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O rotacismo é trocar o som de /r/ para o som /l/. Por exemplo almoço – *armoço; aluguel – *aluguer; Flamengo – *framengo. Algums se pode dizer que isso é ruim mas nas liguisticas não tem maneira de falar bem or mais correcto como pensavam algums pessoas. Isso é como liguagems muda e tranformar.

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Diferente do lambdacismo, que é a troca do "R" pelo "L", o rotacismo é a alteração de algum fonema pelo "R". Exemplos típicos desse tipo de metaplasmo na fala brasileira são as palavras "framengo" e "chicrete", mas podemos incluir nessa lista o carioquíssimo "mermo". Veremos como o rotacismo ocorre e quais são os fatores que contribuem para seu aparecimento na fala.

O que é Rotacismo?

Fazendo referência à letra grega Rô (ρ), que é a representação grafemática do fonema /r/, damos o nome de rotacismo ao tipo de metaplasmo que altera determinados fonemas das palavras pelo /r/. Temos os seguintes pares: almoço - *armoço; aluguel - *aluguer; Flamengo - *framengo; flauta - *frauta; flecha - *frecha. Note-se que "aluguer", "frauta" e "frecha" estão registrados nos dicionários como formas variantes.

Considerando que que já disse no artigo sobre lambdacismo, o ponto de articulação da lateral e da vibrante é o mesmo, mas há nuances que fazem com que sejam fonemas diferentes. O ambiente que mais propicia essa alteração é o final da sílaba (Coda), por exemplo: falta - *farta; almoço - *armoço; salto - *sarto; alma - *arma; caminhão - *carminhão; maçã - *marçã; mesmo - *mermo; três - *trêr etc. Também pode ocorrer em travamentos silábicos, por exemplo: Cláudia - *cráudia; Flamengo - *framengo; chiclete - *chicrete etc. Esse último tipo ocorre mais com o "L" por conta da articulação desses fonemas.

Sabe-se que o fenômeno da rotacização ou o rotacismo se fez presente no processo de formação da língua portuguesa. Palavras que sofreram a transformação do L em R nos encontros consonantais, como flaccu (latim) para o conhecido fraco ou mesmo plaga (latim) para praga, é representado no primeiro verso, quando Adoniran tanto grafa quanto canta "frechada" ao invés de flechada. (Jogas & dos Santos Gomes, 2003 p. 28)

Isso mostra que algumas transformações fonéticas ocorreram na passagem do latim para o português. Não podemos negar que há diferença de sentido entre falta (ausência) e farta (abundância), alma (metafísica) e arma (instrumento bélico), flagrante (evidente) e fragrante (cheiro), mas os pares maçã/*marçã, asterisco/*arterisco, Flamengo/*framengo, entre tantos outros, não evocam significados. Se há diferença de sentido gritante entre alma/arma, não encontramos diferença semântica entre chiclete/*chicrete.

Fonte:

JOGAS, Mônicas Guedes; DOS SANTOS GOMES, Nataniel. ADONIRAN BARBOSA, O DEFENSOR INVOLUNTÁRIO DO COMBATE AO PRECONCEITO LINGÜÍSTICO. Soletras, n. 5-6, p. 22-30, 2003. Disponível em: https://www.e-publicacoes.uerj.br/index.php/soletras/article/view/4454/3257 Acesso em 08/05/2019.

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Diferente do lambdacismo, que é a troca do "R" pelo "L", o rotacismo é a alteração de algum fonema pelo "R". Exemplos típicos desse tipo de metaplasmo na fala brasileira são as palavras "framengo" e "chicrete", mas podemos incluir nessa lista o carioquíssimo "mermo".

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Este articulo tambem mostra as divições entre o languagem formal e informal. O articulo tambem da exemplos de como é apropiado para informal, quasi formal, e formal. Por exemplo, o informal é usado para amigos, o quasi formal é para uma pessoa mais velho, formal é uma pessoa contactado por a primiera vez ou tem posicão mais alto.

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If you want to learn Portuguese with Rafa click here to see what I mean.

Last week I was devastated by learning about the tragedy in Haiti.

To be honest, I read the common news very rarely and only when I cannot avoid it. But, I read the news when there are facts from which I can learn lessons for my life to become somehow a better person.

Particularly in the last year, the news slammed us in the face with depression, people's revolt, decay, and a decadent and destructive world. I am not only talking about the financial world, but also unemployment, families destroyed, death, injustice, anger... How long can this list be?

Sometimes I wonder how much better and appreciated a newspaper, a TV channel or a magazine would be if, instead of publishing bad news, they gave us reasons to smile.

When we only see the negative aspects of people and life, we forget just how beautiful people and life are.

When you get to know that tragedies happen, I believe you must consider yourself lucky, and grateful for being alive. Lucky for living one more day of joy, for being able to learn many things that could make life even more beautiful for yourself and, for many others as well.

By realising that such tragedies happen you may want to let them fire in your heart, and hunger your soul. You may want to let them kill your laziness and fear, and step forward - to start getting things done!

So let this tragedy give you hope for those in Haiti and start or carry on doing what you believe can bring some goodness to your world. In this case, let's face seriously this odyssey of learning Portuguese.

Spend a good time of today setting a goal for yourself about how you can learn Portuguese quicker. Do the same tomorrow, and the day after.

Day after day, and little by little, you'll reach a better level in your Portuguese learning process.

Remember, don't waste the day of today, because sooner or later you will run out of time. So, if you haven't started yet, start now!

Today, this newsletter will help you to know how to start and finish an email in Portuguese.

Next time you write to your friends, family, and loved ones, why don't you, at least, start and finish your email in Portuguese?

They will notice your motivation in learning this language and perhaps, the motivation they see in yourself is the kick they need to start doing something they always really wanted to do, but, for some reason, they haven't done so, so far.

Anyway, the way you write emails in Portuguese is pretty much the same in all Lusophone countries - and I mean, all Portuguese speaking countries.

When you write an email in Portuguese, you need to take into account three levels of formality.

1. Informal (messages to your friends, lovers, partners and close members of your family).

2. Semi-formal (messages to your work colleagues or someone older than you).

3. Formal (someone you want to contact for the first time, or someone with a high position in your company or another institution).

You have also to take into account if you are writing to a male or female, and the degree of education they have.

So, let's analyse one by one, and learn the different possibilities:

1. Informal - The way you greet or say goodbye to someone in an email is basically the same as when you see them.

Beginning:

Olá

Olá + first name

Oi

Oi + first name

Oi, tudo bem?

Bom dia + first name (if it's in the morning)

Boa tarde + first name (in the afternoon)

Boa noite + first name (in the evening)

Olá então, tudo bem?

Olá então, espero que tudo esteja bem?

End:

Beijinhos (between a male and a female, two females or a female and a male)

Um beijo grande (between family, and between lovers themselves)

Um beijão (also between family, and between lovers themselves)

Um abraço (between 2 males) - this literally means "a hug", but in fact it is felt like "Regards", so don't be afraid of using it, even if you are a bit reserved.

Tchau

Até!

Até breve

Até + day of the week (e.g. "Até domingo" - if you know next time you'll be in contact with that person is next Sunday)

Até amanhã (if you know that next time you'll be in contact with that person again is only tomorrow)

Até logo (if you know that you will be in contact with that person again by the end of the same day only)

Até para a semana (if you know that next time you will be in contact is next week)

Até para a semana que vem (if you know that next time you will be in contact is also next week)

2. Semi-formal.

Beginning:

Caro Sr. + surname (when you are witting to a man)

Cara D. + first name (when you are witting to a woman)

Caro Dr. + surname (if you are writing to man with an university degree)

Cara Dra. + first name (if you are writing to woman with an university degree)

Caro Engº. + surname (if you are writing to man which is a graduated engineer)

Cara Engª. + first name (if you are writing to woman which is a graduated engineer)
Caro Arqº. + surname (if you are writing to man which is an architect)

Cara Arqª. + first name (if you are writing to woman which is an architect)

Caro colega (if he is your work colleague)

Cara colega (if she is your work colleague)

End:

Cumprimentos.

Com os melhores cumprimentos.

Um abraço (once again, this literally means "a hug", but in fact it is felt like "regards" - so don't be afraid even if you are a bit reserved)

3. Formal - Only in writing.

Beginning:

Ex.Mo Senhor + first and last name (if you are writing to a man, e.g. the way you say it is "Excelentíssimo Senhor Nuno Costa")

Ex.Ma Senhora Dona + first and last name (if you are writing to a woman, e.g. the way you say it is "Excelentíssima Senhora Dona Maria Costa")

Ex.Mo Senhor Dr. + first and last name (if you are writing to man with an university degree)

Ex.Ma Senhora Dra. + first and last name (if you are writing to woman with an university degree)

Ex.Mo Senhor Engº. + first and last name (if you are writing to man which is a graduated engineer)

Ex.Ma Senhora Engª. + first and last name (if you are writing to woman which is a graduated engineer)

Ex.Mo Senhor Arqº. + first and last name (if you are writing to man which is an architect)

Ex.Ma Senhora Arqª. + first and last name (if you are writing to woman which is an architect)

Ex.Mo Senhor Embaixador + with or without first and last name (if you are writting to an Ambassador)

Ex.Ma Senhora Embaixadora + with or without first and last name.

End:

Cumprimentos.

Com os melhores cumprimentos.

Sem mais de momento, subscrevo-me. Com os melhores cumprimentos.

So, because today is a day for celebrating your vision of life and your potential as a human being as a future completely fluent Portuguese speaker, enjoy your day and start living how it feels being a completely successful Portuguese speaker.

Até breve.

Rafa

PS 1: Questions about any topic? Success stories? Please let me know here https://www.learn-portuguese-with-rafa.com/contact-me.html

PS 2: also, if you are going to tell your friends ONE PIECE OF ADVICE you learned from me which has helped you to speak Portuguese... What would that be? Let me know in your email!

I look forward to receiving your email :-)

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Have your say about what you just read! Leave me a comment in the box below. Obrigado. :-)

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"Having found Rafa's website by accident I can honestly say it was the best thing to happen to me on my journey to learn Portuguese.
I started learning on January 2012 (using a language programme) but wanted to take some classes to aid my learning. When I looked on the internet there were so many options and I felt overwhelmed but one day whilst randomly looking on different websites I found Rafa's site and thought it was the best site I had come across but when I found out he did lessons in London I was thrilled - I emailed him and he promptly responded and we arranged to meet for a coffee the next day. Rafa was so confident that I would find his lessons successful that he offered me the first lesson for free and he was right!

What makes Rafa such a fantastic teacher is that not only does he explain the concepts and structure of the language in a clear, concise manner, he inspires his students with the confidence to speak and the motivation to want to learn more - I now take lessons twice a week (2 hours each time) and I always look forward to every lesson.

Learning Portuguese can be extremely frustrating at times but Rafa gives you the belief that with his help and hard work you can achieve your goal.

I have been really impressed with my progress since January and to put it into context - on my first lesson my only contact with Portuguese was 8 lessons on a language programme. With Rafa, we started going through the alphabet and pronunciation rules and now, three months later we are talking in Portuguese about holidays, life in London and even the socio-economic fortunes of young people in Brazil!

Rafa has not only been an inspiring teacher but has become a good friend - he's always happy to answer my emails if I have questions and we often go for a coffee or beer after lessons to discuss my progress and other things of interest.

If you are serious about learning Portuguese I could not recommend Rafa highly enough - he will be the difference between you giving up when the success you want is just around the corner.

Jamie." - London . U.K.

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Nina." - South Africa

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"A great Portuguese teacher!
Rafa speaks excellent English, and as a result is able to explain subtleties that other teachers can't.

He can speak Portuguese clearly for the beginner or with the slang and difficult pronunciation that everyday Portuguese so often use. This is a great help.

The use of Skype to conduct a lesson at a distance is great. It works absolutely fine.

His site has lots of goodies and is very useful. That, combined with Rafa himself as a teacher over Skype is an excellent way to learn the language."

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"Dear Rafa,
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Muito obrigada :)

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Dr. Boomer - London, England

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"Ola Rafa!
Cheers from Melbourne Australia.

Richard" - Australia

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"It's just great to learn with Rafa. His enthusiasm, dedication and humour are really inspiring and encouraging. A student could not ask for a better Portuguese teacher."
Jessica - Canada

"Hi Rafa
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Harry" - UK

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"I would have absolutely no hesitation whatsoever in recommending in the highest possible terms Mr Tavares to anyone wishing to learn or improve their Portuguese."
John - L.A., USA

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Stephanie" - USA

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"I have been deeply impressed by Rafa's structured way of teaching and his ability to identify the really key aspects for his students, thus enabling me to advance very rapidly without spending time on less important or extraneous topics."
Diane - NY, USA

"Bom dia, Rafa :)
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Donata" - Lithuania
"Olá Rafa!
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Jakub" - Poland
"Hi Rafa,
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Alex" - UK
"Hi Rafa
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Jennifer" - Portugal
"Olá Rafa
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Cenk." - England

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How to start and finish an email in Portuguese.

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If you want to learn Portuguese with Rafa click here to see what I mean. Last week I was devastated by learning about the tragedy in Haiti. To be honest, I read the common news very rarely and only when I cannot avoid it.

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No Portugese se usam saudação como senhora/ senhora com muita frecuenza. Isso da a importate das registros forais e informais por exemplo em informal é melhor dizer abraços mais com formal se poder dizer Atenciosamente.

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Oftentimes my friends and I discuss what the proper usage is for greetings and signing off professional e-mails. I work with a lot of internal colleagues and clients alike from all sorts of different fields, and it's been tough to come to a conclusion as to what's proper or not, but I think this will serve as a pretty good guide, just in case you're planning on doing business in Brazil!
For Formal Business/Government Letters: Greetings - Prezado Senhor/a (nome): Estimado Senhor/a (nome):
If you don't know the person's name, "Prezado Senhor/a," or " Estimado/a," both work.

Also, if it's more than one person, adding simply " Srs" or "Senhores" to the end of the greeting can work as well.

Ex. " Prezados Senhores:"

After greeting them, you might want to follow with what it is you are getting at with the letter.

A good introduction is:

Venho através desta para... - Literally, "I come through this for..." But what it means is "I am writing this letter to..."
Sign-offs - Atenciosamente, Cordialmente,
A "thank you" before signing off is always nice too...

Ex. Agradeço-lhe a atenção.

Formal e-mails usually follow the same lines, only things tend to be abbreviated.
Greetings - Prezado Sr/a., Sign-offs - Informal E-mails/Letters
I'm personally a big fan of hugs and kisses and smiley faces all around, but I have to be careful as to not send hugs to a client on a first contact. I will usually use one of the greetings above, or simply the person's name for an informal e-mail. Another greeting can be a simple "Oi (nome)!" (ok, I may have added the exclamation point as something only I do...)
Sign-offs
If it's an informal e-mail to a client or coworker, Att works just fine.

If you're more friendly with your client or coworker, or if it's a good friend, Abraços, is a good sign-off. Especially in Brazil where hugs are welcomed 🙂

Since I'm even more Brazilian, I will often end e-mails with Beijos, the same way I would end an informal e-mail to a friend in the US with "Love,". Just be careful if you're sending this to a coworker of the opposite sex. They might not take it as friendly as you mean for it to be!

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Proper Etiquette for Greetings and Signing Letters and E-mails in Portuguese

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Oftentimes my friends and I discuss what the proper usage is for greetings and signing off professional e-mails. I work with a lot of internal colleagues and clients alike from all sorts of different fields, and it's been tough to come to a conclusion as to what's proper or not, but I think this will serve as a pretty good guide, just in case you're planning on doing business in Brazil!

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Este articulo fala sobre a importance de os registros no portuguese. Por exemplo, no portuguese o verbo estar é cotado para ta ou tou. O autor diz que é muito importante aprender informal maniera de falar tambem.

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The differences between what linguists call formal and informal registers is significant, and very important in Brazilian Portuguese. (Disclaimer: I have never been to Brazil, so I'm basing my statement on what I have read in a variety of books about the language, as well as first-hand reports from people who have lived in the country).

Unfortunately, very few learning resources devote enough time to the informal language, at least not for beginning learners. This is probably because it's not always appropriate to use the informal register (for instance, during a job interview or formal business meeting), while it is acceptable to use the formal register, though it might come across as overly stuffy.

Another reason is that it can be more difficult to learn the informal language if you don't have a basic foundation with the formal language. In other words, it's sometimes easier to break or bend the rules of the language if you already know what the rules are.

Here are a couple of examples in English, followed by a couple in Portuguese.

In informal English, we often hear or see "gonna" for "going to," "wanna" for "want to," "kinda" for "kind of," and so on. In each case, trying to reconstruct the original meaning from the informal usage is neither intuitive nor predictable. In the first two cases, the final "a" replaces "to," while in the third one, it replaces "of." I think that it would be harder to teach these informal usages to a non-native speaker than it would be to teach the original, formal versions. Furthermore, in certain situations, the use of "gonna" or "wanna" or "kinda" would not be appropriate, so they have to learn the formal versions anyway.

In Portuguese, you may hear or see forms of the verb "estar" written without the "es-" at the beginning, so that "está" becomes "tá", "estou" becomes "tô", etc. If you started out learning these forms first, and then encountered the full forms, it could be confusing. It's easier to see that "tá" is just a short form of "está" than to try to figure out what the original form of "tá" was if you had never learned "está." Another example is the use of "pra" instead of "para," which occurs both in the spoken and written language. When I first encountered "pra," I thought it was a new preposition that I hadn't learned yet.

So while a beginner should be exposed to the informal language as soon as possible, I can understand why most programs stick with the formal language for the basis of their instruction. I believe that it is relatively easy to supplement one's knowledge of the formal language with exposure to materials that address the informal language, and learners should understand from the beginning that they are learning one form of the language, which might not match what they can expect to hear spoken on an everyday basis.

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The Importance of Register in Brazilian Portuguese

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The differences between what linguists call formal and informal registers is significant, and very important in Brazilian Portuguese. (Disclaimer: I have never been to Brazil, so I'm basing my statement on what I have read in a variety of books about the language, as well as first-hand reports from people who have lived in the country).

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Mitchell Schonhoeft bilingual family tree.

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Mitchell Schonhoeft bilingual family tree.

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Me- (born TX) English dominate multilingual. Spanish and Portuguese.

Mother- (born TX) English dominate bilingual. Spanish

Father- (born TX) English monolingual.

Maternal grandmother- (born TX) Spanish dominate bilingual. English. Her mother immigrated from Mexico.

Maternal grandfather- (born TX)
Spanish dominate bilingual. English. His parents were born in the US as well.

Paternal grandmother- (born TX)
English monolingual. She spoke some Czech from her Texas-czech heritage.

Paternal grandfather- (born TX)
English monolingual with functional German. His father was from Germany, but mother American born German heritage. In order to  fit into American culture they did not pass German on to him.

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Este video tem exemplo de um falante de São paulo. Tambem tem participantes que tentam de entender o que esta dizendo o falador nativo. Por exemplo no sotaque paulista dizem padoca para significar padaria. Tambem o video diz que o sotaque tem influenca de italia.

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Sotaques e Expressões do Brasil - Como se fala em São Paulo

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Este video tem exemplo de um falante do minas gerais. O sotaque minero é muito rapido. O falante tembem tem seu propio giria. Por exemplo, cadique significa por causa de que e trem significa coisa.

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Sotaques e Expressões do Brasil - Como se fala em Minas Gerais

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Este video tem sotaques diferentes do todos partes do Brasil. Um exemplo das sotaques é a frase "tá ligado" em São Paulo. O sotaque de Pará é muito rapido com seu propio maneira de fala. O sotaque de Rio Grande do sul é tambem dificil de entender.

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Sotaques e Expressões do Brasil: Como Falamos de Norte a Sul

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O idioma tupi é indigena. O portugues tem muitas palavras com origen Tupi. Especialmente os nomes dos lugares. Por exemplo, o Brasil tem 26 estados e 13 têm origem Tupi. Uma coiza interesante é que o estado de Paraíba significa no Tupi rio mal.

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Naturally, many of the most prominent Tupi words used in Portuguese are place names, as the naming of towns and rivers preceded the arrival of the colonizers in the 1500s. Of Brazil's 26 states (and one Federal District), 13 have names which originate from Tupi.

Some are fairly straightforward, such as Roraima, which translates as "Green Mountain"-joining rora (green) and imã (mountain)-and is surely a reference to the stunning tabletop mountain Monte Roraima, the state's highest peak. The northeastern state of Maranhão originates from the Tupi expression " mar'anhan," meaning "the river that runs."

Some of Brazil's states have more poetic Tupi names; for example, the state of Ceará-made from of the words cemo and ara- translates as "The Song of the Jandaya Parakeet," a tropical bird native to the area. The state of Sergipe, also in the northeast region, translates as "River of Crabs," after the Sergipe River which cuts through the state capital Aracaju.

Meanwhile, some names are less flattering. Pernambuco, one of the most populous states in the northeast region, translates literally as "Hole in the Sea"; its neighbor to the north, Paraíba, means "Bad River" in the native tongue. Both are in fact beautiful parts of the country, but this hasn't stopped the Tupi language in the past. Ibirapuera, as in the name of São Paulo's famous urban park, translates as "Sick Trees," while Rio de Janeiro's iconic Ipanema Beach means "Worthless Water," a compound of the words 'y (water) and panema (good-for-nothing).

