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This article aims at developing a study on the concept of alternative obligation, and also on the different doctrinaire conceptions of its structure. There is no consensus among legal scholars regarding the definition of which configuration an alternative obligation must have. For some, it is composed of one legal tie and one prestation; for others, such obligation is formed by one legal tie and many prestations. Furthermore, there are others who support the idea that an alternative obligation entails one legal tie for each prestation capable of discharging the debtor. The present study will also discuss the illegality of one of the prestations in this sort of obligation. Legal studies rarely analyze this topic and the majority of them only examines the circumstances when the prestation becomes impossible related to the articles 253 to 256 of the Brazilian Civil Code. If one prestation is illicit, considering the bond between Law of Obligations and the Theory of Legal Transactions, the obligation can be null or subsist with other prestations. That will depend on which structure was adopted to the alternative obligation in each case. This article focuses, thus, in this matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]