Language/Portuguese/Grammar/Questions

Portuguese Grammar - How to Ask Questions

Hi Portuguese learners! 😊
In today's lesson, we will be discussing how to ask questions in Portuguese. Asking questions is an important part of any language, and it can be tricky to get the hang of it. But don't worry, with a bit of practice you'll be able to ask questions like a native speaker in no time!

Basic Question Structure

The basic structure for asking questions in Portuguese is very similar to English. You start with the verb, followed by the subject, and then the rest of the sentence. For example:

• Você gosta de ler? (Do you like to read?)
• Ele está com fome? (Is he hungry?)

Yes/No Questions

Yes/no questions are the simplest type of question. To form them, you just need to add the word sim (yes) or não (no) at the end of the sentence. For example:

• Você gosta de ler? Sim. (Do you like to read? Yes.)
• Ele está com fome? Não. (Is he hungry? No.)

Wh-Questions

Wh-questions are a bit more complicated. To form them, you need to use a special set of words called interrogative pronouns. These are words like quem (who), o que (what), onde (where), por que (why), and quando (when). For example:

• Quem está com fome? (Who is hungry?)
• O que você gosta de ler? (What do you like to read?)
• Onde ele está? (Where is he?)
• Por que você está triste? (Why are you sad?)
• Quando você vai sair? (When are you leaving?)

Tag Questions

Tag questions are a way of confirming something that you think is true. To form them, you need to add a tag question at the end of the sentence. The most common tag questions are não é? (isn't it?) and não é mesmo? (isn't it really?). For example:

• Você gosta de ler, não é? (You like to read, don't you?)
• Ele está com fome, não é mesmo? (He is hungry, isn't he really?)

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