Along the Rio de Janeiro coast, there is the beach town of Saquarema, which attracts tourists from all over as it's known as Brazil's surfing capital. However, much to the chagrin of the Saquarema tourist board, the city's name in Tupi has nothing to do with surfing, waves or sunshine. Saquarema comes from the indigenous words sakurá and rema, which translates into English as-wait for it-Smelly Periwinkles.

Tupi place names are some of the hardest words for Portuguese learners to pronounce correctly because of the language's use of sounds rarely seen in Romance or Germanic languages. For instance, the neighborhood of Anhangabaú in São Paulo (an-yang-ga-ba-OO) is a notorious tongue twister. Incidentally, the area used to be home to the Anhangabaú River, which, in Tupi, translates as "The Cursed River"-a claim some Paulistanos would probably agree with.

Place names aren't the only examples of Tupi words which still exist in modern Brazilian Portuguese. Many names of fruits, foods, plants, and animals used today in Brazil are in fact Tupi words. Pineapples in Portuguese are known as "abacaxi" (in Brazil) or "ananás" (in Portugal), both words incidentally having roots in Tupi. "Abacaxi" is a compound of the terms i'bá and ká'ti, meaning "fruit which smells pleasant and intense," while "ananás" comes from naná, which means "nice smell." Interestingly, pineapples are known as "ananas" in a number of languages around the world, including French, German, Russian, and Arabic.

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The Tupi Language and Its Influence on Brazilian Portuguese

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Naturally, many of the most prominent Tupi words used in Portuguese are place names, as the naming of towns and rivers preceded the arrival of the colonizers in the 1500s. Of Brazil's 26 states (and one Federal District), 13 have names which originate from Tupi.

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O portugues de Moçambique é basado em portugues europeu, mas tem infuencia de portugues brasileiro. Eles não tem palatalização de "de". Eles falam devagar. O moçambique tem 15 idiomas diferentes também.

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Portuguese and language dialects in Mozambique

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O portugues da Angola não tem palaltalização de "de". Com os s final tem shismo. Os R são como portugues brasileiro com o sonido de h no ingles. Ele fala devagar. Ele diz nos e vos. O dialeito dele tem influencia de idiomas africanos.

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Help us caption & translate this video! http://amara.org/v/7MVD/

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Isso  é muito bacana. O Capo verde tem uma mixtura de portugues e idiomas indigenas. As palavras tem similatudes com o portugues. Por exemplo, muito bem é
"Muitu ben" no croulo, meu nome é no crioulo é "Nha nomi e ..."

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A collection of useful phrases in Cape Verdean Creole, a Portuguese-based creole spoken mainly in Cape Verde.

Jump to phrases

See these phrases in any combination of two languages in the Phrase Finder. If you can provide recordings, corrections or additional translations, please contact me.

If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, or if you can provide recordings, please contact me.

Information about Cape Verdean Creole | Phrases | Numbers

Links

Other collections of Cape Verdean Creole phrases
http://kriolu.org/creole
http://www.ikuska.com/Africa/Lenguas/kriolu/LengKriolu3.htm
http://www.boavistaofficial.com/EN/phrases-useful-traduction-kriol-capeverdian.php

Phrases in Creoles

Bislama, Cape Verdean Creole, Chabacano de Zamboanga, Chabacano de Cavite, Haitian Creole, Jamaican, Mauritian Creole, Norfuk, Papiamento, Réunion Creole, Sango, Sierra Leone Creole, Tok Pisin

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A collection of useful phrases in Cape Verdean Creole, a Portuguese-based creole spoken mainly in Cape Verde.

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O mirandese é falado por 15,000 pessoas. O mirandese é o idioma oficial segunda no Portugal. Este idioma foi feito em uma região isolada no Portugal perto de Leon, Espanha. O idioma é falada mais com as pessoas maiores que menores.

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An old woman in a plain gray dress and a shopping bag full of oblong orange squashes called out to me from down the street. I had no idea what she was saying - and that couldn't have made me happier. After all, I had come to her rural village - Malhadas, in the northeast corner of Portugal - with the specific hope of not understanding anyone.

"Ah, you don't speak Mirandese," she said, switching to Portuguese, a language I speak fluently after living for several years in Brazil. "I thought you were the guy who comes to read the electric meters."

It was a reasonable guess: strangers in isolated Malhadas are not common. But in fact I was there to take a reading of sorts. I wanted to hear as much as I could of Mirandese, Portugal's second official language - whether from the customers at the nearby Café Córdoba, old men chatting on a bench, or a woman on her way home from shopping. People build trips around all kinds of things: scenery, wildlife, food, folklore, music. Why not language?

I didn't plan to learn Mirandese, mind you. Three days wouldn't get me very far, and the language, spoken by just 10,000 or 15,000 people on what is known as the Planalto Mirandês (or Mirandese Plateau), who all also speak Portuguese, is hardly a useful tongue. But I had often run across references to isolated linguistic pockets in Europe, and this time I wanted to explore one first hand. And I could think of few defining travel concepts more frugal than a language: some say talk is cheap, but in fact, it's free.

In 1999, Mirandese became Portugal's second official language, thanks to regional lobbying and a lawmaker sympathetic to the cause. That doesn't mean much in practice, but symbolically it was a matter of great pride to just about everyone I met; the distinction all but stopped dismissive talk of Mirandese as a dialect of Portuguese. A Romance language in the Astur-Leonese family, it is now taught as an elective in the region's public schools, and bookstores sell a handful of books written in or translated into Mirandese, including a translation of the epic Portuguese poem "The Lusaids" and that oft-translated children's classic, "L Princepico" - "The Little Prince."

The entire region spoke Leonese, a language that predates Mirandese, when the area was part of the kingdom of León in the Middle Ages, explained Carlos Ferreira, a Mirandese speaker who runs a regional tourism organization. After Portuguese independence in the 12th century, the Mirandese region became distant and isolated enough from the rest of the country that efforts to preserve the language began.

The language is least in evidence in Miranda do Douro, at about 2,000 inhabitants the region's largest town. But I did visit the beautifully preserved old city, where the Andrade book store sells Mirandese books and a museum, Museu da Terra de Miranda, celebrates the region's agricultural and cultural traditions with exhibits of ancient handmade furniture, farm and artisan tools, and a collection of capas de honra - traditional and oddly religious-looking robes that until early last century were daily dress for men.

Instead of staying in Miranda do Douro, as the mostly Portuguese and Spanish tourists who come every summer do, I searched for a room in one of the surrounding smaller towns. I chose the cheapest option: the Restaurante Residencial Gabriela in Sendim, about a half-hour from Miranda. For 25 euros (about $30) a night, breakfast included, I spent two days in one of a dozen or so immaculate, modern rooms that would easily fetch two or three times as much in other parts of Europe.

As I found out that night at the inn's restaurant, I was not just the only guest at the hotel, but also the only diner. It took just a few minutes for Lurdinhas Fernandes, who runs the place with her sister, to invite me to eat with the family in the kitchen. They were gathered next to the fireplace that simultaneously warms people, grills meat and smokes the homemade alheira sausage that hung overhead.

The centerpiece of dinner was posta Mirandesa, the region's signature dish. It's a veal steak cut from the hind quarters of Mirandese cattle, served with a vinaigrette sauce that Lurdinhas claimed was invented by her grandmother for whom the restaurant is named. It came with quartered and fried potatoes, salad, a pitcher of red wine, and for dessert, a mild cheese of mixed cow's and sheep's milk served with exquisite homemade jams in seven (!) flavors: pear, squash, fig, plum, cherry, sour cherry and quince.

They would end up charging me 21 euros, but it was more than worth it, especially when you include the value of the hours-long Mirandese lesson I got at the table from Lurdinhas's husband, Altino Martins.

Altino, who had grown up speaking Mirandese in the village of Paradela on the Douro River bordering Spain, helped me through a children's illustrated vocabulary book I had bought in Miranda do Douro hours earlier: "Las Mies Purmeiras Palabras an Mirandés" ("My First Words in Mirandese"). We worked on pronunciation and he pointed out words that were quite different from their Spanish or Portuguese equivalents: sheep is canhona, knee is zinolho, snowflake is farrapa. Most memorable was how Mirandese distinguishes grandmother and grandfather, both of which are spelled abó. When necessary, grandfather becomes l abó de las calças (grandparent of the pants) and grandmother is l'abó de la saia (grandparent of the skirt). Insensitivity to male cross-dressers and female jeans-wearers notwithstanding, can we all agree that that is adorable? (Another favorite: the phrase for rainbow is cinta de la raposa, fox's belt.)

Altino explained how isolated the region had been even in the 1950s, when he was a small child. He did not see his first motor vehicle until he was 5 or 6; later, Spanish engineers building a hydroelectric dam on the river "zoomed" through town in cars going 20 or 25 miles per hour, delighting and terrifying the children. He also said that when local donkeys were no longer able to work, villagers would lead them to the cliff by the river and push them over, their bones to be picked clean eaten by vultures.

As I wandered the villages over the next two days, I found fluency in Mirandese to be more common among older villagers, but one of many exceptions is Duarte Martins (not related to Altino), a young man from Malhadas who is a Mirandese teacher. "I speak Mirandese to defend my way of being, my way of interpreting the world," he said over beers in the Rochedo Bar in Miranda do Douro. Indeed, he added, there are locals with whom he only speaks Mirandese.

I was welcome to attend his class, he said, but school was out for Christmas break. Instead, he gave me several editions of La Gameta, the annual journal of student works in Mirandese he has professionally published. ("La Gameta" means "The Lentil.")

Because written Mirandese resembles Spanish and Portuguese, I could at least catch the drift of the stories and essays in the journal - some of which were clearly personal and others which seemed to be recounting folk tales told by family or neighbors - stories of hens and monsters and shepherds and religion. History lent a poignant note to the texts: Mirandese had been forbidden under the Portuguse dictator António de Oliveira Salazar (who ruled from 1932 to 1968); many of the students' parents had not learned to speak Mirandese, let alone write it. Now their children could see their own Mirandese works in print.

The day after I met Duarte, I set off to visit more villages. In tiny Paradela, Altino's birthplace, I stopped in a little cafe called O Paradela. They weren't serving lunch, but a friendly young woman named Teresa seated me by the fireplace and said she could make me a plate of housemade chouriço (the local sausage), ham and cheese (4 euros). I thumbed through an edition of La Gameta as I waited.

As she brought me the food, she saw what I was reading. "Hey, I wrote something in there," she told me. "That's from 2004, right?" It was. She leafed through until she found a short story called "L pastor i l spagnolo," ("The Pastor and the Spaniard"). At the bottom, it read "Teresa Preto, 9th Grade."

I couldn't make it all out, but the gist was clear: a Mirandese shepherd was tending his flock near the border and was approached by a Spaniard. "Who eats more, the white sheep or the black sheep?" the Spaniard joked. The shepherd, preferring not to be bothered, responded with a racy nonanswer involving kissing the sheep's posterior, and the Spaniard learned never to pester local shepherds again.

It may not have been great literature, but its setting could not have been more local: the Spanish border was just a few hundred yards away. I drove up after lunch, stopping at the edge of a striking cliff overlooking the Douro River and, beyond it, Spain. No shepherds or Spaniards in sight. I wondered, though, if this was the spot where old donkeys met their sad fate. My gaze wandered to the still-functioning hydroelectric dam, which brought the first cars (ls purmeiros carros, if my Mirandese is correct) to the village little more than half a century ago.

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In Portugal, Mirandese Spoken Here -- and Only Here

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An old woman in a plain gray dress and a shopping bag full of oblong orange squashes called out to me from down the street. I had no idea what she was saying - and that couldn't have made me happier.

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Introdução de cómo o latin muda para os idiomas romances

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Introdução de cómo o latin muda para os idiomas romances

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O empero romano estender-se o idioma latin por todo seu reino. Depois vesões diferentes apareceu se chama latin vulgar, e depois de isso os idiomas distintos. Um exemplo de as semanas entre os idiomas romances.
Latin- una lingua
Espanol- una lingua
Italiano- una lingua
Romaniano- o limba
Portuguese- uma lingua

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Romance Languages: Introduction to Vulgar Latin & Romance Linguistics

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O Galego- Portuguese originalmente foi usado para as poamas. Esse é um ezemplo de uma poema de Alfonso XI de  Castile, León e Galicia (1311-1350). O lenguagem parcece como um meztura de espanhol e portuguese. Tem a frase "non puedo sofrir" que non é não, puedo é espanhol actual mas posso em portuguese, e sofrir que é sofrer hoje em dia.

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Afonso XI

Rubrica:

El rei D. Afonso de Castela e Leon, que venceu el rei de Belamarim com o poder d'Aalém-Mar a par de Tarifa

----- Aumentar letra ----- Diminuir letra

Nota geral:

Cantiga tardia, escrita já em castelhano, embora com muitas formas híbridas (que se podem ficar a dever, aliás, a erros do copista). Muito possivelmente a composição tem como contexto os públicos amores entre Afonso XI e a sua favorita, Leonor de Guzmán.

Nota geral

Descrição

Fontes manuscritas

B 607, V 209
(C 607)

Versões musicais

Originais

Desconhecidas

Contrafactum

Desconhecidas

Composição/Recriação moderna

Desconhecidas

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.:: Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas ::.

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Afonso XI Rubrica: El rei D. Afonso de Castela e Leon, que venceu el rei de Belamarim com o poder d'Aalém-Mar a par de Tarifa ----- Aumentar letra ----- Diminuir letra Nota geral: Cantiga tardia, escrita já em castelhano, embora com muitas formas híbridas (que se podem ficar a dever, aliás, a erros do copista).

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Os idiomas que vem de latin tem tudos raices sinulares. Se pode ouvir as simulatudes de raiz na video mas tambem tem diferenças entre como cada idioma muda sobre o tempo. Por exemplo o espanhol e portugese tem mais infulença de arabe que o catlan frances, o italaliano.

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Portuguese como cualquier idioma muda sobre tempo. Este video da as razões de por que idiomas muda. Idiomas muda porque persoas muda a lugares diferentes que seuas antipassodes e muda o idioma cuanto este grupo e isolado. As veses é dificil saber se palavras sao relacionado por isso linguisitas usam o otorgrafia e syntaxis.

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Este artigo é sobre objetos direct. Objetos diretos complementam verbos transitivos.
Exemplo: Ana vende livros. (livros = objeto direto)
No entanto, você pode substituir o objeto direto por um pronome. O pronome para um objeto direto é  o, a, os, e as.

Um  exemplo.

Deixei-a na escola

O autor coloca o objeto direto após o verbo.

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O Objeto Direto é um complemento verbal que, geralmente, não é acompanhado por preposição. Assim como o objeto indireto, tem a função de completar o verbo transitivo, o qual sozinho não consegue fornecer informação com sentido completo.

O complemento que não é obrigatoriamente acompanhado por preposição é chamado de objeto direto, enquanto que o complemento que exige preposição é chamado de objeto indireto.
Exemplos:

Ana vende livros. (livros = objeto direto)

O pai abraçou o filho. (o filho = objeto direto)

Você conhece o José? (o José = objeto direto)

Convidei meus amigos. (meus amigos = objeto direto)

Quando o objeto direto é expresso por mais do que uma palavra, a palavra que tem mais importância é o seu núcleo. Nos exemplos acima, os núcleos do objeto direto são: livros, filho, José e amigos.

O objeto direto pode ser representado por:

A vizinha abandonou o gato.

Não esperava um não.

Pronomes substantivos

Vou fazer o quanto puder.

Não suporto mais isto!

Deixei-a na escola e fui trabalhar.

Espere-o aí.

Espero que eles compareçam. (que eles compareçam=objeto direto)

Já verifiquei que não foi feito. (que não foi feito=objeto direto)

Objeto Direto Preposicionado

O objeto direto não exige preposição. Assim, embora a preposição não seja obrigatória, há casos em que o objeto direto pode ser completado com preposição, com a finalidade de evitar ambiguidades ou por uma questão estilística.
Exemplos:

Ao ladrão a polícia apanhou.

Amar a Deus sobre todas as coisas.

Objeto Direto Pleonástico

O pleonasmo é uma figura de linguagem que consiste na repetição com a finalidade de enfatizar o discurso. Assim, quando o objeto direto é repetido a fim de reforçar a mensagem, é chamado de objeto direto pleonástico.
Exemplos:

As cartas, li-as todas.

Os convidados, cumprimentei-os um a um.

Exercícios

Indique os objetos diretos (OD) e os objetos indiretos (OI) das orações abaixo.

1. Precisa de ajuda?

2. Afinal, ele gosta de doce ou salgado?

3. Doou todos os bens aos pobres.

4. Assisti ao jogo.

5. Agradeça o presente, filho.

6. Adoro essa música!

7. Amo-a.

8. As sobremesas, provei-as uma a uma.

Para estudar mais:

Para exercícios:

Referências Bibliográficas

CUNHA, Celso; CINTRA, Lindley. Nova Gramática do Português Contemporâneo. 2. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 1985.

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O Objeto Direto é um complemento verbal que, geralmente, não é acompanhado por preposição. Assim como o objeto indireto, tem a função de completar o verbo transitivo, o qual sozinho não consegue fornecer informação com sentido completo. O complemento que não é obrigatoriamente...

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Este artigo fala sobre como o topicalization pode ser difícil para os alunos de segunda língua de português usar esse aspecto do português. O autor relaciona especialmente o quão difícil pode ser ensinar este tema, pois pode ser visto como impróprio ou "mau português", porém o autor relaciona-o de volta a chamar essas tendências de serem completamente naturais especialmente na linguagem oral.

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Um verbo reflexivo é aquele que seu objeto é o mesmo que o sujeito. Existem alguns verbos que são apenas reflexivos e há alguns verbos que podem ser reflexivos. O equivalente em inglês seria myself, yourself, himself, herself e etc. Alguns exemplos de reflexivos são:

sentar-se

levantar-se

vestir-se

arrepender-se

divertido-se

chamar-se

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Wikipedia defines reflexive verbs like this:

A reflexive verb is, loosely, a verb whose direct object is the same as its subject, for example, "I wash myself". More generally, a reflexive verb has the same semantic agent and patient (typically represented syntactically by the subject and the direct object). For example, the English verb to perjure is reflexive, since one can only perjure oneself.

In more understandable terms (!):
Whenever the subject is receiving and doing the action at the same time, it's a reflexive verb.

But that's still a linguist's perspective and not really helpful to most of us that want to start using these right now. I've tried to come up with simple things that trigger the reflexive, but I now think it's actually better to just memorize some of the most popular ones and develop a feel for it. It's not all that complicated! It really is just a matter of recognizing that you need to include a myself or a yourself, ourselves, themselves etc. when you say for example, "I injured myself". It would be pretty silly to say, "I injured." Other examples are not as crystal clear:

sentar-se > I sat (myself) down. > Eu me sentei.

levantar-se > I got (myself) up. > Eu me levantei.

vestir-se > Are you going to get (yourself) dressed? > Você vai se vestir?

arrepender-se > He (himself) regreted everything. > Ele se arrependeu tudo.

And, you need to know these too:

divertir-se > We enjoyed ourselves. > Nós nos divertimos.

chamar-se > I call myself David. > Eu me chamo David.

*though we really don't say it like that in english!

sentir-se > She feels fine. > Ela se sente bem.

This one, you don't need to know, though it can be fun to use:
ferrar-se. > offensive > see link.

When is it reflexive?

When you can sense that the sentence needs a myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, themselves etc. But I think it's better to simply memorize ( flashcards!) the ones in this post and start using them You will naturally develop a feel for when to use the reflexive. This will happen naturally, without having to stop and think about it.

Can any verb be reflexive?

Why not!
The ones above are almost always used reflexively -- so, please learn them first. But know that pretty much any verb can be used reflexively. Let's do it:

falar > Eu me falei > I told my self.

ensinar > Você se ensinou? > Did you teach yourself?

tocar > Para de se tocar! > Stop touching yourself!

But I can't think of any way to use for example chover, morar, dançar (dancing with myself?), chegar, ir, trabalhar...

Show me all the reflexive pronouns.

Want to see all the possibilities? Let's do one verb.

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Portuguese Reflexive Verbs | Brazilian Portuguese, by Semantica

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Wikipedia defines reflexive verbs like this: A reflexive verb is, loosely, a verb whose direct object is the same as its subject, for example, "I wash myself". More generally, a reflexive verb has the same semantic agent and patient (typically represented syntactically by the subject and the direct object).

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Em geral, o português é um linguagem SVO que significa que ele vai em ordem a partir do objeto verbo sujeito, assim como em inglês. Um exemplo para uma frase
simples seria:

Objeto       verbo           sujeito
Ele               tem             uma casa
Isso também funciona em questões, você pode manter a estrutura sintática e apenas mudar a entonação.
Objeto   verbo        sujeito
Ele          tem           uma casa?

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Portuguese Word order.

Easy ways to remember.

Boas!
Today we are going to learn about how the Portuguese word order works.
We are also going to learn how you can put words together in order to build sentences and express your thoughts.

As you know, when you speak, you use sounds.

These sounds can be graphically represented by written words.

These words will build sentences.

These sentences have to be placed in a specific order to express your ideas and thoughts.

And this order shows the way you want others to understand you.

