mantenha

Mantenha is a form of the Portuguese verb manter, used as the affirmative imperative when addressing the pronoun você (the common informal/formal “you”). It means “keep,” “maintain,” or “hold” and is employed to give a direct command or encouragement to continue a state or action.

Etymology and meaning: manter comes from Latin manēre, meaning to stay or remain. The imperative mantenha expresses a directive to sustain a condition, position, or behavior. The form is widely used in Brazilian and European Portuguese and can appear in a variety of contexts, from everyday instructions to formal guidance.

Usage: Mantenha is commonly placed before the object or clause it governs, as in “Mantenha a distância” (Keep your distance) or “Mantenha a calma” (Keep calm). It can also be used in professional or instructional settings, such as manuals, safety briefings, or coaching, to prompt ongoing compliance or focus. The negative form is “não mantenha,” used to tell someone not to continue a particular state or action.

Conjugation and related forms: As the imperative form for você, mantendo other persons uses related present-subjunctive forms: mantenhamos (nós, used for “let’s keep”) and mantenham (vocês, eles/elas). Negative imperatives follow the same person forms with the word não: não mantenha, não mantenhamos, não mantenham. The infinitive is manter; the gerund is mantendo, and the past participle is mantido.

See also: manter, Portuguese verb conjugation, imperatives.