Portuguese Phrase
Não, a gente não troca moedas.
Meaning
The speaker is politely refusing to exchange coins, indicating that neither they nor their establishment offers a coin‑exchange service.
When to use
Use this sentence when a customer asks you to change coins for bills, or when someone suggests swapping coins for another currency and you need to say you don’t do it.
✦Grammar Breakdown
Não,agentenãotrocamoedas.
Negation (Não)
‘Não’ placed before the verb negates the whole statement; a short ‘Não,’ at the start works as a quick refusal.
Informal plural – a gente
‘A gente’ is the colloquial way to say ‘we’; it always takes third‑person singular verb forms.
Present indicative – troca
‘Troca’ is the third‑person singular present of ‘trocar’, matching ‘a gente’.
Double negation
Portuguese often uses ‘não’ both before the verb and as a short answer; the two ‘não’s reinforce the refusal.
Object – moedas
‘Moedas’ (coins) is a plural noun, so the verb stays singular because it agrees with ‘a gente’, not with the object.
🗨In Conversation
Você pode trocar essas moedas por notas?
Can you exchange these coins for bills?
Não, a gente não troca moedas.
No, we don’t exchange coins.
✕Common Mistakes
Não, a gente não trocamos moedas.
‘A gente’ always takes a third‑person singular verb; use ‘troca’, not ‘trocamos’.
Não, a gente não troca moeda.
‘Moedas’ is plural because you’re talking about more than one coin.
Não a gente não troca moedas.
A comma after ‘Não’ separates the short answer from the statement; without it the sentence sounds rushed.
↔Alternatives
Desculpe, não fazemos troca de moedas.
Sorry, we don’t do coin exchange.
Infelizmente, não trocamos moedas aqui.
Unfortunately, we don’t exchange coins here.
Não, aqui não aceitamos moedas para troca.
No, we don’t accept coins for exchange here.
Cultural Tip
In Brazil, many small shops and street vendors don’t handle coin‑exchange; you’ll usually need to go to a bank or a larger retailer. ‘A gente’ is informal – perfect for casual conversation – but in a formal setting (e.g., a bank teller) you’d use ‘nós’ (e.g., ‘Nós não trocamos moedas’). Also, remember that ‘trocar moedas’ can refer to changing money (currency) as well as literal coins, so context matters.