The spectacular capacity of your brain allows you to express your thoughts by mouth noises which, when uttered in a particular order, allow you to communicate.

This applies to all spoken languages and obviously Portuguese is no exception.

My point with all of this is to make you think about the way you speak in your own language first.

Then you may realise that when you speak, you convert your thoughts into words which together and in a specific order, allow you to say what you want to say, and want others to understand.

But, if you are thinking that getting used to the correct way of putting words together and making sentences in Portuguese is not an easy task, I have good news for you.

OK, if you read any text in Portuguese or if you listen to a native Portuguese speaker talking, you may notice that sometimes the word order in Portuguese is different than the word order in English. And that's true sometimes.

You may also realise, for instance, that, whereas you say in English "Maria has a beautiful car", a Portuguese native speaker would literally say "Maria has a car beautiful".

I know, I know, this is not always the case. But remember there is a reason for everything.

The good news is that, generally speaking, the structure of a sentence in Portuguese is not much different than the one in English.

You only have to pay attention to specific cases and, at the beginner, pay attention to the kind of sentence you want to use.

The Portuguese word order is Subject (S) > Verb (V)> Object (O).

Then, you just have to link the different small sentences together with clauses to construct your story.

Basically, in order for you to get a good Portuguese word order, you just have to take into account five aspects:

1. If your sentence is a statement.

2. If your sentence is a statement-question
(a statement with a question mark at the end).

3. If your sentence is a direct question
(with a question word at the beginning and a question mark at the end).

4. If your sentence is negative
(with a negative word in it, like "não").

5. If your sentence includes a description of something
(with an adjective).

Can't quite get what I'm saying here? No worries. Let me explain one by one with some examples:

1. If a sentence is a statement.

If your sentence is a statement, you are expressing a fact. Normally you are talking about a specific event. Let's analyse the following sentences in pairs - first the Portuguese and then the English, sentence by sentence. Please compare and contrast the Portuguese word order and the English carefully.

You see, only with these type of sentences you could easily tell a story to somebody, by placing one simple sentence after another using the correct Portuguese word order.

Another interesting thing is, as you can also see, you can use the same Portuguese word order in the present, past and future tenses.

Please be aware that, when speaking in Portuguese, the subject (eu, tu, você, nós, eles, etc.) is often hidden.

This means that the verb itself indicates the subject of that sentence: e.g. " Vamos estudar hoje e amanhã." to say " We are going to study today and tomorrow."

You can also place the adverbs "today" ' "hoje" and "tomorrow" "amanhã" either at the beginning or at the end of your sentence.

Did you get this? Great! Let's jump to the next case.

2. If a sentence is an statement-question
(a statement with a question mark at the end).

If you want to ask a question in Portuguese, the Portuguese word order is exactly the same as when you make a statement. All you have to do is to raise the intonation at the end to make it sound as a question.

Please note however that whereas in English you need to use a verb at the beginning when you ask a question, in Portuguese you don't.

So, if it helps, when you are transferring your thoughts from English into Portuguese try to imagine that you could ask questions in English without the words "do", or "are" or "will", etc. at the beginning of a question:

e.g. in English you would say " Are you (gentlemen) going to schedule a meeting for tomorrow?", but in Portuguese you would say "Os senhores vão marcar a reunião para amanhã?". You start your question with the verb straight away.

In order for you to understand the correct Portuguese word order, let's observe the same phrases as above as examples:

When asking a question out loud, please don't forget to raise the intonation at the end.

OK, did you understand this second rule of the Portuguese word order? Did you get it? Good! Let-s see number three.

3. If a sentence is a direct question
(with a question word at the beginning and a question mark at the end).

In this case, in order for you to get a good Portuguese word order, all you need is a question word at the beginning of your sentence and then a statement.

Let's, once again look at the following examples. Please read them carefully one by one and pay attention to the Portuguese word order.

You see, the Portuguese word order when you ask a question is not very different from the previous explanations.

You basically keep the normal structure that a statement has adding a question word at the beginning, and obviously raising the intonation at the end, when you are speaking.

Bang! Easy! Let-s go for number four.

4. If a sentence is negative
(with the word "não" in it).

If the sentence you want to build is a negative sentence, and I mean a statement a deny (e.g. "I don't like salmon" - "Eu não gosto de salmão"), you need to place the negative word before the verb in order to get a correct Portuguese word order.

Negative words are often " não" (no, don't), " nunca" (never), " nem" (nor).

Nevertheless remember: The word order in Portuguese is still the same:

Subject. (S) > Verb (V)> Object (O).

Let's analyse some more examples of the Portuguese word order:

Do you have everything under control so far? If yes, move on to Portuguese word order rule number five.

5. If a sentence is descriptive
(with an adjective).

Here there is a radical change if you compare both, the Portuguese word order and the English one.

The descriptive word (in other words, the adjective) needs to be placed after the noun all the time.

As I mentioned above whereas in English you place the adjective before the noun, e.g. "Maria has a beautiful car", in Portuguese you need to place the adjective after the noun like "Maria has a car beautiful".

I know! It doesn't sound right when you think in English, but in the Portuguese word order it makes all sense. Believe me!

Also, when it comes to using adjectives (or describing words) in a sentence, you may use more than one.

But let's illustrate this explanation of the Portuguese word order with some examples:

Did you notice that the adjective 1 was placed the other way round compared to English?

Well, this is not big deal either, is it? If you understand this structure, let's jump to the next step to fully understand the Portuguese word order.

Practice all the structures now!

Yes, this is your next step! Don't let yourself be satisfied just by reading this page. Do some practice now.

Try to make up a story with small sentences. Put them together in the negative, asking direct and indirect questions, using adjectives, and so on. Use the correct Portuguese word order now.

Just write sentences down in Portuguese and read them out loud.

You will see that your Portuguese will improve quickly!

If you need to consult the different types of words, click here .

Go Back From Portuguese Word Order To Grammar.

Go Back To Home Page.

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Boas! Today we are going to learn about how the Portuguese word order works. We are also going to learn how you can put words together in order to build sentences and express your thoughts. As you know, when you speak, you use sounds. These sounds can be graphically represented by written words.

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O português tem muitos pronomes. Por exemplo o pronome de primeira pessoa singular é eu. A segunda pessoa é interessante porque o Azendo diz que o tu e voz são os pronomes de segunda pessoa. E interessante porque Brasil não usa muito o tu nem voz, Brasil usa você como diz este articulo.

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"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?)
I turned to my friend in disbelief.

Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"?

More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

I was told that was disrespectful-and it is-but I later found out it was my friend's way of buttering someone up by calling them younger than they were. What a sweet talker ...

Needless to say, she didn't care so much about getting her pronouns right.

You, however, should! Using the wrong pronoun can lead to misunderstandings or worse, offend someone.

So here's everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns and how to use them properly in conversation!

Introduction to Portuguese Pronouns

If you're a foreigner, people will probably forgive you for using the wrong pronoun-but that doesn't always mean they'll understand you. If you're trying to get someone's attention and mean to say "Hey, you!" but instead say "Hey, we!" I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get that person's attention-except, of course, to check why someone's screaming strange pronouns.

The bottom line is this: You need to know your basic personal pronouns to communicate effectively.

But what's a pronoun, you ask? A pronoun is a word that you use to substitute for a noun. The English personal pronouns are "I," "you," "he," "she," "we" and "they."

And why are pronouns necessary, you ask? Pronouns help us avoid repeating the noun a million times, which can get pretty clunky.

Pronouns are one of the most important parts of learning grammar. They describe the noun you're substituting just through their existence. A pronoun can denote the number of the noun being replaced, showing whether it's singular or plural. In English, for example, the singular pronouns are "I," "you," "she" and "he," while the plural ones are "we" and "they."

A pronoun also shows the gender of the noun. In English, the only examples of this are "he" and "she." There's also the neuter pronoun "it," but we'll talk more about it later in this post.

And finally, the pronoun shows the case, which is whether you're referring to the pronoun as the subject or the object in the sentence.

In this post, we're only going to cover the basics and leave the other forms personal pronouns can take for another lesson.

Instead, we'll focus on the subject case of personal pronouns for this lesson.

In Portuguese, there are a couple more pronouns to learn than in English. Luckily, they're pretty straightforward, for the most part!

The first thing you need to know about personal pronouns in Portuguese is that they work pretty much the same as English ones. Now, all you need to do is learn what they are!

If you're more of a visual learner, you can check out pronouns in use thanks to the authentic videos on FluentU. FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. This means you can hear pronouns as they're actually used by real native Portuguese speakers.

A Portuguese learning program is currently in development, so stay tuned for an immersive, authentic way to learn Portuguese, coming soon!

Portuguese Personal Pronouns

Before you get into the details, here are the Portuguese personal pronouns:

I - eu

You - tu, você, senhor, senhora

He - ele

Us - nós

Now, let's break down each of these pronouns.

Because using the word "you" in Portuguese is a little more complicated, we skip over it here and cover it in the next section.

Eu is the only word you use to say "I" in Portuguese. It's the same for both a man and a woman and is in the first person. Here's an example of how you'd use it:

Eu tenho fome. (I'm hungry.)

If you're referencing a masculine noun, you can use the word ele and if you're referring to a feminine one, use ela. These are singular.

To refer to a group of women or a plural noun that's feminine, you use e las. When referring to a plural number of a masculine noun, use eles. If you're referring to a group of both men and women, use eles as well.

Here are some examples of these pronouns in use:

Ela pensou que a festa ía ser hoje. (She thought the party would be today.)

Eles estão correndo bem rápido. (They're [mas. or mixed] running very fast.)

Elas querem festejar! (They [fem.] want to party!)

The equivalent to "we" is pretty simple! Just use nós.

If you want to get into the colloquial and sound like a native, you can say a gente instead of nós. Literally, means "the people," but it's used with the third-person plural of the verb. For example:

How to Say "You" in Portuguese

Here's the slightly more complicated explanation of all the ways to say "you." Since English doesn't differentiate between forms of "you" in the same way as Portuguese, it might be difficult to understand at first. You'll get the hang of it!

Tu is one of two main ways to say "you" in Portuguese.

How and how often tu is used depends on where you are. In Brazil, tu is viewed as formal by some people, but in areas in northeastern and southern Brazil, it's used casually.

In Portugal, people are more likely to use tu when speaking to a younger person or someone they're more familiar with.

So, wherever you go, I'd advise you to ask around about whether they use tu, and in what circumstances!

The other common way to say "you" is você, or its plural equivalent vocês. Again, where you are in the world affects how você is used.

In Brazil, this form is extremely common and is used in everyday conversation.

In Portugal, voc ê is used more formally, such as when you speak to someone who's older than you. And while você means "you," it's used with the third-person singular form of the verb. So instead of saying, você tens (you have) with the second-person singular form of the verb, which is incorrect, you'd say, você tem (you have).

If you want to take it a step further and show respect for your elders, you can use o senhor (sir) or a senhora (miss). You use these words in place of "you," but pair them with the third-person singular verb. For example:

A senhora gostaria de sentar aqui? (Would you [formal] like to sit here?)

The pronoun vós isn't used very much these days, but it's still important to know. It's considered more formal and archaic, but there are people in northern Portugal and northeastern Brazil that might use it in everyday speech.

However, you're more likely to read vós in old texts or historical fiction.

Review

Here's a quick rundown of which pronouns to use in what occasions and places:
Brazil:
Formal: tu, vós, o senhor, a senhora
Portugal:
Formal: você, vocês, vós, o senhor, a senhora

Differences Between English and Portuguese Pronouns

While the main principles of pronouns are the same in English and Portuguese, Portuguese pronouns function more similarly to Spanish pronouns. So, if you know Spanish, you're just a little closer to getting those pronouns right.

But don't worry! everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns is right in this post. Let's start with some differences between English and Portuguese pronouns.

You don't always need to use the pronoun

If it's clear who you're talking to or about, you can omit the pronoun.

This is usually the case when the conjugated verb can indicate who's being talked about. For example, you can say either of these variations:

Eu estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Even though you don't say the pronoun in the second example, the verb tells the listener that you're referring to yourself since it's in the first-person singular form.

At first, it might be hard to get this when you're listening to people talk, but once you get your verb conjugations down, you'll be a pro at understanding what people are saying even without the pronouns.

Third-person pronouns are dummy pronouns

A dummy pronoun is a pronoun that doesn't refer to a specific gender, such as "it" in English. In Portuguese, there's no special word for this; rather, you use ele or ela or the plural.

For example, if you're talking about a dog in English, you might say:

"It ate my homework!"

In Portuguese, you'd say:
Ele comeu minha lição de casa!
Just determine if the noun "it" refers to is feminine or masculine. If it's feminine, use ela and if it's masculine, use ele.

You can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun

Remember before when we talked about using o senhor or a senhora to mean "you"? In a similar vein, you can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun. This is only the case when you're actually talking to that person and it implies the tu or você. It'll be easier to understand once you see some examples:

Oi! Colega, pode me ajudar? (Hey! Classmate, can you help me?)

Pai, quer comida? (Dad, do you want food?)

Let's Practice Portuguese Personal Pronouns!

It's time to put all that information into practice!

Fill in the blanks with the personal pronoun that fits the sentence. Be aware that there may be more than one right answer. Hint: Look at the form of the verb!

1. _____ sou a pessoa mais linda aqui. ( _____ am the most beautiful person here.)

2. _____ quer jantar comigo? (Do _____ want to eat dinner with me?)

3. _____ comprou cinco livros? ( _____ bought five books?)

4. _____ comeram muito hoje. ( _____ ate a lot today.)

5. _____ dormimos na casa da mãe. ( _____ slept in mom's house.)

Don't scroll down yet! Give it your best shot!

Ready?
Here are the answers:
3. Ele/Ela/Você

4. Eles/Elas/Vocês

Tips for Learning Portuguese Pronouns

After reading all that, I'm sure you're close to getting the hang of Portuguese personal pronouns. If you want to keep practicing, here are some ways you can do so!

Online courses: There are a bunch of online courses with pronoun practice out there. You'll probably have to search for the section on pronouns, but it'll give you some extra practice!

Grammar Apps: There are a number of Portuguese learning apps you can try that would help you learn your pronouns in a slower, more step-by-step process.

Speaking practice: And, of course, there's no better way to learn a language than by speaking. You might get it wrong a few times, but that'll help you get it right eventually!

You can always make a cheat-sheet with the basics written on it, and refer to it when you need it. After a few attempts, you can trash that sheet and do it on your own. You'll be surprised at how much you know!

Now that you know how to get personal with Portuguese personal pronouns, get out there and wow everyone with your knowledge!

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online
Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Properly Use Portuguese Personal Pronouns

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?) I turned to my friend in disbelief. Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"? More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?)
I turned to my friend in disbelief.

Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"?

More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

I was told that was disrespectful-and it is-but I later found out it was my friend's way of buttering someone up by calling them younger than they were. What a sweet talker ...

Needless to say, she didn't care so much about getting her pronouns right.

You, however, should! Using the wrong pronoun can lead to misunderstandings or worse, offend someone.

So here's everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns and how to use them properly in conversation!

Introduction to Portuguese Pronouns

If you're a foreigner, people will probably forgive you for using the wrong pronoun-but that doesn't always mean they'll understand you. If you're trying to get someone's attention and mean to say "Hey, you!" but instead say "Hey, we!" I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get that person's attention-except, of course, to check why someone's screaming strange pronouns.

The bottom line is this: You need to know your basic personal pronouns to communicate effectively.

But what's a pronoun, you ask? A pronoun is a word that you use to substitute for a noun. The English personal pronouns are "I," "you," "he," "she," "we" and "they."

And why are pronouns necessary, you ask? Pronouns help us avoid repeating the noun a million times, which can get pretty clunky.

Pronouns are one of the most important parts of learning grammar. They describe the noun you're substituting just through their existence. A pronoun can denote the number of the noun being replaced, showing whether it's singular or plural. In English, for example, the singular pronouns are "I," "you," "she" and "he," while the plural ones are "we" and "they."

A pronoun also shows the gender of the noun. In English, the only examples of this are "he" and "she." There's also the neuter pronoun "it," but we'll talk more about it later in this post.

And finally, the pronoun shows the case, which is whether you're referring to the pronoun as the subject or the object in the sentence.

In this post, we're only going to cover the basics and leave the other forms personal pronouns can take for another lesson.

Instead, we'll focus on the subject case of personal pronouns for this lesson.

In Portuguese, there are a couple more pronouns to learn than in English. Luckily, they're pretty straightforward, for the most part!

The first thing you need to know about personal pronouns in Portuguese is that they work pretty much the same as English ones. Now, all you need to do is learn what they are!

If you're more of a visual learner, you can check out pronouns in use thanks to the authentic videos on FluentU. FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. This means you can hear pronouns as they're actually used by real native Portuguese speakers.

A Portuguese learning program is currently in development, so stay tuned for an immersive, authentic way to learn Portuguese, coming soon!

Portuguese Personal Pronouns

Before you get into the details, here are the Portuguese personal pronouns:

I - eu

You - tu, você, senhor, senhora

He - ele

Us - nós

Now, let's break down each of these pronouns.

Because using the word "you" in Portuguese is a little more complicated, we skip over it here and cover it in the next section.

Eu is the only word you use to say "I" in Portuguese. It's the same for both a man and a woman and is in the first person. Here's an example of how you'd use it:

Eu tenho fome. (I'm hungry.)

If you're referencing a masculine noun, you can use the word ele and if you're referring to a feminine one, use ela. These are singular.

To refer to a group of women or a plural noun that's feminine, you use e las. When referring to a plural number of a masculine noun, use eles. If you're referring to a group of both men and women, use eles as well.

Here are some examples of these pronouns in use:

Ela pensou que a festa ía ser hoje. (She thought the party would be today.)

Eles estão correndo bem rápido. (They're [mas. or mixed] running very fast.)

Elas querem festejar! (They [fem.] want to party!)

The equivalent to "we" is pretty simple! Just use nós.

If you want to get into the colloquial and sound like a native, you can say a gente instead of nós. Literally, means "the people," but it's used with the third-person plural of the verb. For example:

How to Say "You" in Portuguese

Here's the slightly more complicated explanation of all the ways to say "you." Since English doesn't differentiate between forms of "you" in the same way as Portuguese, it might be difficult to understand at first. You'll get the hang of it!

Tu is one of two main ways to say "you" in Portuguese.

How and how often tu is used depends on where you are. In Brazil, tu is viewed as formal by some people, but in areas in northeastern and southern Brazil, it's used casually.

In Portugal, people are more likely to use tu when speaking to a younger person or someone they're more familiar with.

So, wherever you go, I'd advise you to ask around about whether they use tu, and in what circumstances!

The other common way to say "you" is você, or its plural equivalent vocês. Again, where you are in the world affects how você is used.

In Brazil, this form is extremely common and is used in everyday conversation.

In Portugal, voc ê is used more formally, such as when you speak to someone who's older than you. And while você means "you," it's used with the third-person singular form of the verb. So instead of saying, você tens (you have) with the second-person singular form of the verb, which is incorrect, you'd say, você tem (you have).

If you want to take it a step further and show respect for your elders, you can use o senhor (sir) or a senhora (miss). You use these words in place of "you," but pair them with the third-person singular verb. For example:

A senhora gostaria de sentar aqui? (Would you [formal] like to sit here?)

The pronoun vós isn't used very much these days, but it's still important to know. It's considered more formal and archaic, but there are people in northern Portugal and northeastern Brazil that might use it in everyday speech.

However, you're more likely to read vós in old texts or historical fiction.

Review

Here's a quick rundown of which pronouns to use in what occasions and places:
Brazil:
Formal: tu, vós, o senhor, a senhora
Portugal:
Formal: você, vocês, vós, o senhor, a senhora

Differences Between English and Portuguese Pronouns

While the main principles of pronouns are the same in English and Portuguese, Portuguese pronouns function more similarly to Spanish pronouns. So, if you know Spanish, you're just a little closer to getting those pronouns right.

But don't worry! everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns is right in this post. Let's start with some differences between English and Portuguese pronouns.

You don't always need to use the pronoun

If it's clear who you're talking to or about, you can omit the pronoun.

This is usually the case when the conjugated verb can indicate who's being talked about. For example, you can say either of these variations:

Eu estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Even though you don't say the pronoun in the second example, the verb tells the listener that you're referring to yourself since it's in the first-person singular form.

At first, it might be hard to get this when you're listening to people talk, but once you get your verb conjugations down, you'll be a pro at understanding what people are saying even without the pronouns.

Third-person pronouns are dummy pronouns

A dummy pronoun is a pronoun that doesn't refer to a specific gender, such as "it" in English. In Portuguese, there's no special word for this; rather, you use ele or ela or the plural.

For example, if you're talking about a dog in English, you might say:

"It ate my homework!"

In Portuguese, you'd say:
Ele comeu minha lição de casa!
Just determine if the noun "it" refers to is feminine or masculine. If it's feminine, use ela and if it's masculine, use ele.

You can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun

Remember before when we talked about using o senhor or a senhora to mean "you"? In a similar vein, you can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun. This is only the case when you're actually talking to that person and it implies the tu or você. It'll be easier to understand once you see some examples:

Oi! Colega, pode me ajudar? (Hey! Classmate, can you help me?)

Pai, quer comida? (Dad, do you want food?)

Let's Practice Portuguese Personal Pronouns!

It's time to put all that information into practice!

