"In any circumstance he can know of my existence."

Translation: Em circunstância alguma ele pode saber da minha existência.

[frittelbug]

Hang on - so the original should say then, In no circumstance should he...

[jonathan.j5]

I agree with frittelbug, shouldn't the English translation be "In no circumstance can he know of my existence". My understanding of alguma is that if it is before the "thing" it is some and if it is after the "thing" it is no. For example alguma coisa = something and coisa alguma = nothing. Could someone who speaks native Portuguese confirm or deny this please?

[Paulenrique]

You're right. The original sentence is wrong. That should be "in no circumstance..." / "under no circumstance.."

[jonathan.j5]

Obrigado Paul

[asherbennaphtali]

"Em circunstância alguma" at the beginning of a sentence means "under no circumstance".

Some examples from linguee.com:

"Em circunstância alguma poderá aceitar-se uma redução dos níveis de higiene."
"A reduction in hygiene levels cannot be accepted under any circumstances."

"Em circunstância alguma haverá um único voto nosso a apoiar esta alteração."
"Under no circumstances will a single vote of ours support this amendment."

"Em circunstância alguma seremos responsáveis por qualquer perda ou dano"
"In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage"

"Em circunstância alguma se poderá tolerar uma cultura de impunidade."
"In no circumstances can a culture of impunity be tolerated."

"Em circunstância alguma haverá lugar a qualquer pagamento"
"Under no circumstances are you entitled to any payment"

Please fix this one, Duolingo.

[josenino972]

Can qualquer work here?

[Paulenrique]

No..... that would mean exacty the opposite. You can say "em nenhuma circunstância...." (but that should be "in no circumstance") but Duo's sentence is wrong!! That should be "em qualquer", which would not make much sense in this context o.O

[Alf-Sawman]

Well, Paulo, you answered "no", but given that you would translate the English sentence like it is now (i.e. "In any case he can know of my existence"), I think the answer to josenino972's question would be "yes", don't you agree?

"Em quaisquer circunstâncias ele pode saber da minha existência" would actually mean the same as the current English, wouldn't it? :-)

[Paulenrique]

That's why I put that Duo's sentence is wrong. I explained the Portuguese part any vs no =)

[Alf-Sawman]

Yes, sorry, I think we were just speaking around each other.
Anyways, I guess that josenino972 would get it all now if he gets back to this thread... :-)

[Paulenrique]

Oh yes, indeed! :-)

[frederikp86]

This is actually a mistake that I hear a lot of Brazilians committing when they are speaking English. They talk about any, anyone, anything but mean to say not any, nobody and nothing