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      • Portuguese Personal Pronouns

      Portuguese Personal Pronouns

      • Date May 12, 2015

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      This lesson provides an overview of Portuguese personal pronouns, as well as some notes on their usage. As in English, Portuguese pronouns replace nouns and thus help avoid repetition. Portuguese has six types of pronouns: personal, possessive, demonstrative, relative, interrogative, and indefinite. The personal pronouns themselves fall into five categories depending on their usage: subject, reflexive, prepositional, direct object, and indirect object.

       

      Subject Pronouns

      Subject pronouns take the place of the subject of a sentence. They are among the most frequently used personal pronouns.

      Subject Pronoun English Equivalent
      eu I
      você/tu you
      o senhor/a senhora you (formal)
      ele/ela he/she/it
      nós/a gente we
      vocês (all of) you
      eles/elas they

      Tu introduces a new verb form. While tu is common in Brazilian Portuguese, it is rarely used in most other regions/dialects. A senhor and a senhora are used formal situations and when addressing your elders or superiors. A gente is an colloquial pronoun used in informal speech. Despite meaning “we,” it takes a singular verb. Elas, the feminine plural of “they,” is used only to replace feminine plural nouns.

       

      Reflexive Pronouns

      A reflexive pronoun follows a reflexive verb, that is to say a verb whose action refers back to the subject. A few things to keep in mind: First, a Portuguese reflexive verb may not translate to a reflexive verb in English. So there are situations in Portuguese where reflexive pronouns need to be included where they would not be in English. Second, a reciprocal action that refers to two or more people is equivalent to saying “each other” in English. Finally, it is common to place the reflexive pronoun before the verb in Brazilian Portuguese.

      Reflexive Pronoun English Equivalent
      me myself
      se yourself/himself/herself/itself
      nos ourselves/each other
      se yourselves/themselves/each other

      Prepositional Pronouns

      These are used in combination with prepositions. Some prepositional pronouns are contractions of a pronoun and a preposition (see below). Note that si and consigo are normally used in only written Portuguese.

      Prepositional Pronoun English Equivalent
      mim me
      ti you
      você you
      o senhor/a senhora you
      ele/ela him/her
      si him/he/it/you [general]
      nós us
      vós (all of) you
      vocês (all of) you
      os senhores/as senhoras (all of) you
      eles, elas them
      si them, (all of) you [general]

      The preposition com (with) is combined with many of the prepositional pronouns to form a single word. You must use the contraction in these instances. For example, you cannot say con mi when meaning “with me.” You have to use comigo instead.

      Prepositional Pronoun English Equivalent

       

      comigo with me
      contigo with you
      com você with you
      com o senhor/com a senhora with you
      com ele, com ela with him/with her
      consigo with him/with her/with you [general]
      connosco (Brazil = conosco) with us
      convosco* with (all of) you
      com vocês with (all of) you
      com os senhores/com as senhoras with (all of) you
      com eles/com elas with them
      consigo with them/with (all of) you [general]

      * archaic

       

      Direct Object Pronouns

      As in English, direct object pronouns replace the direct object of the sentence. They help to add variety to sentences and avoid repetition. Direct object pronouns are normally place before the verb in Brazilian Portuguese. Note that lo, la, los, and las are used after the infinitive form of a verb.

      Direct Object Pronoun English Equivalent
      me me
      o/a/lo/la/te you
      o/a/lo/la him/her/it
      nos/a gente us
      os/as/los/las (all of) you
      os/as/los/las them

      Indirect Object Pronouns

      Like direct object pronouns, these take the place of indirect objects in a sentence. Also like direct object pronouns, they usually come before the verb in Brazilian Portuguese.

      Indirect Object Pronoun English Equivalent
      me me
      para mim to/for me
      lhe/te you
      para você to/for you
      lhe him
      para o senhor/para a senhora to/for you
      lhe him
      para ele/ela to/for him/her
      nos us
      para nós to/for us
      lhes (all of) you
      para vocês to/for (all of) you
      lhes them
      para eles/elas to/for them

       

       

      Tag:Personal Pronouns, Portuguese, Pronouns

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