence, which is why it opens it and also why it does not require any additional negation, as observed in “Não vi erros nenhuns”, where the subject is “Eu” and you need the double negative. In “Todos os patinhos sabem bem nadar”, you also have “todos” added on to the subject of the sentence, but in “Passei a manhã toda a estudar” and “Vou guardar estas calças todas”, it’s linked to other elements. So, the terms are being employed differently in each case on a syntactic level.