Pronouns

There are five types of personal pronouns in Portuguese:

I.SUBJECT PRONOUNS

EngelsPortugeesAantekeningen
Ieu
wenós
[a gente]
A gente is a colloquial expression that can mean ‘we’. Being a singular noun, it is followed by a 3rd person singular verb (e.g. ‘a gente trabalha’ = ‘we work’).
you (singular)tu
você
[o senhor]
[a senhora]
Although você and o senhor/a mean ‘you’ (2nd person sing.) in English, in Portuguese the verb must be in the 3rd person singular.
Tu is only used when addressing friends, relatives and children.
Você is a form of address and not pronoun, but it is often used as subject pronoun, especially in Brazilian Portuguese.
Você is a little more formal, but not formal enough to address either someone you have never met before or a superior, in which case you should use o senhor or a senhora.
O senhor or a senhora are nouns so must be followed by a 3rd person verb.
you (plural)vocês
vós
[os senhores]
[as senhoras]
Vocês is a form of address and not pronoun, but it is often used as subject pronoun.
As above, although vocês form refers to the 2nd person plural, the verb in Portuguese is in the 3rd person plural.
he/it (masculine)ele The masculine singular pronouns can refer to a male person (he, him) or any masculine singular noun (it).
she/it (feminine)ela The feminine singular pronouns can refer to a female person (she, her or any feminie singular noun (it).
theyeles
elas
The masculine plural pronouns can refer to two or more males, two or more people of whom at least one is male, any masculine plural noun or a combination of masculine
Subject pronouns are usually omitted in Portuguese, because the verb already contains information on person and number.
The subject pronoun is also used to emphasize who is doing what.

II.DIRECT OBJECT PRON

EngelsPortugeesAantekeningen
meme The object form me is unstressed
usnos Note that the subject pronoun (we) has an acute accent (‘nós’) whereas the direct object pronoun (us) does not (‘nos’).
you (singular)te
o
a
lo
la
te’ is used informally. ‘o’ and ‘a’ are used formally, for male and female objects respectively, ‘lo’ and ‘la’ are also used formally.
you (plural)os
los / nos
as
las / nas
lo’ and ‘la’ are used after the infinitive form
him/it (masculine)o
lo / no
her/it (feminine)a
la / na
themos
los / nos
as
las / nas

III.INDIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS

EngelsPortugeesAantekeningen
[to/for] meme
para mim
All of these indirect pronouns have an alternative using, after the proposition ‘para’ (‘to’).
[to/for] usnos
para nós
Note the acute accent on ‘nós’ when using after the proposition ‘para’ variation.
[to/for] you (singular)te
para ti
lhe
para você
te’ and ‘para ti’ are informal. ‘lhe’ and ‘para você’ are formal.
[to/for] you (plural)lhes
para vocês
[to/for] him/it (masculine)lhe
para ele
para o senhor
[to/for] her/it (feminine)lhe
para ela
para a senhora
[to/for] themlhes
para eles
para elas

IV.PREPOSITIONAL PRONOUNS

EngelsPortugeesAantekeningen
memim
usnós
a gente
you (singular)ti
si
you (plural)vocês
himele
herela
themeles
elas
The plural of ti and si is vocês, or os senhores, as senhoras.

With the prepositions com, em and de, some prepositional pronouns change their form:
com + mim = comigo com + nós = connosco, conosco
com + ti = contigo com + vós = convosco
com + si = consigo
But com ele, com ela, com vocês, com eles, com elas.
de + ele = dele de + eles = deles
de + ela = dela de + elas = delas
But de mim, de ti, de nós, de vocês.
em + ele = nele em + eles = neles
em + ela = nela em + elas = nelas
But em mim, em ti, em nós, em vocês.

Contraction of Preposition ‘with’ and Prepositional Pronouns

EngelsPortugeesAantekeningen
with mecomigo
with usconnosco
with you (singular)contigo
consigo
contigo is informal, consigo is formal.
with you (plural)convosco

Contraction of Preposition ‘of/from’ and Prepositional Pronouns

EngelsPortugeesAantekeningen
of/from usda gente More often, ‘de nós’.
of/from you (singular)do senhor
da senhora
Alternatively ‘de você’.
of/from himdele
of/from herdela
of/from themdeles
delas

Contraction of Preposition ‘in/on’ and Prepositional Pronouns

EngelsPortugeesAantekeningen
in/on meem mim
in/on usem nós
in/on you (singular)em ti Or, em você
in/on you (plural)em vocês
in/on himnele
in/on hernela
in/on themneles
nelas

V.REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS

EngelsPortugeesAantekeningen
myselfme
ourselvesnos
yourselfte
se
te is informal, and ‘se’ is formal
yourselvesse
vos
vos is pretty much obsolete nowadays.
himselfse
herselfse
themselvesse

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

EngelsPortugeesAantekeningen
my/mine
(singular possession / an owner)
o meu
a minha
The definite article (‘o’; ‘a’; ‘os’; ‘as’) is not required for ‘mine’ and is not always required for ‘my’ – the same principle applies to all of these possessive pronouns.
my/mine
(plural possession / an owner)
os meus
as minhas
our/ours
(singular possession / more than one owner)
o nosso
our/ours
(plural possession / more than one owner)
os nossos
as nossas
your/yours
(singular possession / an owner)
o teu
a tua
o vosso
a vossa
o seu
a sua
‘seu’ and ‘sua’ are sometimes avoided in speech because they can easily be confused between the second and third person (the same form is used for both) – ‘dele’ and ‘dela’ are not so ambiguous (see below). In the written language, it is usually more obvious who is being spoken about, so they can be used without a problem. ‘Vosso’ and ‘vossa’ refer to multiple possessors of a single possession.
your/yours
(plural possession / more than one owner)
os teus
as tuas
os vossos
as vossas
os seus
as suas
their/theirs
(singular possession / an owner)
o seu
a sua
their/theirs
(plural possession / more than one owner)
os seus
as suas

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS

EngelsPortugees
EnkelvoudMeervoud
MannelijkVrouwelijkMannelijkVrouwelijkInvariable
este, esta, estes, estas
(near the speaker)
this/these
este
esse
aquele
mesmo
outro
o
tanto
tal
esta
essa
aquela
mesma
outra
a
tanta
tal
estes
esses
aqueles
mesmos
outros
os
tantos
tais
estas
essas
aquelas
mesmas
outras
as
tantas
tais
isto
isso
aquilo
esse, essa, esses, essas
(near the hearer)
that/those
aquele, aquela, aqueles, aquelas
(far from both)
that/those