Fill in the blanks with the personal pronoun that fits the sentence. Be aware that there may be more than one right answer. Hint: Look at the form of the verb!

1. _____ sou a pessoa mais linda aqui. ( _____ am the most beautiful person here.)

2. _____ quer jantar comigo? (Do _____ want to eat dinner with me?)

3. _____ comprou cinco livros? ( _____ bought five books?)

4. _____ comeram muito hoje. ( _____ ate a lot today.)

5. _____ dormimos na casa da mãe. ( _____ slept in mom's house.)

Don't scroll down yet! Give it your best shot!

Ready?
Here are the answers:
3. Ele/Ela/Você

4. Eles/Elas/Vocês

Tips for Learning Portuguese Pronouns

After reading all that, I'm sure you're close to getting the hang of Portuguese personal pronouns. If you want to keep practicing, here are some ways you can do so!

Online courses: There are a bunch of online courses with pronoun practice out there. You'll probably have to search for the section on pronouns, but it'll give you some extra practice!

Grammar Apps: There are a number of Portuguese learning apps you can try that would help you learn your pronouns in a slower, more step-by-step process.

Speaking practice: And, of course, there's no better way to learn a language than by speaking. You might get it wrong a few times, but that'll help you get it right eventually!

You can always make a cheat-sheet with the basics written on it, and refer to it when you need it. After a few attempts, you can trash that sheet and do it on your own. You'll be surprised at how much you know!

Now that you know how to get personal with Portuguese personal pronouns, get out there and wow everyone with your knowledge!

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online
Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Properly Use Portuguese Personal Pronouns

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?) I turned to my friend in disbelief. Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"? More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?)
I turned to my friend in disbelief.

Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"?

More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

I was told that was disrespectful-and it is-but I later found out it was my friend's way of buttering someone up by calling them younger than they were. What a sweet talker ...

Needless to say, she didn't care so much about getting her pronouns right.

You, however, should! Using the wrong pronoun can lead to misunderstandings or worse, offend someone.

So here's everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns and how to use them properly in conversation!

Introduction to Portuguese Pronouns

If you're a foreigner, people will probably forgive you for using the wrong pronoun-but that doesn't always mean they'll understand you. If you're trying to get someone's attention and mean to say "Hey, you!" but instead say "Hey, we!" I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get that person's attention-except, of course, to check why someone's screaming strange pronouns.

The bottom line is this: You need to know your basic personal pronouns to communicate effectively.

But what's a pronoun, you ask? A pronoun is a word that you use to substitute for a noun. The English personal pronouns are "I," "you," "he," "she," "we" and "they."

And why are pronouns necessary, you ask? Pronouns help us avoid repeating the noun a million times, which can get pretty clunky.

Pronouns are one of the most important parts of learning grammar. They describe the noun you're substituting just through their existence. A pronoun can denote the number of the noun being replaced, showing whether it's singular or plural. In English, for example, the singular pronouns are "I," "you," "she" and "he," while the plural ones are "we" and "they."

A pronoun also shows the gender of the noun. In English, the only examples of this are "he" and "she." There's also the neuter pronoun "it," but we'll talk more about it later in this post.

And finally, the pronoun shows the case, which is whether you're referring to the pronoun as the subject or the object in the sentence.

In this post, we're only going to cover the basics and leave the other forms personal pronouns can take for another lesson.

Instead, we'll focus on the subject case of personal pronouns for this lesson.

In Portuguese, there are a couple more pronouns to learn than in English. Luckily, they're pretty straightforward, for the most part!

The first thing you need to know about personal pronouns in Portuguese is that they work pretty much the same as English ones. Now, all you need to do is learn what they are!

If you're more of a visual learner, you can check out pronouns in use thanks to the authentic videos on FluentU. FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. This means you can hear pronouns as they're actually used by real native Portuguese speakers.

A Portuguese learning program is currently in development, so stay tuned for an immersive, authentic way to learn Portuguese, coming soon!

Portuguese Personal Pronouns

Before you get into the details, here are the Portuguese personal pronouns:

I - eu

You - tu, você, senhor, senhora

He - ele

Us - nós

Now, let's break down each of these pronouns.

Because using the word "you" in Portuguese is a little more complicated, we skip over it here and cover it in the next section.

Eu is the only word you use to say "I" in Portuguese. It's the same for both a man and a woman and is in the first person. Here's an example of how you'd use it:

Eu tenho fome. (I'm hungry.)

If you're referencing a masculine noun, you can use the word ele and if you're referring to a feminine one, use ela. These are singular.

To refer to a group of women or a plural noun that's feminine, you use e las. When referring to a plural number of a masculine noun, use eles. If you're referring to a group of both men and women, use eles as well.

Here are some examples of these pronouns in use:

Ela pensou que a festa ía ser hoje. (She thought the party would be today.)

Eles estão correndo bem rápido. (They're [mas. or mixed] running very fast.)

Elas querem festejar! (They [fem.] want to party!)

The equivalent to "we" is pretty simple! Just use nós.

If you want to get into the colloquial and sound like a native, you can say a gente instead of nós. Literally, means "the people," but it's used with the third-person plural of the verb. For example:

How to Say "You" in Portuguese

Here's the slightly more complicated explanation of all the ways to say "you." Since English doesn't differentiate between forms of "you" in the same way as Portuguese, it might be difficult to understand at first. You'll get the hang of it!

Tu is one of two main ways to say "you" in Portuguese.

How and how often tu is used depends on where you are. In Brazil, tu is viewed as formal by some people, but in areas in northeastern and southern Brazil, it's used casually.

In Portugal, people are more likely to use tu when speaking to a younger person or someone they're more familiar with.

So, wherever you go, I'd advise you to ask around about whether they use tu, and in what circumstances!

The other common way to say "you" is você, or its plural equivalent vocês. Again, where you are in the world affects how você is used.

In Brazil, this form is extremely common and is used in everyday conversation.

In Portugal, voc ê is used more formally, such as when you speak to someone who's older than you. And while você means "you," it's used with the third-person singular form of the verb. So instead of saying, você tens (you have) with the second-person singular form of the verb, which is incorrect, you'd say, você tem (you have).

If you want to take it a step further and show respect for your elders, you can use o senhor (sir) or a senhora (miss). You use these words in place of "you," but pair them with the third-person singular verb. For example:

A senhora gostaria de sentar aqui? (Would you [formal] like to sit here?)

The pronoun vós isn't used very much these days, but it's still important to know. It's considered more formal and archaic, but there are people in northern Portugal and northeastern Brazil that might use it in everyday speech.

However, you're more likely to read vós in old texts or historical fiction.

Review

Here's a quick rundown of which pronouns to use in what occasions and places:
Brazil:
Formal: tu, vós, o senhor, a senhora
Portugal:
Formal: você, vocês, vós, o senhor, a senhora

Differences Between English and Portuguese Pronouns

While the main principles of pronouns are the same in English and Portuguese, Portuguese pronouns function more similarly to Spanish pronouns. So, if you know Spanish, you're just a little closer to getting those pronouns right.

But don't worry! everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns is right in this post. Let's start with some differences between English and Portuguese pronouns.

You don't always need to use the pronoun

If it's clear who you're talking to or about, you can omit the pronoun.

This is usually the case when the conjugated verb can indicate who's being talked about. For example, you can say either of these variations:

Eu estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Even though you don't say the pronoun in the second example, the verb tells the listener that you're referring to yourself since it's in the first-person singular form.

At first, it might be hard to get this when you're listening to people talk, but once you get your verb conjugations down, you'll be a pro at understanding what people are saying even without the pronouns.

Third-person pronouns are dummy pronouns

A dummy pronoun is a pronoun that doesn't refer to a specific gender, such as "it" in English. In Portuguese, there's no special word for this; rather, you use ele or ela or the plural.

For example, if you're talking about a dog in English, you might say:

"It ate my homework!"

In Portuguese, you'd say:
Ele comeu minha lição de casa!
Just determine if the noun "it" refers to is feminine or masculine. If it's feminine, use ela and if it's masculine, use ele.

You can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun

Remember before when we talked about using o senhor or a senhora to mean "you"? In a similar vein, you can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun. This is only the case when you're actually talking to that person and it implies the tu or você. It'll be easier to understand once you see some examples:

Oi! Colega, pode me ajudar? (Hey! Classmate, can you help me?)

Pai, quer comida? (Dad, do you want food?)

Let's Practice Portuguese Personal Pronouns!

It's time to put all that information into practice!

Fill in the blanks with the personal pronoun that fits the sentence. Be aware that there may be more than one right answer. Hint: Look at the form of the verb!

1. _____ sou a pessoa mais linda aqui. ( _____ am the most beautiful person here.)

2. _____ quer jantar comigo? (Do _____ want to eat dinner with me?)

3. _____ comprou cinco livros? ( _____ bought five books?)

4. _____ comeram muito hoje. ( _____ ate a lot today.)

5. _____ dormimos na casa da mãe. ( _____ slept in mom's house.)

Don't scroll down yet! Give it your best shot!

Ready?
Here are the answers:
3. Ele/Ela/Você

4. Eles/Elas/Vocês

Tips for Learning Portuguese Pronouns

After reading all that, I'm sure you're close to getting the hang of Portuguese personal pronouns. If you want to keep practicing, here are some ways you can do so!

Online courses: There are a bunch of online courses with pronoun practice out there. You'll probably have to search for the section on pronouns, but it'll give you some extra practice!

Grammar Apps: There are a number of Portuguese learning apps you can try that would help you learn your pronouns in a slower, more step-by-step process.

Speaking practice: And, of course, there's no better way to learn a language than by speaking. You might get it wrong a few times, but that'll help you get it right eventually!

You can always make a cheat-sheet with the basics written on it, and refer to it when you need it. After a few attempts, you can trash that sheet and do it on your own. You'll be surprised at how much you know!

Now that you know how to get personal with Portuguese personal pronouns, get out there and wow everyone with your knowledge!

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online
Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Properly Use Portuguese Personal Pronouns

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?) I turned to my friend in disbelief. Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"? More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?)
I turned to my friend in disbelief.

Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"?

More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

I was told that was disrespectful-and it is-but I later found out it was my friend's way of buttering someone up by calling them younger than they were. What a sweet talker ...

Needless to say, she didn't care so much about getting her pronouns right.

You, however, should! Using the wrong pronoun can lead to misunderstandings or worse, offend someone.

So here's everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns and how to use them properly in conversation!

Introduction to Portuguese Pronouns

If you're a foreigner, people will probably forgive you for using the wrong pronoun-but that doesn't always mean they'll understand you. If you're trying to get someone's attention and mean to say "Hey, you!" but instead say "Hey, we!" I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get that person's attention-except, of course, to check why someone's screaming strange pronouns.

The bottom line is this: You need to know your basic personal pronouns to communicate effectively.

But what's a pronoun, you ask? A pronoun is a word that you use to substitute for a noun. The English personal pronouns are "I," "you," "he," "she," "we" and "they."

And why are pronouns necessary, you ask? Pronouns help us avoid repeating the noun a million times, which can get pretty clunky.

Pronouns are one of the most important parts of learning grammar. They describe the noun you're substituting just through their existence. A pronoun can denote the number of the noun being replaced, showing whether it's singular or plural. In English, for example, the singular pronouns are "I," "you," "she" and "he," while the plural ones are "we" and "they."

A pronoun also shows the gender of the noun. In English, the only examples of this are "he" and "she." There's also the neuter pronoun "it," but we'll talk more about it later in this post.

And finally, the pronoun shows the case, which is whether you're referring to the pronoun as the subject or the object in the sentence.

In this post, we're only going to cover the basics and leave the other forms personal pronouns can take for another lesson.

Instead, we'll focus on the subject case of personal pronouns for this lesson.

In Portuguese, there are a couple more pronouns to learn than in English. Luckily, they're pretty straightforward, for the most part!

The first thing you need to know about personal pronouns in Portuguese is that they work pretty much the same as English ones. Now, all you need to do is learn what they are!

If you're more of a visual learner, you can check out pronouns in use thanks to the authentic videos on FluentU. FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. This means you can hear pronouns as they're actually used by real native Portuguese speakers.

A Portuguese learning program is currently in development, so stay tuned for an immersive, authentic way to learn Portuguese, coming soon!

Portuguese Personal Pronouns

Before you get into the details, here are the Portuguese personal pronouns:

I - eu

You - tu, você, senhor, senhora

He - ele

Us - nós

Now, let's break down each of these pronouns.

Because using the word "you" in Portuguese is a little more complicated, we skip over it here and cover it in the next section.

Eu is the only word you use to say "I" in Portuguese. It's the same for both a man and a woman and is in the first person. Here's an example of how you'd use it:

Eu tenho fome. (I'm hungry.)

If you're referencing a masculine noun, you can use the word ele and if you're referring to a feminine one, use ela. These are singular.

To refer to a group of women or a plural noun that's feminine, you use e las. When referring to a plural number of a masculine noun, use eles. If you're referring to a group of both men and women, use eles as well.

Here are some examples of these pronouns in use:

Ela pensou que a festa ía ser hoje. (She thought the party would be today.)

Eles estão correndo bem rápido. (They're [mas. or mixed] running very fast.)

Elas querem festejar! (They [fem.] want to party!)

The equivalent to "we" is pretty simple! Just use nós.

If you want to get into the colloquial and sound like a native, you can say a gente instead of nós. Literally, means "the people," but it's used with the third-person plural of the verb. For example:

How to Say "You" in Portuguese

Here's the slightly more complicated explanation of all the ways to say "you." Since English doesn't differentiate between forms of "you" in the same way as Portuguese, it might be difficult to understand at first. You'll get the hang of it!

Tu is one of two main ways to say "you" in Portuguese.

How and how often tu is used depends on where you are. In Brazil, tu is viewed as formal by some people, but in areas in northeastern and southern Brazil, it's used casually.

In Portugal, people are more likely to use tu when speaking to a younger person or someone they're more familiar with.

So, wherever you go, I'd advise you to ask around about whether they use tu, and in what circumstances!

The other common way to say "you" is você, or its plural equivalent vocês. Again, where you are in the world affects how você is used.

In Brazil, this form is extremely common and is used in everyday conversation.

In Portugal, voc ê is used more formally, such as when you speak to someone who's older than you. And while você means "you," it's used with the third-person singular form of the verb. So instead of saying, você tens (you have) with the second-person singular form of the verb, which is incorrect, you'd say, você tem (you have).

If you want to take it a step further and show respect for your elders, you can use o senhor (sir) or a senhora (miss). You use these words in place of "you," but pair them with the third-person singular verb. For example:

A senhora gostaria de sentar aqui? (Would you [formal] like to sit here?)

The pronoun vós isn't used very much these days, but it's still important to know. It's considered more formal and archaic, but there are people in northern Portugal and northeastern Brazil that might use it in everyday speech.

However, you're more likely to read vós in old texts or historical fiction.

Review

Here's a quick rundown of which pronouns to use in what occasions and places:
Brazil:
Formal: tu, vós, o senhor, a senhora
Portugal:
Formal: você, vocês, vós, o senhor, a senhora

Differences Between English and Portuguese Pronouns

While the main principles of pronouns are the same in English and Portuguese, Portuguese pronouns function more similarly to Spanish pronouns. So, if you know Spanish, you're just a little closer to getting those pronouns right.

But don't worry! everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns is right in this post. Let's start with some differences between English and Portuguese pronouns.

You don't always need to use the pronoun

If it's clear who you're talking to or about, you can omit the pronoun.

This is usually the case when the conjugated verb can indicate who's being talked about. For example, you can say either of these variations:

Eu estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Even though you don't say the pronoun in the second example, the verb tells the listener that you're referring to yourself since it's in the first-person singular form.

At first, it might be hard to get this when you're listening to people talk, but once you get your verb conjugations down, you'll be a pro at understanding what people are saying even without the pronouns.

Third-person pronouns are dummy pronouns

A dummy pronoun is a pronoun that doesn't refer to a specific gender, such as "it" in English. In Portuguese, there's no special word for this; rather, you use ele or ela or the plural.

For example, if you're talking about a dog in English, you might say:

"It ate my homework!"

In Portuguese, you'd say:
Ele comeu minha lição de casa!
Just determine if the noun "it" refers to is feminine or masculine. If it's feminine, use ela and if it's masculine, use ele.

You can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun

Remember before when we talked about using o senhor or a senhora to mean "you"? In a similar vein, you can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun. This is only the case when you're actually talking to that person and it implies the tu or você. It'll be easier to understand once you see some examples:

Oi! Colega, pode me ajudar? (Hey! Classmate, can you help me?)

Pai, quer comida? (Dad, do you want food?)

Let's Practice Portuguese Personal Pronouns!

It's time to put all that information into practice!

Fill in the blanks with the personal pronoun that fits the sentence. Be aware that there may be more than one right answer. Hint: Look at the form of the verb!

1. _____ sou a pessoa mais linda aqui. ( _____ am the most beautiful person here.)

2. _____ quer jantar comigo? (Do _____ want to eat dinner with me?)

3. _____ comprou cinco livros? ( _____ bought five books?)

4. _____ comeram muito hoje. ( _____ ate a lot today.)

5. _____ dormimos na casa da mãe. ( _____ slept in mom's house.)

Don't scroll down yet! Give it your best shot!

Ready?
Here are the answers:
3. Ele/Ela/Você

4. Eles/Elas/Vocês

Tips for Learning Portuguese Pronouns

After reading all that, I'm sure you're close to getting the hang of Portuguese personal pronouns. If you want to keep practicing, here are some ways you can do so!

Online courses: There are a bunch of online courses with pronoun practice out there. You'll probably have to search for the section on pronouns, but it'll give you some extra practice!

Grammar Apps: There are a number of Portuguese learning apps you can try that would help you learn your pronouns in a slower, more step-by-step process.

Speaking practice: And, of course, there's no better way to learn a language than by speaking. You might get it wrong a few times, but that'll help you get it right eventually!

You can always make a cheat-sheet with the basics written on it, and refer to it when you need it. After a few attempts, you can trash that sheet and do it on your own. You'll be surprised at how much you know!

Now that you know how to get personal with Portuguese personal pronouns, get out there and wow everyone with your knowledge!

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online
Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Properly Use Portuguese Personal Pronouns

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?) I turned to my friend in disbelief. Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"? More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?)
I turned to my friend in disbelief.

Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"?

More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

I was told that was disrespectful-and it is-but I later found out it was my friend's way of buttering someone up by calling them younger than they were. What a sweet talker ...

Needless to say, she didn't care so much about getting her pronouns right.

You, however, should! Using the wrong pronoun can lead to misunderstandings or worse, offend someone.

So here's everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns and how to use them properly in conversation!

Introduction to Portuguese Pronouns

If you're a foreigner, people will probably forgive you for using the wrong pronoun-but that doesn't always mean they'll understand you. If you're trying to get someone's attention and mean to say "Hey, you!" but instead say "Hey, we!" I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get that person's attention-except, of course, to check why someone's screaming strange pronouns.

The bottom line is this: You need to know your basic personal pronouns to communicate effectively.

But what's a pronoun, you ask? A pronoun is a word that you use to substitute for a noun. The English personal pronouns are "I," "you," "he," "she," "we" and "they."

And why are pronouns necessary, you ask? Pronouns help us avoid repeating the noun a million times, which can get pretty clunky.

Pronouns are one of the most important parts of learning grammar. They describe the noun you're substituting just through their existence. A pronoun can denote the number of the noun being replaced, showing whether it's singular or plural. In English, for example, the singular pronouns are "I," "you," "she" and "he," while the plural ones are "we" and "they."

A pronoun also shows the gender of the noun. In English, the only examples of this are "he" and "she." There's also the neuter pronoun "it," but we'll talk more about it later in this post.

And finally, the pronoun shows the case, which is whether you're referring to the pronoun as the subject or the object in the sentence.

In this post, we're only going to cover the basics and leave the other forms personal pronouns can take for another lesson.

Instead, we'll focus on the subject case of personal pronouns for this lesson.

In Portuguese, there are a couple more pronouns to learn than in English. Luckily, they're pretty straightforward, for the most part!

The first thing you need to know about personal pronouns in Portuguese is that they work pretty much the same as English ones. Now, all you need to do is learn what they are!

If you're more of a visual learner, you can check out pronouns in use thanks to the authentic videos on FluentU. FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. This means you can hear pronouns as they're actually used by real native Portuguese speakers.

A Portuguese learning program is currently in development, so stay tuned for an immersive, authentic way to learn Portuguese, coming soon!

Portuguese Personal Pronouns

Before you get into the details, here are the Portuguese personal pronouns:

I - eu

You - tu, você, senhor, senhora

He - ele

Us - nós

Now, let's break down each of these pronouns.

Because using the word "you" in Portuguese is a little more complicated, we skip over it here and cover it in the next section.

Eu is the only word you use to say "I" in Portuguese. It's the same for both a man and a woman and is in the first person. Here's an example of how you'd use it:

Eu tenho fome. (I'm hungry.)

If you're referencing a masculine noun, you can use the word ele and if you're referring to a feminine one, use ela. These are singular.

To refer to a group of women or a plural noun that's feminine, you use e las. When referring to a plural number of a masculine noun, use eles. If you're referring to a group of both men and women, use eles as well.

Here are some examples of these pronouns in use:

Ela pensou que a festa ía ser hoje. (She thought the party would be today.)

