Portuguese Phrase
Quais matérias você tem?
Meaning
The sentence asks someone which school subjects or topics they are currently taking. It is a direct, neutral‑tone question that can be used in a classroom, when planning group work, or simply to get to know a peer’s schedule.
When to use
Use this phrase when you want to know a person’s class schedule, the subjects they are studying, or the topics they are responsible for. It works in informal conversations among students and in slightly more formal settings such as a teacher asking a new student about their curriculum.
✦Grammar Breakdown
Quaismatériasvocêtem?
Quais (interrogative adjective)
‘Quais’ is the plural form of ‘qual’ and must agree in number with the noun that follows.
Noun‑adjective agreement
‘Matérias’ is plural, so the interrogative adjective ‘quais’ also appears in the plural.
Verb conjugation with ‘você’
Even though the question refers to a plural noun, the verb agrees with the subject ‘você’, which takes the third‑person singular form ‘tem’.
Question mark placement
In Portuguese the question mark is placed only at the end of the sentence (unlike Spanish, which uses opening and closing marks).
🗨In Conversation
Quais matérias você tem?
Which subjects do you have?
Eu tenho matemática, história e biologia.
I have math, history and biology.
✕Common Mistakes
Qual matérias você tem?
‘Qual’ is singular; with a plural noun you must use ‘quais’.
Quais matérias vocês tem?
When the subject is ‘vocês’, the verb must be plural ‘têm’.
Quais materias você tem?
Don’t forget the acute accent on the first ‘a’; without it the word is misspelled.
↔Alternatives
Que matérias você tem?
What subjects do you have?
Quais disciplinas você está cursando?
Which courses are you taking?
Quais são as suas matérias?
What are your subjects?
Cultural Tip
In Brazil ‘matérias’ is the everyday word for school subjects, while ‘disciplinas’ sounds a bit more formal and is often used in official documents or university catalogs. When speaking to someone you don’t know well, you might replace ‘você’ with ‘o senhor’/‘a senhora’ for extra politeness. Also remember that Portuguese only uses a closing question mark, so the opening ‘¿’ is never used.