Portuguese Phrase
Tenho poucos dados.
Meaning
Literally, ‘I have few data.’ It is used to say that the amount of information or data you possess is limited, often in a research, business or tech context.
When to use
Use this sentence when you want to explain that you lack enough data to draw a solid conclusion, when reporting on a small sample size, or when you simply have only a handful of statistics at hand.
✦Grammar Breakdown
Tenhopoucosdados.
Ter (present 1st person singular)
‘Tenho’ is the first‑person singular present of the verb ‘ter’, meaning ‘to have’.
Adjective agreement
‘Poucos’ is a plural masculine adjective and must agree with the plural masculine noun ‘dados’.
Pouco vs. Poucos
Use ‘pouco’ for singular or uncountable nouns (e.g., ‘pouco tempo’) and ‘poucos’ for countable plural nouns.
Dados – countable noun
‘Dados’ is the plural of ‘dado’ (piece of information). In Portuguese it is treated as a countable noun, so the adjective must be plural.
🗨In Conversation
Você já tem os resultados da pesquisa?
Do you already have the survey results?
Ainda não. Tenho poucos dados para analisar.
Not yet. I have few data to analyze.
✕Common Mistakes
Tenho pouco dados.
‘Pouco’ is singular; it does not agree with the plural noun ‘dados’. Use ‘poucos’.
Tem poucos dados.
‘Tem’ is third‑person singular; the speaker must use ‘tenho’ for ‘I’.
Tenho poucos informação.
If you want to refer to uncountable information, use ‘informação’ instead of the plural ‘dados’.
↔Alternatives
Tenho pouca informação.
I have little information.
Dispomos de poucos dados.
We have few data.
Os dados são escassos.
The data are scarce.
Cultural Tip
In Brazil, the word ‘dados’ is commonly used in business, academia and tech circles. When speaking formally, you might prefer ‘informação’ or ‘dados estatísticos’. In casual conversation, Brazilians often say ‘não tenho muitos dados’ (I don’t have many data) to sound less abrupt.