Eles estão correndo bem rápido. (They're [mas. or mixed] running very fast.)

Elas querem festejar! (They [fem.] want to party!)

The equivalent to "we" is pretty simple! Just use nós.

If you want to get into the colloquial and sound like a native, you can say a gente instead of nós. Literally, means "the people," but it's used with the third-person plural of the verb. For example:

How to Say "You" in Portuguese

Here's the slightly more complicated explanation of all the ways to say "you." Since English doesn't differentiate between forms of "you" in the same way as Portuguese, it might be difficult to understand at first. You'll get the hang of it!

Tu is one of two main ways to say "you" in Portuguese.

How and how often tu is used depends on where you are. In Brazil, tu is viewed as formal by some people, but in areas in northeastern and southern Brazil, it's used casually.

In Portugal, people are more likely to use tu when speaking to a younger person or someone they're more familiar with.

So, wherever you go, I'd advise you to ask around about whether they use tu, and in what circumstances!

The other common way to say "you" is você, or its plural equivalent vocês. Again, where you are in the world affects how você is used.

In Brazil, this form is extremely common and is used in everyday conversation.

In Portugal, voc ê is used more formally, such as when you speak to someone who's older than you. And while você means "you," it's used with the third-person singular form of the verb. So instead of saying, você tens (you have) with the second-person singular form of the verb, which is incorrect, you'd say, você tem (you have).

If you want to take it a step further and show respect for your elders, you can use o senhor (sir) or a senhora (miss). You use these words in place of "you," but pair them with the third-person singular verb. For example:

A senhora gostaria de sentar aqui? (Would you [formal] like to sit here?)

The pronoun vós isn't used very much these days, but it's still important to know. It's considered more formal and archaic, but there are people in northern Portugal and northeastern Brazil that might use it in everyday speech.

However, you're more likely to read vós in old texts or historical fiction.

Review

Here's a quick rundown of which pronouns to use in what occasions and places:
Brazil:
Formal: tu, vós, o senhor, a senhora
Portugal:
Formal: você, vocês, vós, o senhor, a senhora

Differences Between English and Portuguese Pronouns

While the main principles of pronouns are the same in English and Portuguese, Portuguese pronouns function more similarly to Spanish pronouns. So, if you know Spanish, you're just a little closer to getting those pronouns right.

But don't worry! everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns is right in this post. Let's start with some differences between English and Portuguese pronouns.

You don't always need to use the pronoun

If it's clear who you're talking to or about, you can omit the pronoun.

This is usually the case when the conjugated verb can indicate who's being talked about. For example, you can say either of these variations:

Eu estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Even though you don't say the pronoun in the second example, the verb tells the listener that you're referring to yourself since it's in the first-person singular form.

At first, it might be hard to get this when you're listening to people talk, but once you get your verb conjugations down, you'll be a pro at understanding what people are saying even without the pronouns.

Third-person pronouns are dummy pronouns

A dummy pronoun is a pronoun that doesn't refer to a specific gender, such as "it" in English. In Portuguese, there's no special word for this; rather, you use ele or ela or the plural.

For example, if you're talking about a dog in English, you might say:

"It ate my homework!"

In Portuguese, you'd say:
Ele comeu minha lição de casa!
Just determine if the noun "it" refers to is feminine or masculine. If it's feminine, use ela and if it's masculine, use ele.

You can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun

Remember before when we talked about using o senhor or a senhora to mean "you"? In a similar vein, you can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun. This is only the case when you're actually talking to that person and it implies the tu or você. It'll be easier to understand once you see some examples:

Oi! Colega, pode me ajudar? (Hey! Classmate, can you help me?)

Pai, quer comida? (Dad, do you want food?)

Let's Practice Portuguese Personal Pronouns!

It's time to put all that information into practice!

Fill in the blanks with the personal pronoun that fits the sentence. Be aware that there may be more than one right answer. Hint: Look at the form of the verb!

1. _____ sou a pessoa mais linda aqui. ( _____ am the most beautiful person here.)

2. _____ quer jantar comigo? (Do _____ want to eat dinner with me?)

3. _____ comprou cinco livros? ( _____ bought five books?)

4. _____ comeram muito hoje. ( _____ ate a lot today.)

5. _____ dormimos na casa da mãe. ( _____ slept in mom's house.)

Don't scroll down yet! Give it your best shot!

Ready?
Here are the answers:
3. Ele/Ela/Você

4. Eles/Elas/Vocês

Tips for Learning Portuguese Pronouns

After reading all that, I'm sure you're close to getting the hang of Portuguese personal pronouns. If you want to keep practicing, here are some ways you can do so!

Online courses: There are a bunch of online courses with pronoun practice out there. You'll probably have to search for the section on pronouns, but it'll give you some extra practice!

Grammar Apps: There are a number of Portuguese learning apps you can try that would help you learn your pronouns in a slower, more step-by-step process.

Speaking practice: And, of course, there's no better way to learn a language than by speaking. You might get it wrong a few times, but that'll help you get it right eventually!

You can always make a cheat-sheet with the basics written on it, and refer to it when you need it. After a few attempts, you can trash that sheet and do it on your own. You'll be surprised at how much you know!

Now that you know how to get personal with Portuguese personal pronouns, get out there and wow everyone with your knowledge!

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online
Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Properly Use Portuguese Personal Pronouns

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?) I turned to my friend in disbelief. Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"? More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?)
I turned to my friend in disbelief.

Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"?

More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

I was told that was disrespectful-and it is-but I later found out it was my friend's way of buttering someone up by calling them younger than they were. What a sweet talker ...

Needless to say, she didn't care so much about getting her pronouns right.

You, however, should! Using the wrong pronoun can lead to misunderstandings or worse, offend someone.

So here's everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns and how to use them properly in conversation!

Introduction to Portuguese Pronouns

If you're a foreigner, people will probably forgive you for using the wrong pronoun-but that doesn't always mean they'll understand you. If you're trying to get someone's attention and mean to say "Hey, you!" but instead say "Hey, we!" I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get that person's attention-except, of course, to check why someone's screaming strange pronouns.

The bottom line is this: You need to know your basic personal pronouns to communicate effectively.

But what's a pronoun, you ask? A pronoun is a word that you use to substitute for a noun. The English personal pronouns are "I," "you," "he," "she," "we" and "they."

And why are pronouns necessary, you ask? Pronouns help us avoid repeating the noun a million times, which can get pretty clunky.

Pronouns are one of the most important parts of learning grammar. They describe the noun you're substituting just through their existence. A pronoun can denote the number of the noun being replaced, showing whether it's singular or plural. In English, for example, the singular pronouns are "I," "you," "she" and "he," while the plural ones are "we" and "they."

A pronoun also shows the gender of the noun. In English, the only examples of this are "he" and "she." There's also the neuter pronoun "it," but we'll talk more about it later in this post.

And finally, the pronoun shows the case, which is whether you're referring to the pronoun as the subject or the object in the sentence.

In this post, we're only going to cover the basics and leave the other forms personal pronouns can take for another lesson.

Instead, we'll focus on the subject case of personal pronouns for this lesson.

In Portuguese, there are a couple more pronouns to learn than in English. Luckily, they're pretty straightforward, for the most part!

The first thing you need to know about personal pronouns in Portuguese is that they work pretty much the same as English ones. Now, all you need to do is learn what they are!

If you're more of a visual learner, you can check out pronouns in use thanks to the authentic videos on FluentU. FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. This means you can hear pronouns as they're actually used by real native Portuguese speakers.

A Portuguese learning program is currently in development, so stay tuned for an immersive, authentic way to learn Portuguese, coming soon!

Portuguese Personal Pronouns

Before you get into the details, here are the Portuguese personal pronouns:

I - eu

You - tu, você, senhor, senhora

He - ele

Us - nós

Now, let's break down each of these pronouns.

Because using the word "you" in Portuguese is a little more complicated, we skip over it here and cover it in the next section.

Eu is the only word you use to say "I" in Portuguese. It's the same for both a man and a woman and is in the first person. Here's an example of how you'd use it:

Eu tenho fome. (I'm hungry.)

If you're referencing a masculine noun, you can use the word ele and if you're referring to a feminine one, use ela. These are singular.

To refer to a group of women or a plural noun that's feminine, you use e las. When referring to a plural number of a masculine noun, use eles. If you're referring to a group of both men and women, use eles as well.

Here are some examples of these pronouns in use:

Ela pensou que a festa ía ser hoje. (She thought the party would be today.)

Eles estão correndo bem rápido. (They're [mas. or mixed] running very fast.)

Elas querem festejar! (They [fem.] want to party!)

The equivalent to "we" is pretty simple! Just use nós.

If you want to get into the colloquial and sound like a native, you can say a gente instead of nós. Literally, means "the people," but it's used with the third-person plural of the verb. For example:

How to Say "You" in Portuguese

Here's the slightly more complicated explanation of all the ways to say "you." Since English doesn't differentiate between forms of "you" in the same way as Portuguese, it might be difficult to understand at first. You'll get the hang of it!

Tu is one of two main ways to say "you" in Portuguese.

How and how often tu is used depends on where you are. In Brazil, tu is viewed as formal by some people, but in areas in northeastern and southern Brazil, it's used casually.

In Portugal, people are more likely to use tu when speaking to a younger person or someone they're more familiar with.

So, wherever you go, I'd advise you to ask around about whether they use tu, and in what circumstances!

The other common way to say "you" is você, or its plural equivalent vocês. Again, where you are in the world affects how você is used.

In Brazil, this form is extremely common and is used in everyday conversation.

In Portugal, voc ê is used more formally, such as when you speak to someone who's older than you. And while você means "you," it's used with the third-person singular form of the verb. So instead of saying, você tens (you have) with the second-person singular form of the verb, which is incorrect, you'd say, você tem (you have).

If you want to take it a step further and show respect for your elders, you can use o senhor (sir) or a senhora (miss). You use these words in place of "you," but pair them with the third-person singular verb. For example:

A senhora gostaria de sentar aqui? (Would you [formal] like to sit here?)

The pronoun vós isn't used very much these days, but it's still important to know. It's considered more formal and archaic, but there are people in northern Portugal and northeastern Brazil that might use it in everyday speech.

However, you're more likely to read vós in old texts or historical fiction.

Review

Here's a quick rundown of which pronouns to use in what occasions and places:
Brazil:
Formal: tu, vós, o senhor, a senhora
Portugal:
Formal: você, vocês, vós, o senhor, a senhora

Differences Between English and Portuguese Pronouns

While the main principles of pronouns are the same in English and Portuguese, Portuguese pronouns function more similarly to Spanish pronouns. So, if you know Spanish, you're just a little closer to getting those pronouns right.

But don't worry! everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns is right in this post. Let's start with some differences between English and Portuguese pronouns.

You don't always need to use the pronoun

If it's clear who you're talking to or about, you can omit the pronoun.

This is usually the case when the conjugated verb can indicate who's being talked about. For example, you can say either of these variations:

Eu estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Even though you don't say the pronoun in the second example, the verb tells the listener that you're referring to yourself since it's in the first-person singular form.

At first, it might be hard to get this when you're listening to people talk, but once you get your verb conjugations down, you'll be a pro at understanding what people are saying even without the pronouns.

Third-person pronouns are dummy pronouns

A dummy pronoun is a pronoun that doesn't refer to a specific gender, such as "it" in English. In Portuguese, there's no special word for this; rather, you use ele or ela or the plural.

For example, if you're talking about a dog in English, you might say:

"It ate my homework!"

In Portuguese, you'd say:
Ele comeu minha lição de casa!
Just determine if the noun "it" refers to is feminine or masculine. If it's feminine, use ela and if it's masculine, use ele.

You can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun

Remember before when we talked about using o senhor or a senhora to mean "you"? In a similar vein, you can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun. This is only the case when you're actually talking to that person and it implies the tu or você. It'll be easier to understand once you see some examples:

Oi! Colega, pode me ajudar? (Hey! Classmate, can you help me?)

Pai, quer comida? (Dad, do you want food?)

Let's Practice Portuguese Personal Pronouns!

It's time to put all that information into practice!

Fill in the blanks with the personal pronoun that fits the sentence. Be aware that there may be more than one right answer. Hint: Look at the form of the verb!

1. _____ sou a pessoa mais linda aqui. ( _____ am the most beautiful person here.)

2. _____ quer jantar comigo? (Do _____ want to eat dinner with me?)

3. _____ comprou cinco livros? ( _____ bought five books?)

4. _____ comeram muito hoje. ( _____ ate a lot today.)

5. _____ dormimos na casa da mãe. ( _____ slept in mom's house.)

Don't scroll down yet! Give it your best shot!

Ready?
Here are the answers:
3. Ele/Ela/Você

4. Eles/Elas/Vocês

Tips for Learning Portuguese Pronouns

After reading all that, I'm sure you're close to getting the hang of Portuguese personal pronouns. If you want to keep practicing, here are some ways you can do so!

Online courses: There are a bunch of online courses with pronoun practice out there. You'll probably have to search for the section on pronouns, but it'll give you some extra practice!

Grammar Apps: There are a number of Portuguese learning apps you can try that would help you learn your pronouns in a slower, more step-by-step process.

Speaking practice: And, of course, there's no better way to learn a language than by speaking. You might get it wrong a few times, but that'll help you get it right eventually!

You can always make a cheat-sheet with the basics written on it, and refer to it when you need it. After a few attempts, you can trash that sheet and do it on your own. You'll be surprised at how much you know!

Now that you know how to get personal with Portuguese personal pronouns, get out there and wow everyone with your knowledge!

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online
Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Properly Use Portuguese Personal Pronouns

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?) I turned to my friend in disbelief. Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"? More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?)
I turned to my friend in disbelief.

Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"?

More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

I was told that was disrespectful-and it is-but I later found out it was my friend's way of buttering someone up by calling them younger than they were. What a sweet talker ...

Needless to say, she didn't care so much about getting her pronouns right.

You, however, should! Using the wrong pronoun can lead to misunderstandings or worse, offend someone.

So here's everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns and how to use them properly in conversation!

Introduction to Portuguese Pronouns

If you're a foreigner, people will probably forgive you for using the wrong pronoun-but that doesn't always mean they'll understand you. If you're trying to get someone's attention and mean to say "Hey, you!" but instead say "Hey, we!" I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get that person's attention-except, of course, to check why someone's screaming strange pronouns.

The bottom line is this: You need to know your basic personal pronouns to communicate effectively.

But what's a pronoun, you ask? A pronoun is a word that you use to substitute for a noun. The English personal pronouns are "I," "you," "he," "she," "we" and "they."

And why are pronouns necessary, you ask? Pronouns help us avoid repeating the noun a million times, which can get pretty clunky.

Pronouns are one of the most important parts of learning grammar. They describe the noun you're substituting just through their existence. A pronoun can denote the number of the noun being replaced, showing whether it's singular or plural. In English, for example, the singular pronouns are "I," "you," "she" and "he," while the plural ones are "we" and "they."

A pronoun also shows the gender of the noun. In English, the only examples of this are "he" and "she." There's also the neuter pronoun "it," but we'll talk more about it later in this post.

And finally, the pronoun shows the case, which is whether you're referring to the pronoun as the subject or the object in the sentence.

In this post, we're only going to cover the basics and leave the other forms personal pronouns can take for another lesson.

Instead, we'll focus on the subject case of personal pronouns for this lesson.

In Portuguese, there are a couple more pronouns to learn than in English. Luckily, they're pretty straightforward, for the most part!

The first thing you need to know about personal pronouns in Portuguese is that they work pretty much the same as English ones. Now, all you need to do is learn what they are!

If you're more of a visual learner, you can check out pronouns in use thanks to the authentic videos on FluentU. FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. This means you can hear pronouns as they're actually used by real native Portuguese speakers.

A Portuguese learning program is currently in development, so stay tuned for an immersive, authentic way to learn Portuguese, coming soon!

Portuguese Personal Pronouns

Before you get into the details, here are the Portuguese personal pronouns:

I - eu

You - tu, você, senhor, senhora

He - ele

Us - nós

Now, let's break down each of these pronouns.

Because using the word "you" in Portuguese is a little more complicated, we skip over it here and cover it in the next section.

Eu is the only word you use to say "I" in Portuguese. It's the same for both a man and a woman and is in the first person. Here's an example of how you'd use it:

Eu tenho fome. (I'm hungry.)

If you're referencing a masculine noun, you can use the word ele and if you're referring to a feminine one, use ela. These are singular.

To refer to a group of women or a plural noun that's feminine, you use e las. When referring to a plural number of a masculine noun, use eles. If you're referring to a group of both men and women, use eles as well.

Here are some examples of these pronouns in use:

Ela pensou que a festa ía ser hoje. (She thought the party would be today.)

Eles estão correndo bem rápido. (They're [mas. or mixed] running very fast.)

Elas querem festejar! (They [fem.] want to party!)

The equivalent to "we" is pretty simple! Just use nós.

If you want to get into the colloquial and sound like a native, you can say a gente instead of nós. Literally, means "the people," but it's used with the third-person plural of the verb. For example:

How to Say "You" in Portuguese

Here's the slightly more complicated explanation of all the ways to say "you." Since English doesn't differentiate between forms of "you" in the same way as Portuguese, it might be difficult to understand at first. You'll get the hang of it!

Tu is one of two main ways to say "you" in Portuguese.

How and how often tu is used depends on where you are. In Brazil, tu is viewed as formal by some people, but in areas in northeastern and southern Brazil, it's used casually.

In Portugal, people are more likely to use tu when speaking to a younger person or someone they're more familiar with.

So, wherever you go, I'd advise you to ask around about whether they use tu, and in what circumstances!

The other common way to say "you" is você, or its plural equivalent vocês. Again, where you are in the world affects how você is used.

In Brazil, this form is extremely common and is used in everyday conversation.

In Portugal, voc ê is used more formally, such as when you speak to someone who's older than you. And while você means "you," it's used with the third-person singular form of the verb. So instead of saying, você tens (you have) with the second-person singular form of the verb, which is incorrect, you'd say, você tem (you have).

If you want to take it a step further and show respect for your elders, you can use o senhor (sir) or a senhora (miss). You use these words in place of "you," but pair them with the third-person singular verb. For example:

A senhora gostaria de sentar aqui? (Would you [formal] like to sit here?)

The pronoun vós isn't used very much these days, but it's still important to know. It's considered more formal and archaic, but there are people in northern Portugal and northeastern Brazil that might use it in everyday speech.

However, you're more likely to read vós in old texts or historical fiction.

Review

Here's a quick rundown of which pronouns to use in what occasions and places:
Brazil:
Formal: tu, vós, o senhor, a senhora
Portugal:
Formal: você, vocês, vós, o senhor, a senhora

Differences Between English and Portuguese Pronouns

While the main principles of pronouns are the same in English and Portuguese, Portuguese pronouns function more similarly to Spanish pronouns. So, if you know Spanish, you're just a little closer to getting those pronouns right.

But don't worry! everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns is right in this post. Let's start with some differences between English and Portuguese pronouns.

You don't always need to use the pronoun

If it's clear who you're talking to or about, you can omit the pronoun.

This is usually the case when the conjugated verb can indicate who's being talked about. For example, you can say either of these variations:

Eu estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Even though you don't say the pronoun in the second example, the verb tells the listener that you're referring to yourself since it's in the first-person singular form.

At first, it might be hard to get this when you're listening to people talk, but once you get your verb conjugations down, you'll be a pro at understanding what people are saying even without the pronouns.

Third-person pronouns are dummy pronouns

A dummy pronoun is a pronoun that doesn't refer to a specific gender, such as "it" in English. In Portuguese, there's no special word for this; rather, you use ele or ela or the plural.

For example, if you're talking about a dog in English, you might say:

"It ate my homework!"

In Portuguese, you'd say:
Ele comeu minha lição de casa!
Just determine if the noun "it" refers to is feminine or masculine. If it's feminine, use ela and if it's masculine, use ele.

You can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun

Remember before when we talked about using o senhor or a senhora to mean "you"? In a similar vein, you can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun. This is only the case when you're actually talking to that person and it implies the tu or você. It'll be easier to understand once you see some examples:

Oi! Colega, pode me ajudar? (Hey! Classmate, can you help me?)

Pai, quer comida? (Dad, do you want food?)

Let's Practice Portuguese Personal Pronouns!

It's time to put all that information into practice!

Fill in the blanks with the personal pronoun that fits the sentence. Be aware that there may be more than one right answer. Hint: Look at the form of the verb!

1. _____ sou a pessoa mais linda aqui. ( _____ am the most beautiful person here.)

2. _____ quer jantar comigo? (Do _____ want to eat dinner with me?)

3. _____ comprou cinco livros? ( _____ bought five books?)

4. _____ comeram muito hoje. ( _____ ate a lot today.)

5. _____ dormimos na casa da mãe. ( _____ slept in mom's house.)

Don't scroll down yet! Give it your best shot!

Ready?
Here are the answers:
3. Ele/Ela/Você

4. Eles/Elas/Vocês

Tips for Learning Portuguese Pronouns

After reading all that, I'm sure you're close to getting the hang of Portuguese personal pronouns. If you want to keep practicing, here are some ways you can do so!

Online courses: There are a bunch of online courses with pronoun practice out there. You'll probably have to search for the section on pronouns, but it'll give you some extra practice!

