Nem Todo, Nem Todos: Say Not Every or Not All in Portuguese

Not all is a limited claim

• Nem todo mundo toma café de manhã. — “Not everyone drinks coffee in the morning.”
• Nem todos os lugares abrem cedo. — “Not all places open early.”
• Nem toda família tem a mesma rotina. — “Not every family has the same routine.”

You have learned that the universal claim does not hold. You have not learned a percentage, a majority or a complete list. In the first example, it would be inaccurate to summarize the sentence as “Nobody drinks coffee.” Ask for more detail when the actual people or places matter.

This activity develops the kind of qualification that appears in the conversation about everyday frustrations. The examples here are new and do not claim a measured habit for a country.

Let todo agree with the noun

• Nem todo restaurante serve almoço. — “Not every restaurant serves lunch.”
• Nem toda loja abre no domingo. — “Not every store opens on Sunday.”
• Nem todos os restaurantes servem almoço. — “Not all the restaurants serve lunch.”
• Nem todas as lojas abrem no domingo. — “Not all the stores open on Sunday.”

Todo changes to toda, todos or todas according to the noun. The verb follows the singular or plural subject in these examples. With todo mundo, use the singular verb: Nem todo mundo gosta. The group meaning does not make todo mundo grammatically plural.

Original dialogue: turn a generalization into a concrete question

B gives one specific exception. A adapts the practical action instead of inventing a new generalization. The exchange is about a fictional household, not evidence that families in a region prefer one drink.

Compare not everyone, almost everyone and nobody

• Nem todos responderam. — “Not everyone replied.”
• Quase todos responderam. — “Almost everyone replied.”
• Ninguém respondeu. — “Nobody replied.”

These are different levels of information. Not everyone rules out everyone replying but gives no exact number. Almost everyone suggests the response count was close to the whole group. Nobody gives a zero-response statement. Do not silently replace one with another in your summary.

For near-total quantities, compare quase and the word group it modifies. For people versus things, use ninguém and nenhum.

Practice: preserve the scope of the negative

1. Does Nem todos vieram establish that nobody came?
2. Complete Nem ___ loja abre cedo.
3. Choose the verb: Nem todo mundo gosta/gostam.
4. Say that not all the stores open on Sunday.
5. A person says not every member of the family drinks coffee. What useful question can you ask?

Continue with real conversation practice

For the wider conversation that prompted this companion activity, see the episode guide about reacting when things go wrong. The examples and exercises here are original written teaching material, not a transcript, quotation or additional audio recording.

Continue with Real Life Portuguese for native Brazilian audio and everyday expressions. Listen to a short exchange available in the app, identify what the speaker is doing and prepare your own reply. Bruno Lopes is a co-founder of the app. Use these written exercises to prepare your own reply.