Grammar Apps: There are a number of Portuguese learning apps you can try that would help you learn your pronouns in a slower, more step-by-step process.

Speaking practice: And, of course, there's no better way to learn a language than by speaking. You might get it wrong a few times, but that'll help you get it right eventually!

You can always make a cheat-sheet with the basics written on it, and refer to it when you need it. After a few attempts, you can trash that sheet and do it on your own. You'll be surprised at how much you know!

Now that you know how to get personal with Portuguese personal pronouns, get out there and wow everyone with your knowledge!

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online
Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Properly Use Portuguese Personal Pronouns

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?) I turned to my friend in disbelief. Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"? More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?)
I turned to my friend in disbelief.

Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"?

More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

I was told that was disrespectful-and it is-but I later found out it was my friend's way of buttering someone up by calling them younger than they were. What a sweet talker ...

Needless to say, she didn't care so much about getting her pronouns right.

You, however, should! Using the wrong pronoun can lead to misunderstandings or worse, offend someone.

So here's everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns and how to use them properly in conversation!

Introduction to Portuguese Pronouns

If you're a foreigner, people will probably forgive you for using the wrong pronoun-but that doesn't always mean they'll understand you. If you're trying to get someone's attention and mean to say "Hey, you!" but instead say "Hey, we!" I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get that person's attention-except, of course, to check why someone's screaming strange pronouns.

The bottom line is this: You need to know your basic personal pronouns to communicate effectively.

But what's a pronoun, you ask? A pronoun is a word that you use to substitute for a noun. The English personal pronouns are "I," "you," "he," "she," "we" and "they."

And why are pronouns necessary, you ask? Pronouns help us avoid repeating the noun a million times, which can get pretty clunky.

Pronouns are one of the most important parts of learning grammar. They describe the noun you're substituting just through their existence. A pronoun can denote the number of the noun being replaced, showing whether it's singular or plural. In English, for example, the singular pronouns are "I," "you," "she" and "he," while the plural ones are "we" and "they."

A pronoun also shows the gender of the noun. In English, the only examples of this are "he" and "she." There's also the neuter pronoun "it," but we'll talk more about it later in this post.

And finally, the pronoun shows the case, which is whether you're referring to the pronoun as the subject or the object in the sentence.

In this post, we're only going to cover the basics and leave the other forms personal pronouns can take for another lesson.

Instead, we'll focus on the subject case of personal pronouns for this lesson.

In Portuguese, there are a couple more pronouns to learn than in English. Luckily, they're pretty straightforward, for the most part!

The first thing you need to know about personal pronouns in Portuguese is that they work pretty much the same as English ones. Now, all you need to do is learn what they are!

If you're more of a visual learner, you can check out pronouns in use thanks to the authentic videos on FluentU. FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. This means you can hear pronouns as they're actually used by real native Portuguese speakers.

A Portuguese learning program is currently in development, so stay tuned for an immersive, authentic way to learn Portuguese, coming soon!

Portuguese Personal Pronouns

Before you get into the details, here are the Portuguese personal pronouns:

I - eu

You - tu, você, senhor, senhora

He - ele

Us - nós

Now, let's break down each of these pronouns.

Because using the word "you" in Portuguese is a little more complicated, we skip over it here and cover it in the next section.

Eu is the only word you use to say "I" in Portuguese. It's the same for both a man and a woman and is in the first person. Here's an example of how you'd use it:

Eu tenho fome. (I'm hungry.)

If you're referencing a masculine noun, you can use the word ele and if you're referring to a feminine one, use ela. These are singular.

To refer to a group of women or a plural noun that's feminine, you use e las. When referring to a plural number of a masculine noun, use eles. If you're referring to a group of both men and women, use eles as well.

Here are some examples of these pronouns in use:

Ela pensou que a festa ía ser hoje. (She thought the party would be today.)

Eles estão correndo bem rápido. (They're [mas. or mixed] running very fast.)

Elas querem festejar! (They [fem.] want to party!)

The equivalent to "we" is pretty simple! Just use nós.

If you want to get into the colloquial and sound like a native, you can say a gente instead of nós. Literally, means "the people," but it's used with the third-person plural of the verb. For example:

How to Say "You" in Portuguese

Here's the slightly more complicated explanation of all the ways to say "you." Since English doesn't differentiate between forms of "you" in the same way as Portuguese, it might be difficult to understand at first. You'll get the hang of it!

Tu is one of two main ways to say "you" in Portuguese.

How and how often tu is used depends on where you are. In Brazil, tu is viewed as formal by some people, but in areas in northeastern and southern Brazil, it's used casually.

In Portugal, people are more likely to use tu when speaking to a younger person or someone they're more familiar with.

So, wherever you go, I'd advise you to ask around about whether they use tu, and in what circumstances!

The other common way to say "you" is você, or its plural equivalent vocês. Again, where you are in the world affects how você is used.

In Brazil, this form is extremely common and is used in everyday conversation.

In Portugal, voc ê is used more formally, such as when you speak to someone who's older than you. And while você means "you," it's used with the third-person singular form of the verb. So instead of saying, você tens (you have) with the second-person singular form of the verb, which is incorrect, you'd say, você tem (you have).

If you want to take it a step further and show respect for your elders, you can use o senhor (sir) or a senhora (miss). You use these words in place of "you," but pair them with the third-person singular verb. For example:

A senhora gostaria de sentar aqui? (Would you [formal] like to sit here?)

The pronoun vós isn't used very much these days, but it's still important to know. It's considered more formal and archaic, but there are people in northern Portugal and northeastern Brazil that might use it in everyday speech.

However, you're more likely to read vós in old texts or historical fiction.

Review

Here's a quick rundown of which pronouns to use in what occasions and places:
Brazil:
Formal: tu, vós, o senhor, a senhora
Portugal:
Formal: você, vocês, vós, o senhor, a senhora

Differences Between English and Portuguese Pronouns

While the main principles of pronouns are the same in English and Portuguese, Portuguese pronouns function more similarly to Spanish pronouns. So, if you know Spanish, you're just a little closer to getting those pronouns right.

But don't worry! everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns is right in this post. Let's start with some differences between English and Portuguese pronouns.

You don't always need to use the pronoun

If it's clear who you're talking to or about, you can omit the pronoun.

This is usually the case when the conjugated verb can indicate who's being talked about. For example, you can say either of these variations:

Eu estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Even though you don't say the pronoun in the second example, the verb tells the listener that you're referring to yourself since it's in the first-person singular form.

At first, it might be hard to get this when you're listening to people talk, but once you get your verb conjugations down, you'll be a pro at understanding what people are saying even without the pronouns.

Third-person pronouns are dummy pronouns

A dummy pronoun is a pronoun that doesn't refer to a specific gender, such as "it" in English. In Portuguese, there's no special word for this; rather, you use ele or ela or the plural.

For example, if you're talking about a dog in English, you might say:

"It ate my homework!"

In Portuguese, you'd say:
Ele comeu minha lição de casa!
Just determine if the noun "it" refers to is feminine or masculine. If it's feminine, use ela and if it's masculine, use ele.

You can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun

Remember before when we talked about using o senhor or a senhora to mean "you"? In a similar vein, you can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun. This is only the case when you're actually talking to that person and it implies the tu or você. It'll be easier to understand once you see some examples:

Oi! Colega, pode me ajudar? (Hey! Classmate, can you help me?)

Pai, quer comida? (Dad, do you want food?)

Let's Practice Portuguese Personal Pronouns!

It's time to put all that information into practice!

Fill in the blanks with the personal pronoun that fits the sentence. Be aware that there may be more than one right answer. Hint: Look at the form of the verb!

1. _____ sou a pessoa mais linda aqui. ( _____ am the most beautiful person here.)

2. _____ quer jantar comigo? (Do _____ want to eat dinner with me?)

3. _____ comprou cinco livros? ( _____ bought five books?)

4. _____ comeram muito hoje. ( _____ ate a lot today.)

5. _____ dormimos na casa da mãe. ( _____ slept in mom's house.)

Don't scroll down yet! Give it your best shot!

Ready?
Here are the answers:
3. Ele/Ela/Você

4. Eles/Elas/Vocês

Tips for Learning Portuguese Pronouns

After reading all that, I'm sure you're close to getting the hang of Portuguese personal pronouns. If you want to keep practicing, here are some ways you can do so!

Online courses: There are a bunch of online courses with pronoun practice out there. You'll probably have to search for the section on pronouns, but it'll give you some extra practice!

Grammar Apps: There are a number of Portuguese learning apps you can try that would help you learn your pronouns in a slower, more step-by-step process.

Speaking practice: And, of course, there's no better way to learn a language than by speaking. You might get it wrong a few times, but that'll help you get it right eventually!

You can always make a cheat-sheet with the basics written on it, and refer to it when you need it. After a few attempts, you can trash that sheet and do it on your own. You'll be surprised at how much you know!

Now that you know how to get personal with Portuguese personal pronouns, get out there and wow everyone with your knowledge!

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online
Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Properly Use Portuguese Personal Pronouns

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?) I turned to my friend in disbelief. Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"? More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?)
I turned to my friend in disbelief.

Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"?

More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

I was told that was disrespectful-and it is-but I later found out it was my friend's way of buttering someone up by calling them younger than they were. What a sweet talker ...

Needless to say, she didn't care so much about getting her pronouns right.

You, however, should! Using the wrong pronoun can lead to misunderstandings or worse, offend someone.

So here's everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns and how to use them properly in conversation!

Introduction to Portuguese Pronouns

If you're a foreigner, people will probably forgive you for using the wrong pronoun-but that doesn't always mean they'll understand you. If you're trying to get someone's attention and mean to say "Hey, you!" but instead say "Hey, we!" I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get that person's attention-except, of course, to check why someone's screaming strange pronouns.

The bottom line is this: You need to know your basic personal pronouns to communicate effectively.

But what's a pronoun, you ask? A pronoun is a word that you use to substitute for a noun. The English personal pronouns are "I," "you," "he," "she," "we" and "they."

And why are pronouns necessary, you ask? Pronouns help us avoid repeating the noun a million times, which can get pretty clunky.

Pronouns are one of the most important parts of learning grammar. They describe the noun you're substituting just through their existence. A pronoun can denote the number of the noun being replaced, showing whether it's singular or plural. In English, for example, the singular pronouns are "I," "you," "she" and "he," while the plural ones are "we" and "they."

A pronoun also shows the gender of the noun. In English, the only examples of this are "he" and "she." There's also the neuter pronoun "it," but we'll talk more about it later in this post.

And finally, the pronoun shows the case, which is whether you're referring to the pronoun as the subject or the object in the sentence.

In this post, we're only going to cover the basics and leave the other forms personal pronouns can take for another lesson.

Instead, we'll focus on the subject case of personal pronouns for this lesson.

In Portuguese, there are a couple more pronouns to learn than in English. Luckily, they're pretty straightforward, for the most part!

The first thing you need to know about personal pronouns in Portuguese is that they work pretty much the same as English ones. Now, all you need to do is learn what they are!

If you're more of a visual learner, you can check out pronouns in use thanks to the authentic videos on FluentU. FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. This means you can hear pronouns as they're actually used by real native Portuguese speakers.

A Portuguese learning program is currently in development, so stay tuned for an immersive, authentic way to learn Portuguese, coming soon!

Portuguese Personal Pronouns

Before you get into the details, here are the Portuguese personal pronouns:

I - eu

You - tu, você, senhor, senhora

He - ele

Us - nós

Now, let's break down each of these pronouns.

Because using the word "you" in Portuguese is a little more complicated, we skip over it here and cover it in the next section.

Eu is the only word you use to say "I" in Portuguese. It's the same for both a man and a woman and is in the first person. Here's an example of how you'd use it:

Eu tenho fome. (I'm hungry.)

If you're referencing a masculine noun, you can use the word ele and if you're referring to a feminine one, use ela. These are singular.

To refer to a group of women or a plural noun that's feminine, you use e las. When referring to a plural number of a masculine noun, use eles. If you're referring to a group of both men and women, use eles as well.

Here are some examples of these pronouns in use:

Ela pensou que a festa ía ser hoje. (She thought the party would be today.)

Eles estão correndo bem rápido. (They're [mas. or mixed] running very fast.)

Elas querem festejar! (They [fem.] want to party!)

The equivalent to "we" is pretty simple! Just use nós.

If you want to get into the colloquial and sound like a native, you can say a gente instead of nós. Literally, means "the people," but it's used with the third-person plural of the verb. For example:

How to Say "You" in Portuguese

Here's the slightly more complicated explanation of all the ways to say "you." Since English doesn't differentiate between forms of "you" in the same way as Portuguese, it might be difficult to understand at first. You'll get the hang of it!

Tu is one of two main ways to say "you" in Portuguese.

How and how often tu is used depends on where you are. In Brazil, tu is viewed as formal by some people, but in areas in northeastern and southern Brazil, it's used casually.

In Portugal, people are more likely to use tu when speaking to a younger person or someone they're more familiar with.

So, wherever you go, I'd advise you to ask around about whether they use tu, and in what circumstances!

The other common way to say "you" is você, or its plural equivalent vocês. Again, where you are in the world affects how você is used.

In Brazil, this form is extremely common and is used in everyday conversation.

In Portugal, voc ê is used more formally, such as when you speak to someone who's older than you. And while você means "you," it's used with the third-person singular form of the verb. So instead of saying, você tens (you have) with the second-person singular form of the verb, which is incorrect, you'd say, você tem (you have).

If you want to take it a step further and show respect for your elders, you can use o senhor (sir) or a senhora (miss). You use these words in place of "you," but pair them with the third-person singular verb. For example:

A senhora gostaria de sentar aqui? (Would you [formal] like to sit here?)

The pronoun vós isn't used very much these days, but it's still important to know. It's considered more formal and archaic, but there are people in northern Portugal and northeastern Brazil that might use it in everyday speech.

However, you're more likely to read vós in old texts or historical fiction.

Review

Here's a quick rundown of which pronouns to use in what occasions and places:
Brazil:
Formal: tu, vós, o senhor, a senhora
Portugal:
Formal: você, vocês, vós, o senhor, a senhora

Differences Between English and Portuguese Pronouns

While the main principles of pronouns are the same in English and Portuguese, Portuguese pronouns function more similarly to Spanish pronouns. So, if you know Spanish, you're just a little closer to getting those pronouns right.

But don't worry! everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns is right in this post. Let's start with some differences between English and Portuguese pronouns.

You don't always need to use the pronoun

If it's clear who you're talking to or about, you can omit the pronoun.

This is usually the case when the conjugated verb can indicate who's being talked about. For example, you can say either of these variations:

Eu estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Even though you don't say the pronoun in the second example, the verb tells the listener that you're referring to yourself since it's in the first-person singular form.

At first, it might be hard to get this when you're listening to people talk, but once you get your verb conjugations down, you'll be a pro at understanding what people are saying even without the pronouns.

Third-person pronouns are dummy pronouns

A dummy pronoun is a pronoun that doesn't refer to a specific gender, such as "it" in English. In Portuguese, there's no special word for this; rather, you use ele or ela or the plural.

For example, if you're talking about a dog in English, you might say:

"It ate my homework!"

In Portuguese, you'd say:
Ele comeu minha lição de casa!
Just determine if the noun "it" refers to is feminine or masculine. If it's feminine, use ela and if it's masculine, use ele.

You can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun

Remember before when we talked about using o senhor or a senhora to mean "you"? In a similar vein, you can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun. This is only the case when you're actually talking to that person and it implies the tu or você. It'll be easier to understand once you see some examples:

Oi! Colega, pode me ajudar? (Hey! Classmate, can you help me?)

Pai, quer comida? (Dad, do you want food?)

Let's Practice Portuguese Personal Pronouns!

It's time to put all that information into practice!

Fill in the blanks with the personal pronoun that fits the sentence. Be aware that there may be more than one right answer. Hint: Look at the form of the verb!

1. _____ sou a pessoa mais linda aqui. ( _____ am the most beautiful person here.)

2. _____ quer jantar comigo? (Do _____ want to eat dinner with me?)

3. _____ comprou cinco livros? ( _____ bought five books?)

4. _____ comeram muito hoje. ( _____ ate a lot today.)

5. _____ dormimos na casa da mãe. ( _____ slept in mom's house.)

Don't scroll down yet! Give it your best shot!

Ready?
Here are the answers:
3. Ele/Ela/Você

4. Eles/Elas/Vocês

Tips for Learning Portuguese Pronouns

After reading all that, I'm sure you're close to getting the hang of Portuguese personal pronouns. If you want to keep practicing, here are some ways you can do so!

Online courses: There are a bunch of online courses with pronoun practice out there. You'll probably have to search for the section on pronouns, but it'll give you some extra practice!

Grammar Apps: There are a number of Portuguese learning apps you can try that would help you learn your pronouns in a slower, more step-by-step process.

Speaking practice: And, of course, there's no better way to learn a language than by speaking. You might get it wrong a few times, but that'll help you get it right eventually!

You can always make a cheat-sheet with the basics written on it, and refer to it when you need it. After a few attempts, you can trash that sheet and do it on your own. You'll be surprised at how much you know!

Now that you know how to get personal with Portuguese personal pronouns, get out there and wow everyone with your knowledge!

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online
Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Properly Use Portuguese Personal Pronouns

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?) I turned to my friend in disbelief. Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"? More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?)
I turned to my friend in disbelief.

Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"?

More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

I was told that was disrespectful-and it is-but I later found out it was my friend's way of buttering someone up by calling them younger than they were. What a sweet talker ...

Needless to say, she didn't care so much about getting her pronouns right.

You, however, should! Using the wrong pronoun can lead to misunderstandings or worse, offend someone.

So here's everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns and how to use them properly in conversation!

Introduction to Portuguese Pronouns

If you're a foreigner, people will probably forgive you for using the wrong pronoun-but that doesn't always mean they'll understand you. If you're trying to get someone's attention and mean to say "Hey, you!" but instead say "Hey, we!" I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get that person's attention-except, of course, to check why someone's screaming strange pronouns.

The bottom line is this: You need to know your basic personal pronouns to communicate effectively.

But what's a pronoun, you ask? A pronoun is a word that you use to substitute for a noun. The English personal pronouns are "I," "you," "he," "she," "we" and "they."

And why are pronouns necessary, you ask? Pronouns help us avoid repeating the noun a million times, which can get pretty clunky.

Pronouns are one of the most important parts of learning grammar. They describe the noun you're substituting just through their existence. A pronoun can denote the number of the noun being replaced, showing whether it's singular or plural. In English, for example, the singular pronouns are "I," "you," "she" and "he," while the plural ones are "we" and "they."

A pronoun also shows the gender of the noun. In English, the only examples of this are "he" and "she." There's also the neuter pronoun "it," but we'll talk more about it later in this post.

And finally, the pronoun shows the case, which is whether you're referring to the pronoun as the subject or the object in the sentence.

In this post, we're only going to cover the basics and leave the other forms personal pronouns can take for another lesson.

Instead, we'll focus on the subject case of personal pronouns for this lesson.

In Portuguese, there are a couple more pronouns to learn than in English. Luckily, they're pretty straightforward, for the most part!

The first thing you need to know about personal pronouns in Portuguese is that they work pretty much the same as English ones. Now, all you need to do is learn what they are!

If you're more of a visual learner, you can check out pronouns in use thanks to the authentic videos on FluentU. FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. This means you can hear pronouns as they're actually used by real native Portuguese speakers.

A Portuguese learning program is currently in development, so stay tuned for an immersive, authentic way to learn Portuguese, coming soon!

Portuguese Personal Pronouns

Before you get into the details, here are the Portuguese personal pronouns:

I - eu

You - tu, você, senhor, senhora

He - ele

Us - nós

Now, let's break down each of these pronouns.

Because using the word "you" in Portuguese is a little more complicated, we skip over it here and cover it in the next section.

Eu is the only word you use to say "I" in Portuguese. It's the same for both a man and a woman and is in the first person. Here's an example of how you'd use it:

Eu tenho fome. (I'm hungry.)

If you're referencing a masculine noun, you can use the word ele and if you're referring to a feminine one, use ela. These are singular.

To refer to a group of women or a plural noun that's feminine, you use e las. When referring to a plural number of a masculine noun, use eles. If you're referring to a group of both men and women, use eles as well.

Here are some examples of these pronouns in use:

Ela pensou que a festa ía ser hoje. (She thought the party would be today.)

Eles estão correndo bem rápido. (They're [mas. or mixed] running very fast.)

Elas querem festejar! (They [fem.] want to party!)

The equivalent to "we" is pretty simple! Just use nós.

If you want to get into the colloquial and sound like a native, you can say a gente instead of nós. Literally, means "the people," but it's used with the third-person plural of the verb. For example:

How to Say "You" in Portuguese

Here's the slightly more complicated explanation of all the ways to say "you." Since English doesn't differentiate between forms of "you" in the same way as Portuguese, it might be difficult to understand at first. You'll get the hang of it!

Tu is one of two main ways to say "you" in Portuguese.

How and how often tu is used depends on where you are. In Brazil, tu is viewed as formal by some people, but in areas in northeastern and southern Brazil, it's used casually.

In Portugal, people are more likely to use tu when speaking to a younger person or someone they're more familiar with.

So, wherever you go, I'd advise you to ask around about whether they use tu, and in what circumstances!

The other common way to say "you" is você, or its plural equivalent vocês. Again, where you are in the world affects how você is used.

In Brazil, this form is extremely common and is used in everyday conversation.

In Portugal, voc ê is used more formally, such as when you speak to someone who's older than you. And while você means "you," it's used with the third-person singular form of the verb. So instead of saying, você tens (you have) with the second-person singular form of the verb, which is incorrect, you'd say, você tem (you have).

If you want to take it a step further and show respect for your elders, you can use o senhor (sir) or a senhora (miss). You use these words in place of "you," but pair them with the third-person singular verb. For example:

A senhora gostaria de sentar aqui? (Would you [formal] like to sit here?)

The pronoun vós isn't used very much these days, but it's still important to know. It's considered more formal and archaic, but there are people in northern Portugal and northeastern Brazil that might use it in everyday speech.

However, you're more likely to read vós in old texts or historical fiction.

Review

Here's a quick rundown of which pronouns to use in what occasions and places:
Brazil:
Formal: tu, vós, o senhor, a senhora
Portugal:
Formal: você, vocês, vós, o senhor, a senhora

Differences Between English and Portuguese Pronouns

While the main principles of pronouns are the same in English and Portuguese, Portuguese pronouns function more similarly to Spanish pronouns. So, if you know Spanish, you're just a little closer to getting those pronouns right.

But don't worry! everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns is right in this post. Let's start with some differences between English and Portuguese pronouns.

You don't always need to use the pronoun

If it's clear who you're talking to or about, you can omit the pronoun.

This is usually the case when the conjugated verb can indicate who's being talked about. For example, you can say either of these variations:

Eu estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Even though you don't say the pronoun in the second example, the verb tells the listener that you're referring to yourself since it's in the first-person singular form.

At first, it might be hard to get this when you're listening to people talk, but once you get your verb conjugations down, you'll be a pro at understanding what people are saying even without the pronouns.

Third-person pronouns are dummy pronouns

A dummy pronoun is a pronoun that doesn't refer to a specific gender, such as "it" in English. In Portuguese, there's no special word for this; rather, you use ele or ela or the plural.

For example, if you're talking about a dog in English, you might say:

"It ate my homework!"

In Portuguese, you'd say:
Ele comeu minha lição de casa!
Just determine if the noun "it" refers to is feminine or masculine. If it's feminine, use ela and if it's masculine, use ele.

You can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun

Remember before when we talked about using o senhor or a senhora to mean "you"? In a similar vein, you can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun. This is only the case when you're actually talking to that person and it implies the tu or você. It'll be easier to understand once you see some examples:

Oi! Colega, pode me ajudar? (Hey! Classmate, can you help me?)

Pai, quer comida? (Dad, do you want food?)

Let's Practice Portuguese Personal Pronouns!

It's time to put all that information into practice!

Fill in the blanks with the personal pronoun that fits the sentence. Be aware that there may be more than one right answer. Hint: Look at the form of the verb!

1. _____ sou a pessoa mais linda aqui. ( _____ am the most beautiful person here.)

2. _____ quer jantar comigo? (Do _____ want to eat dinner with me?)

3. _____ comprou cinco livros? ( _____ bought five books?)

4. _____ comeram muito hoje. ( _____ ate a lot today.)

5. _____ dormimos na casa da mãe. ( _____ slept in mom's house.)

Don't scroll down yet! Give it your best shot!

Ready?
Here are the answers:
3. Ele/Ela/Você

4. Eles/Elas/Vocês

Tips for Learning Portuguese Pronouns

After reading all that, I'm sure you're close to getting the hang of Portuguese personal pronouns. If you want to keep practicing, here are some ways you can do so!

Online courses: There are a bunch of online courses with pronoun practice out there. You'll probably have to search for the section on pronouns, but it'll give you some extra practice!

Grammar Apps: There are a number of Portuguese learning apps you can try that would help you learn your pronouns in a slower, more step-by-step process.

Speaking practice: And, of course, there's no better way to learn a language than by speaking. You might get it wrong a few times, but that'll help you get it right eventually!

You can always make a cheat-sheet with the basics written on it, and refer to it when you need it. After a few attempts, you can trash that sheet and do it on your own. You'll be surprised at how much you know!

Now that you know how to get personal with Portuguese personal pronouns, get out there and wow everyone with your knowledge!

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online
Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Properly Use Portuguese Personal Pronouns

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?) I turned to my friend in disbelief. Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"? More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?)
I turned to my friend in disbelief.

Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"?

More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

I was told that was disrespectful-and it is-but I later found out it was my friend's way of buttering someone up by calling them younger than they were. What a sweet talker ...

Needless to say, she didn't care so much about getting her pronouns right.

You, however, should! Using the wrong pronoun can lead to misunderstandings or worse, offend someone.

So here's everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns and how to use them properly in conversation!

Introduction to Portuguese Pronouns

If you're a foreigner, people will probably forgive you for using the wrong pronoun-but that doesn't always mean they'll understand you. If you're trying to get someone's attention and mean to say "Hey, you!" but instead say "Hey, we!" I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get that person's attention-except, of course, to check why someone's screaming strange pronouns.

The bottom line is this: You need to know your basic personal pronouns to communicate effectively.

But what's a pronoun, you ask? A pronoun is a word that you use to substitute for a noun. The English personal pronouns are "I," "you," "he," "she," "we" and "they."

And why are pronouns necessary, you ask? Pronouns help us avoid repeating the noun a million times, which can get pretty clunky.

Pronouns are one of the most important parts of learning grammar. They describe the noun you're substituting just through their existence. A pronoun can denote the number of the noun being replaced, showing whether it's singular or plural. In English, for example, the singular pronouns are "I," "you," "she" and "he," while the plural ones are "we" and "they."

A pronoun also shows the gender of the noun. In English, the only examples of this are "he" and "she." There's also the neuter pronoun "it," but we'll talk more about it later in this post.

And finally, the pronoun shows the case, which is whether you're referring to the pronoun as the subject or the object in the sentence.

In this post, we're only going to cover the basics and leave the other forms personal pronouns can take for another lesson.

Instead, we'll focus on the subject case of personal pronouns for this lesson.

In Portuguese, there are a couple more pronouns to learn than in English. Luckily, they're pretty straightforward, for the most part!

The first thing you need to know about personal pronouns in Portuguese is that they work pretty much the same as English ones. Now, all you need to do is learn what they are!

If you're more of a visual learner, you can check out pronouns in use thanks to the authentic videos on FluentU. FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. This means you can hear pronouns as they're actually used by real native Portuguese speakers.

A Portuguese learning program is currently in development, so stay tuned for an immersive, authentic way to learn Portuguese, coming soon!

Portuguese Personal Pronouns

Before you get into the details, here are the Portuguese personal pronouns:

I - eu

You - tu, você, senhor, senhora

He - ele

Us - nós

Now, let's break down each of these pronouns.

Because using the word "you" in Portuguese is a little more complicated, we skip over it here and cover it in the next section.

Eu is the only word you use to say "I" in Portuguese. It's the same for both a man and a woman and is in the first person. Here's an example of how you'd use it:

Eu tenho fome. (I'm hungry.)

If you're referencing a masculine noun, you can use the word ele and if you're referring to a feminine one, use ela. These are singular.

To refer to a group of women or a plural noun that's feminine, you use e las. When referring to a plural number of a masculine noun, use eles. If you're referring to a group of both men and women, use eles as well.

Here are some examples of these pronouns in use:

Ela pensou que a festa ía ser hoje. (She thought the party would be today.)

Eles estão correndo bem rápido. (They're [mas. or mixed] running very fast.)

Elas querem festejar! (They [fem.] want to party!)

The equivalent to "we" is pretty simple! Just use nós.

If you want to get into the colloquial and sound like a native, you can say a gente instead of nós. Literally, means "the people," but it's used with the third-person plural of the verb. For example:

How to Say "You" in Portuguese

Here's the slightly more complicated explanation of all the ways to say "you." Since English doesn't differentiate between forms of "you" in the same way as Portuguese, it might be difficult to understand at first. You'll get the hang of it!

Tu is one of two main ways to say "you" in Portuguese.

How and how often tu is used depends on where you are. In Brazil, tu is viewed as formal by some people, but in areas in northeastern and southern Brazil, it's used casually.

In Portugal, people are more likely to use tu when speaking to a younger person or someone they're more familiar with.

So, wherever you go, I'd advise you to ask around about whether they use tu, and in what circumstances!

The other common way to say "you" is você, or its plural equivalent vocês. Again, where you are in the world affects how você is used.

In Brazil, this form is extremely common and is used in everyday conversation.

In Portugal, voc ê is used more formally, such as when you speak to someone who's older than you. And while você means "you," it's used with the third-person singular form of the verb. So instead of saying, você tens (you have) with the second-person singular form of the verb, which is incorrect, you'd say, você tem (you have).

If you want to take it a step further and show respect for your elders, you can use o senhor (sir) or a senhora (miss). You use these words in place of "you," but pair them with the third-person singular verb. For example:

A senhora gostaria de sentar aqui? (Would you [formal] like to sit here?)

The pronoun vós isn't used very much these days, but it's still important to know. It's considered more formal and archaic, but there are people in northern Portugal and northeastern Brazil that might use it in everyday speech.

However, you're more likely to read vós in old texts or historical fiction.

Review

Here's a quick rundown of which pronouns to use in what occasions and places:
Brazil:
Formal: tu, vós, o senhor, a senhora
Portugal:
Formal: você, vocês, vós, o senhor, a senhora

Differences Between English and Portuguese Pronouns

While the main principles of pronouns are the same in English and Portuguese, Portuguese pronouns function more similarly to Spanish pronouns. So, if you know Spanish, you're just a little closer to getting those pronouns right.

But don't worry! everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns is right in this post. Let's start with some differences between English and Portuguese pronouns.

You don't always need to use the pronoun

If it's clear who you're talking to or about, you can omit the pronoun.

This is usually the case when the conjugated verb can indicate who's being talked about. For example, you can say either of these variations:

Eu estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Even though you don't say the pronoun in the second example, the verb tells the listener that you're referring to yourself since it's in the first-person singular form.

At first, it might be hard to get this when you're listening to people talk, but once you get your verb conjugations down, you'll be a pro at understanding what people are saying even without the pronouns.

Third-person pronouns are dummy pronouns

A dummy pronoun is a pronoun that doesn't refer to a specific gender, such as "it" in English. In Portuguese, there's no special word for this; rather, you use ele or ela or the plural.

For example, if you're talking about a dog in English, you might say:

"It ate my homework!"

In Portuguese, you'd say:
Ele comeu minha lição de casa!
Just determine if the noun "it" refers to is feminine or masculine. If it's feminine, use ela and if it's masculine, use ele.

You can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun

Remember before when we talked about using o senhor or a senhora to mean "you"? In a similar vein, you can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun. This is only the case when you're actually talking to that person and it implies the tu or você. It'll be easier to understand once you see some examples:

Oi! Colega, pode me ajudar? (Hey! Classmate, can you help me?)

Pai, quer comida? (Dad, do you want food?)

Let's Practice Portuguese Personal Pronouns!

It's time to put all that information into practice!

Fill in the blanks with the personal pronoun that fits the sentence. Be aware that there may be more than one right answer. Hint: Look at the form of the verb!

1. _____ sou a pessoa mais linda aqui. ( _____ am the most beautiful person here.)

2. _____ quer jantar comigo? (Do _____ want to eat dinner with me?)

3. _____ comprou cinco livros? ( _____ bought five books?)

4. _____ comeram muito hoje. ( _____ ate a lot today.)

5. _____ dormimos na casa da mãe. ( _____ slept in mom's house.)

Don't scroll down yet! Give it your best shot!

Ready?
Here are the answers:
3. Ele/Ela/Você

4. Eles/Elas/Vocês

Tips for Learning Portuguese Pronouns

After reading all that, I'm sure you're close to getting the hang of Portuguese personal pronouns. If you want to keep practicing, here are some ways you can do so!

Online courses: There are a bunch of online courses with pronoun practice out there. You'll probably have to search for the section on pronouns, but it'll give you some extra practice!

Grammar Apps: There are a number of Portuguese learning apps you can try that would help you learn your pronouns in a slower, more step-by-step process.

Speaking practice: And, of course, there's no better way to learn a language than by speaking. You might get it wrong a few times, but that'll help you get it right eventually!

You can always make a cheat-sheet with the basics written on it, and refer to it when you need it. After a few attempts, you can trash that sheet and do it on your own. You'll be surprised at how much you know!

Now that you know how to get personal with Portuguese personal pronouns, get out there and wow everyone with your knowledge!

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online
Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Properly Use Portuguese Personal Pronouns

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?) I turned to my friend in disbelief. Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"? More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?)
I turned to my friend in disbelief.

Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"?

More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

I was told that was disrespectful-and it is-but I later found out it was my friend's way of buttering someone up by calling them younger than they were. What a sweet talker ...

Needless to say, she didn't care so much about getting her pronouns right.

You, however, should! Using the wrong pronoun can lead to misunderstandings or worse, offend someone.

So here's everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns and how to use them properly in conversation!

Introduction to Portuguese Pronouns

If you're a foreigner, people will probably forgive you for using the wrong pronoun-but that doesn't always mean they'll understand you. If you're trying to get someone's attention and mean to say "Hey, you!" but instead say "Hey, we!" I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get that person's attention-except, of course, to check why someone's screaming strange pronouns.

The bottom line is this: You need to know your basic personal pronouns to communicate effectively.

But what's a pronoun, you ask? A pronoun is a word that you use to substitute for a noun. The English personal pronouns are "I," "you," "he," "she," "we" and "they."

And why are pronouns necessary, you ask? Pronouns help us avoid repeating the noun a million times, which can get pretty clunky.

Pronouns are one of the most important parts of learning grammar. They describe the noun you're substituting just through their existence. A pronoun can denote the number of the noun being replaced, showing whether it's singular or plural. In English, for example, the singular pronouns are "I," "you," "she" and "he," while the plural ones are "we" and "they."

A pronoun also shows the gender of the noun. In English, the only examples of this are "he" and "she." There's also the neuter pronoun "it," but we'll talk more about it later in this post.

And finally, the pronoun shows the case, which is whether you're referring to the pronoun as the subject or the object in the sentence.

In this post, we're only going to cover the basics and leave the other forms personal pronouns can take for another lesson.

Instead, we'll focus on the subject case of personal pronouns for this lesson.

In Portuguese, there are a couple more pronouns to learn than in English. Luckily, they're pretty straightforward, for the most part!

The first thing you need to know about personal pronouns in Portuguese is that they work pretty much the same as English ones. Now, all you need to do is learn what they are!

If you're more of a visual learner, you can check out pronouns in use thanks to the authentic videos on FluentU. FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. This means you can hear pronouns as they're actually used by real native Portuguese speakers.

A Portuguese learning program is currently in development, so stay tuned for an immersive, authentic way to learn Portuguese, coming soon!

Portuguese Personal Pronouns

Before you get into the details, here are the Portuguese personal pronouns:

I - eu

You - tu, você, senhor, senhora

He - ele

Us - nós

Now, let's break down each of these pronouns.

Because using the word "you" in Portuguese is a little more complicated, we skip over it here and cover it in the next section.

Eu is the only word you use to say "I" in Portuguese. It's the same for both a man and a woman and is in the first person. Here's an example of how you'd use it:

Eu tenho fome. (I'm hungry.)

If you're referencing a masculine noun, you can use the word ele and if you're referring to a feminine one, use ela. These are singular.

To refer to a group of women or a plural noun that's feminine, you use e las. When referring to a plural number of a masculine noun, use eles. If you're referring to a group of both men and women, use eles as well.

Here are some examples of these pronouns in use:

Ela pensou que a festa ía ser hoje. (She thought the party would be today.)

Eles estão correndo bem rápido. (They're [mas. or mixed] running very fast.)

Elas querem festejar! (They [fem.] want to party!)

The equivalent to "we" is pretty simple! Just use nós.

If you want to get into the colloquial and sound like a native, you can say a gente instead of nós. Literally, means "the people," but it's used with the third-person plural of the verb. For example:

How to Say "You" in Portuguese

Here's the slightly more complicated explanation of all the ways to say "you." Since English doesn't differentiate between forms of "you" in the same way as Portuguese, it might be difficult to understand at first. You'll get the hang of it!

Tu is one of two main ways to say "you" in Portuguese.

How and how often tu is used depends on where you are. In Brazil, tu is viewed as formal by some people, but in areas in northeastern and southern Brazil, it's used casually.

In Portugal, people are more likely to use tu when speaking to a younger person or someone they're more familiar with.

So, wherever you go, I'd advise you to ask around about whether they use tu, and in what circumstances!

The other common way to say "you" is você, or its plural equivalent vocês. Again, where you are in the world affects how você is used.

In Brazil, this form is extremely common and is used in everyday conversation.

In Portugal, voc ê is used more formally, such as when you speak to someone who's older than you. And while você means "you," it's used with the third-person singular form of the verb. So instead of saying, você tens (you have) with the second-person singular form of the verb, which is incorrect, you'd say, você tem (you have).

If you want to take it a step further and show respect for your elders, you can use o senhor (sir) or a senhora (miss). You use these words in place of "you," but pair them with the third-person singular verb. For example:

A senhora gostaria de sentar aqui? (Would you [formal] like to sit here?)

The pronoun vós isn't used very much these days, but it's still important to know. It's considered more formal and archaic, but there are people in northern Portugal and northeastern Brazil that might use it in everyday speech.

However, you're more likely to read vós in old texts or historical fiction.

Review

Here's a quick rundown of which pronouns to use in what occasions and places:
Brazil:
Formal: tu, vós, o senhor, a senhora
Portugal:
Formal: você, vocês, vós, o senhor, a senhora

Differences Between English and Portuguese Pronouns

While the main principles of pronouns are the same in English and Portuguese, Portuguese pronouns function more similarly to Spanish pronouns. So, if you know Spanish, you're just a little closer to getting those pronouns right.

But don't worry! everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns is right in this post. Let's start with some differences between English and Portuguese pronouns.

You don't always need to use the pronoun

If it's clear who you're talking to or about, you can omit the pronoun.

This is usually the case when the conjugated verb can indicate who's being talked about. For example, you can say either of these variations:

Eu estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Even though you don't say the pronoun in the second example, the verb tells the listener that you're referring to yourself since it's in the first-person singular form.

At first, it might be hard to get this when you're listening to people talk, but once you get your verb conjugations down, you'll be a pro at understanding what people are saying even without the pronouns.

Third-person pronouns are dummy pronouns

A dummy pronoun is a pronoun that doesn't refer to a specific gender, such as "it" in English. In Portuguese, there's no special word for this; rather, you use ele or ela or the plural.

For example, if you're talking about a dog in English, you might say:

"It ate my homework!"

In Portuguese, you'd say:
Ele comeu minha lição de casa!
Just determine if the noun "it" refers to is feminine or masculine. If it's feminine, use ela and if it's masculine, use ele.

You can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun

Remember before when we talked about using o senhor or a senhora to mean "you"? In a similar vein, you can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun. This is only the case when you're actually talking to that person and it implies the tu or você. It'll be easier to understand once you see some examples:

Oi! Colega, pode me ajudar? (Hey! Classmate, can you help me?)

Pai, quer comida? (Dad, do you want food?)

Let's Practice Portuguese Personal Pronouns!

It's time to put all that information into practice!

Fill in the blanks with the personal pronoun that fits the sentence. Be aware that there may be more than one right answer. Hint: Look at the form of the verb!

1. _____ sou a pessoa mais linda aqui. ( _____ am the most beautiful person here.)

2. _____ quer jantar comigo? (Do _____ want to eat dinner with me?)

3. _____ comprou cinco livros? ( _____ bought five books?)

4. _____ comeram muito hoje. ( _____ ate a lot today.)

5. _____ dormimos na casa da mãe. ( _____ slept in mom's house.)

Don't scroll down yet! Give it your best shot!

Ready?
Here are the answers:
3. Ele/Ela/Você

4. Eles/Elas/Vocês

Tips for Learning Portuguese Pronouns

After reading all that, I'm sure you're close to getting the hang of Portuguese personal pronouns. If you want to keep practicing, here are some ways you can do so!

Online courses: There are a bunch of online courses with pronoun practice out there. You'll probably have to search for the section on pronouns, but it'll give you some extra practice!

Grammar Apps: There are a number of Portuguese learning apps you can try that would help you learn your pronouns in a slower, more step-by-step process.

Speaking practice: And, of course, there's no better way to learn a language than by speaking. You might get it wrong a few times, but that'll help you get it right eventually!

You can always make a cheat-sheet with the basics written on it, and refer to it when you need it. After a few attempts, you can trash that sheet and do it on your own. You'll be surprised at how much you know!

Now that you know how to get personal with Portuguese personal pronouns, get out there and wow everyone with your knowledge!

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online
Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Properly Use Portuguese Personal Pronouns

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?) I turned to my friend in disbelief. Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"? More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?)
I turned to my friend in disbelief.

Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"?

More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

I was told that was disrespectful-and it is-but I later found out it was my friend's way of buttering someone up by calling them younger than they were. What a sweet talker ...

Needless to say, she didn't care so much about getting her pronouns right.

You, however, should! Using the wrong pronoun can lead to misunderstandings or worse, offend someone.

So here's everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns and how to use them properly in conversation!

Introduction to Portuguese Pronouns

If you're a foreigner, people will probably forgive you for using the wrong pronoun-but that doesn't always mean they'll understand you. If you're trying to get someone's attention and mean to say "Hey, you!" but instead say "Hey, we!" I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get that person's attention-except, of course, to check why someone's screaming strange pronouns.

The bottom line is this: You need to know your basic personal pronouns to communicate effectively.

But what's a pronoun, you ask? A pronoun is a word that you use to substitute for a noun. The English personal pronouns are "I," "you," "he," "she," "we" and "they."

And why are pronouns necessary, you ask? Pronouns help us avoid repeating the noun a million times, which can get pretty clunky.

Pronouns are one of the most important parts of learning grammar. They describe the noun you're substituting just through their existence. A pronoun can denote the number of the noun being replaced, showing whether it's singular or plural. In English, for example, the singular pronouns are "I," "you," "she" and "he," while the plural ones are "we" and "they."

A pronoun also shows the gender of the noun. In English, the only examples of this are "he" and "she." There's also the neuter pronoun "it," but we'll talk more about it later in this post.

And finally, the pronoun shows the case, which is whether you're referring to the pronoun as the subject or the object in the sentence.

In this post, we're only going to cover the basics and leave the other forms personal pronouns can take for another lesson.

Instead, we'll focus on the subject case of personal pronouns for this lesson.

In Portuguese, there are a couple more pronouns to learn than in English. Luckily, they're pretty straightforward, for the most part!

The first thing you need to know about personal pronouns in Portuguese is that they work pretty much the same as English ones. Now, all you need to do is learn what they are!

If you're more of a visual learner, you can check out pronouns in use thanks to the authentic videos on FluentU. FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. This means you can hear pronouns as they're actually used by real native Portuguese speakers.

A Portuguese learning program is currently in development, so stay tuned for an immersive, authentic way to learn Portuguese, coming soon!

Portuguese Personal Pronouns

Before you get into the details, here are the Portuguese personal pronouns:

I - eu

You - tu, você, senhor, senhora

He - ele

Us - nós

Now, let's break down each of these pronouns.

Because using the word "you" in Portuguese is a little more complicated, we skip over it here and cover it in the next section.

Eu is the only word you use to say "I" in Portuguese. It's the same for both a man and a woman and is in the first person. Here's an example of how you'd use it:

Eu tenho fome. (I'm hungry.)

If you're referencing a masculine noun, you can use the word ele and if you're referring to a feminine one, use ela. These are singular.

To refer to a group of women or a plural noun that's feminine, you use e las. When referring to a plural number of a masculine noun, use eles. If you're referring to a group of both men and women, use eles as well.

Here are some examples of these pronouns in use:

Ela pensou que a festa ía ser hoje. (She thought the party would be today.)

Eles estão correndo bem rápido. (They're [mas. or mixed] running very fast.)

Elas querem festejar! (They [fem.] want to party!)

The equivalent to "we" is pretty simple! Just use nós.

If you want to get into the colloquial and sound like a native, you can say a gente instead of nós. Literally, means "the people," but it's used with the third-person plural of the verb. For example:

How to Say "You" in Portuguese

Here's the slightly more complicated explanation of all the ways to say "you." Since English doesn't differentiate between forms of "you" in the same way as Portuguese, it might be difficult to understand at first. You'll get the hang of it!

Tu is one of two main ways to say "you" in Portuguese.

How and how often tu is used depends on where you are. In Brazil, tu is viewed as formal by some people, but in areas in northeastern and southern Brazil, it's used casually.

In Portugal, people are more likely to use tu when speaking to a younger person or someone they're more familiar with.

So, wherever you go, I'd advise you to ask around about whether they use tu, and in what circumstances!

The other common way to say "you" is você, or its plural equivalent vocês. Again, where you are in the world affects how você is used.

In Brazil, this form is extremely common and is used in everyday conversation.

In Portugal, voc ê is used more formally, such as when you speak to someone who's older than you. And while você means "you," it's used with the third-person singular form of the verb. So instead of saying, você tens (you have) with the second-person singular form of the verb, which is incorrect, you'd say, você tem (you have).

If you want to take it a step further and show respect for your elders, you can use o senhor (sir) or a senhora (miss). You use these words in place of "you," but pair them with the third-person singular verb. For example:

A senhora gostaria de sentar aqui? (Would you [formal] like to sit here?)

The pronoun vós isn't used very much these days, but it's still important to know. It's considered more formal and archaic, but there are people in northern Portugal and northeastern Brazil that might use it in everyday speech.

However, you're more likely to read vós in old texts or historical fiction.

Review

Here's a quick rundown of which pronouns to use in what occasions and places:
Brazil:
Formal: tu, vós, o senhor, a senhora
Portugal:
Formal: você, vocês, vós, o senhor, a senhora

Differences Between English and Portuguese Pronouns

While the main principles of pronouns are the same in English and Portuguese, Portuguese pronouns function more similarly to Spanish pronouns. So, if you know Spanish, you're just a little closer to getting those pronouns right.

But don't worry! everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns is right in this post. Let's start with some differences between English and Portuguese pronouns.

You don't always need to use the pronoun

If it's clear who you're talking to or about, you can omit the pronoun.

This is usually the case when the conjugated verb can indicate who's being talked about. For example, you can say either of these variations:

Eu estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Even though you don't say the pronoun in the second example, the verb tells the listener that you're referring to yourself since it's in the first-person singular form.

At first, it might be hard to get this when you're listening to people talk, but once you get your verb conjugations down, you'll be a pro at understanding what people are saying even without the pronouns.

Third-person pronouns are dummy pronouns

A dummy pronoun is a pronoun that doesn't refer to a specific gender, such as "it" in English. In Portuguese, there's no special word for this; rather, you use ele or ela or the plural.

For example, if you're talking about a dog in English, you might say:

"It ate my homework!"

In Portuguese, you'd say:
Ele comeu minha lição de casa!
Just determine if the noun "it" refers to is feminine or masculine. If it's feminine, use ela and if it's masculine, use ele.

You can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun

Remember before when we talked about using o senhor or a senhora to mean "you"? In a similar vein, you can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun. This is only the case when you're actually talking to that person and it implies the tu or você. It'll be easier to understand once you see some examples:

Oi! Colega, pode me ajudar? (Hey! Classmate, can you help me?)

Pai, quer comida? (Dad, do you want food?)

Let's Practice Portuguese Personal Pronouns!

It's time to put all that information into practice!

Fill in the blanks with the personal pronoun that fits the sentence. Be aware that there may be more than one right answer. Hint: Look at the form of the verb!

1. _____ sou a pessoa mais linda aqui. ( _____ am the most beautiful person here.)

2. _____ quer jantar comigo? (Do _____ want to eat dinner with me?)

3. _____ comprou cinco livros? ( _____ bought five books?)

4. _____ comeram muito hoje. ( _____ ate a lot today.)

5. _____ dormimos na casa da mãe. ( _____ slept in mom's house.)

Don't scroll down yet! Give it your best shot!

Ready?
Here are the answers:
3. Ele/Ela/Você

4. Eles/Elas/Vocês

Tips for Learning Portuguese Pronouns

After reading all that, I'm sure you're close to getting the hang of Portuguese personal pronouns. If you want to keep practicing, here are some ways you can do so!

Online courses: There are a bunch of online courses with pronoun practice out there. You'll probably have to search for the section on pronouns, but it'll give you some extra practice!

Grammar Apps: There are a number of Portuguese learning apps you can try that would help you learn your pronouns in a slower, more step-by-step process.

Speaking practice: And, of course, there's no better way to learn a language than by speaking. You might get it wrong a few times, but that'll help you get it right eventually!

You can always make a cheat-sheet with the basics written on it, and refer to it when you need it. After a few attempts, you can trash that sheet and do it on your own. You'll be surprised at how much you know!

Now that you know how to get personal with Portuguese personal pronouns, get out there and wow everyone with your knowledge!

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online
Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Properly Use Portuguese Personal Pronouns

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?) I turned to my friend in disbelief. Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"? More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?)
I turned to my friend in disbelief.

Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"?

More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

I was told that was disrespectful-and it is-but I later found out it was my friend's way of buttering someone up by calling them younger than they were. What a sweet talker ...

Needless to say, she didn't care so much about getting her pronouns right.

You, however, should! Using the wrong pronoun can lead to misunderstandings or worse, offend someone.

So here's everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns and how to use them properly in conversation!

Introduction to Portuguese Pronouns

If you're a foreigner, people will probably forgive you for using the wrong pronoun-but that doesn't always mean they'll understand you. If you're trying to get someone's attention and mean to say "Hey, you!" but instead say "Hey, we!" I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get that person's attention-except, of course, to check why someone's screaming strange pronouns.

The bottom line is this: You need to know your basic personal pronouns to communicate effectively.

But what's a pronoun, you ask? A pronoun is a word that you use to substitute for a noun. The English personal pronouns are "I," "you," "he," "she," "we" and "they."

And why are pronouns necessary, you ask? Pronouns help us avoid repeating the noun a million times, which can get pretty clunky.

Pronouns are one of the most important parts of learning grammar. They describe the noun you're substituting just through their existence. A pronoun can denote the number of the noun being replaced, showing whether it's singular or plural. In English, for example, the singular pronouns are "I," "you," "she" and "he," while the plural ones are "we" and "they."

A pronoun also shows the gender of the noun. In English, the only examples of this are "he" and "she." There's also the neuter pronoun "it," but we'll talk more about it later in this post.

And finally, the pronoun shows the case, which is whether you're referring to the pronoun as the subject or the object in the sentence.

In this post, we're only going to cover the basics and leave the other forms personal pronouns can take for another lesson.

Instead, we'll focus on the subject case of personal pronouns for this lesson.

In Portuguese, there are a couple more pronouns to learn than in English. Luckily, they're pretty straightforward, for the most part!

The first thing you need to know about personal pronouns in Portuguese is that they work pretty much the same as English ones. Now, all you need to do is learn what they are!

If you're more of a visual learner, you can check out pronouns in use thanks to the authentic videos on FluentU. FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. This means you can hear pronouns as they're actually used by real native Portuguese speakers.

A Portuguese learning program is currently in development, so stay tuned for an immersive, authentic way to learn Portuguese, coming soon!

Portuguese Personal Pronouns

Before you get into the details, here are the Portuguese personal pronouns:

I - eu

You - tu, você, senhor, senhora

He - ele

Us - nós

Now, let's break down each of these pronouns.

Because using the word "you" in Portuguese is a little more complicated, we skip over it here and cover it in the next section.

Eu is the only word you use to say "I" in Portuguese. It's the same for both a man and a woman and is in the first person. Here's an example of how you'd use it:

Eu tenho fome. (I'm hungry.)

If you're referencing a masculine noun, you can use the word ele and if you're referring to a feminine one, use ela. These are singular.

To refer to a group of women or a plural noun that's feminine, you use e las. When referring to a plural number of a masculine noun, use eles. If you're referring to a group of both men and women, use eles as well.

Here are some examples of these pronouns in use:

Ela pensou que a festa ía ser hoje. (She thought the party would be today.)

Eles estão correndo bem rápido. (They're [mas. or mixed] running very fast.)

Elas querem festejar! (They [fem.] want to party!)

The equivalent to "we" is pretty simple! Just use nós.

If you want to get into the colloquial and sound like a native, you can say a gente instead of nós. Literally, means "the people," but it's used with the third-person plural of the verb. For example:

How to Say "You" in Portuguese

Here's the slightly more complicated explanation of all the ways to say "you." Since English doesn't differentiate between forms of "you" in the same way as Portuguese, it might be difficult to understand at first. You'll get the hang of it!

Tu is one of two main ways to say "you" in Portuguese.

How and how often tu is used depends on where you are. In Brazil, tu is viewed as formal by some people, but in areas in northeastern and southern Brazil, it's used casually.

In Portugal, people are more likely to use tu when speaking to a younger person or someone they're more familiar with.

So, wherever you go, I'd advise you to ask around about whether they use tu, and in what circumstances!

The other common way to say "you" is você, or its plural equivalent vocês. Again, where you are in the world affects how você is used.

In Brazil, this form is extremely common and is used in everyday conversation.

In Portugal, voc ê is used more formally, such as when you speak to someone who's older than you. And while você means "you," it's used with the third-person singular form of the verb. So instead of saying, você tens (you have) with the second-person singular form of the verb, which is incorrect, you'd say, você tem (you have).

If you want to take it a step further and show respect for your elders, you can use o senhor (sir) or a senhora (miss). You use these words in place of "you," but pair them with the third-person singular verb. For example:

A senhora gostaria de sentar aqui? (Would you [formal] like to sit here?)

The pronoun vós isn't used very much these days, but it's still important to know. It's considered more formal and archaic, but there are people in northern Portugal and northeastern Brazil that might use it in everyday speech.

However, you're more likely to read vós in old texts or historical fiction.

Review

Here's a quick rundown of which pronouns to use in what occasions and places:
Brazil:
Formal: tu, vós, o senhor, a senhora
Portugal:
Formal: você, vocês, vós, o senhor, a senhora

Differences Between English and Portuguese Pronouns

While the main principles of pronouns are the same in English and Portuguese, Portuguese pronouns function more similarly to Spanish pronouns. So, if you know Spanish, you're just a little closer to getting those pronouns right.

But don't worry! everything you need to know about Portuguese personal pronouns is right in this post. Let's start with some differences between English and Portuguese pronouns.

You don't always need to use the pronoun

If it's clear who you're talking to or about, you can omit the pronoun.

This is usually the case when the conjugated verb can indicate who's being talked about. For example, you can say either of these variations:

Eu estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Estou escutando. (I'm listening.)

Even though you don't say the pronoun in the second example, the verb tells the listener that you're referring to yourself since it's in the first-person singular form.

At first, it might be hard to get this when you're listening to people talk, but once you get your verb conjugations down, you'll be a pro at understanding what people are saying even without the pronouns.

Third-person pronouns are dummy pronouns

A dummy pronoun is a pronoun that doesn't refer to a specific gender, such as "it" in English. In Portuguese, there's no special word for this; rather, you use ele or ela or the plural.

For example, if you're talking about a dog in English, you might say:

"It ate my homework!"

In Portuguese, you'd say:
Ele comeu minha lição de casa!
Just determine if the noun "it" refers to is feminine or masculine. If it's feminine, use ela and if it's masculine, use ele.

You can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun

Remember before when we talked about using o senhor or a senhora to mean "you"? In a similar vein, you can replace a second-person pronoun with a noun. This is only the case when you're actually talking to that person and it implies the tu or você. It'll be easier to understand once you see some examples:

Oi! Colega, pode me ajudar? (Hey! Classmate, can you help me?)

Pai, quer comida? (Dad, do you want food?)

Let's Practice Portuguese Personal Pronouns!

It's time to put all that information into practice!

Fill in the blanks with the personal pronoun that fits the sentence. Be aware that there may be more than one right answer. Hint: Look at the form of the verb!

1. _____ sou a pessoa mais linda aqui. ( _____ am the most beautiful person here.)

2. _____ quer jantar comigo? (Do _____ want to eat dinner with me?)

3. _____ comprou cinco livros? ( _____ bought five books?)

4. _____ comeram muito hoje. ( _____ ate a lot today.)

5. _____ dormimos na casa da mãe. ( _____ slept in mom's house.)

Don't scroll down yet! Give it your best shot!

Ready?
Here are the answers:
3. Ele/Ela/Você

4. Eles/Elas/Vocês

Tips for Learning Portuguese Pronouns

After reading all that, I'm sure you're close to getting the hang of Portuguese personal pronouns. If you want to keep practicing, here are some ways you can do so!

Online courses: There are a bunch of online courses with pronoun practice out there. You'll probably have to search for the section on pronouns, but it'll give you some extra practice!

Grammar Apps: There are a number of Portuguese learning apps you can try that would help you learn your pronouns in a slower, more step-by-step process.

Speaking practice: And, of course, there's no better way to learn a language than by speaking. You might get it wrong a few times, but that'll help you get it right eventually!

You can always make a cheat-sheet with the basics written on it, and refer to it when you need it. After a few attempts, you can trash that sheet and do it on your own. You'll be surprised at how much you know!

Now that you know how to get personal with Portuguese personal pronouns, get out there and wow everyone with your knowledge!

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online
Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Properly Use Portuguese Personal Pronouns

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Moça, você pode me ajudar?" (Young woman, can you help me?) I turned to my friend in disbelief. Did she just address an elderly woman as "girl"? More alarmingly, did she just use the informal form of the pronoun for her elder?

# data[].attributes.body
O gênero e uma coisa muito importante no português e para a morfologia. Cada substantivo no Portugueses tem gênero. Cada Palavra com origem grega termina na ema são masculinos, por exemplo, "o telefonema". Palavras japonese são masculinos, por exemplo, "O quimono, o caratê, o sushi". É muito interessante que palavras de origens diferentes tem regras de gênero no Português também.

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O plural das palavras que termina com "ão"

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O plural das palavras que termina com "ão"

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O português tem 3 opções com o plural das palavras que termina com "ão". O primeiro e tirar ão e bota ões. Por exemple, Botão - botões. A segunda opção é botar s no final. Bênção – bênçãos. A opção terça é mudar o ão para ães. Alemão- alemães. Também pode ser duas opções. alazão - alazães e alazões

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Limãos ou limões, cidadãos ou cidadões, refrãos ou refrões?

As palavras terminadas em -ão podem formar plural de três modos: -ões, -ãos ou -ães. Não há uma regra específica a ser seguida para se fazer este plural, pois pode variar entre os três e dependerá unicamente da origem da palavra, ou seja, de sua etimologia.

A maioria dos substantivos e adjetivos que terminam em -ão faz o plural em -ões. Vejamos:

Balão - balões
Botão - botões
Cordão - cordões
Estação - estações
Limão - limões
Paixão - paixões
Visão - visões
Razão - razões

Quando a terminação -ão recaí sob a sílaba átona -sem tonicidade, pronunciada mais fracamente- o plural obedece a regra básica: acrescenta-se "s" no final:

Bênção - bênçãos
Órgão - órgãos
Sótão - sótãos

Observe que as palavras acima são paroxítonas. Mas entre algumas oxítonas, monossílabas ou não, acontece o mesmo: mão -mãos, chão - chãos, grão-grãos, irmão -irmãos, artesão-artesãos.

Poucos vocábulos tem seu plural em -ães:

Alemão- alemães
cão - cães
capitão - capitães
catalão - catalães
charlatão - charlatães
escrivão - escrivães
guardião - guardiães
pão - pães
sacristão - sacristães
tabelião - tabeliães

Outras palavras aceitam mais de uma forma de se fazer o plural, como os seguintes casos:

-alazão - alazães e alazões
-aldeão - aldeões, aldeãos e aldeães
- anão - anões e anãos
- ancião - anciãos, anciães e anciões
- artesão - artesães e artesãos
- castelão - castelãos e castelões
- cirurgião - cirurgiões e cirurgiães
- corrimão - corrimãos e corrimões
- deão - deães e deões
- ermitão - ermitãos, ermitães e ermitões
- faisão - faisães e faisões
- guardião - guardiães e guardiões
- hortelão - hortelãos e hortelões
- refrão - refrães e refrãos
- rufião - rufiões e rufiães
- sacristão -sacristães e sacristãos
- sultão - sultões, sultãos e sultães
- Verão - verões e verãos
- vilão - vilãos e vilões
- zangão - zangões e zangãos

Decorar não é a maneira ideal de assimilar esses plurais, uma vez que há muitas exceções e modos de se falar. Portanto, a prática é a melhor maneira de aprendê-los! Pois, é difícil esquecer de algo que é de nosso costume, que já faz parte da rotina.

Não pare agora... Tem mais depois da publicidade ;)

Por Sabrina Vilarinho
Graduada em Letras
Equipe Brasil Escola

Veja mais!

Concordância Nominal - Saiba mais como é feita a concordância dos nomes!

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como plural de palavras terminadas em ão

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como saber quais palavras terminam em ãos

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O plural das palavras terminadas em ão - Brasil Escola

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Limãos ou limões, cidadãos ou cidadões, refrãos ou refrões? As palavras terminadas em -ão podem formar plural de três modos: -ões, -ãos ou -ães. Não há uma regra específica a ser seguida para se fazer este plural, pois pode variar entre os três e dependerá unicamente da origem da palavra, ou seja, de sua etimologia.

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Os verbos são muito importantes para a morfologia. O presente de subjuntivo tem vários irregulares como diz esta página web. Também essa página tem como pronunciar cada verbo irregular. Por exemplo,

ir | vá | vás | vá | vamos | vades | vão

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Presente de Subjuntivo (Verbos Regulares e Irregulares) en Portugués

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Portal del Idioma Portugués. Curso Gratis Online. Todos los recursos para aprender portugués. Vocabulario, gramática, pronunciación y más de 25000 archivos de audio.

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Presente de Subjuntivo (Verbos Regulares e Irregulares) en Portugués

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Portal del Idioma Portugués. Curso Gratis Online. Todos los recursos para aprender portugués. Vocabulario, gramática, pronunciación y más de 25000 archivos de audio.

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Presente de Subjuntivo (Verbos Regulares e Irregulares) en Portugués

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Portal del Idioma Portugués. Curso Gratis Online. Todos los recursos para aprender portugués. Vocabulario, gramática, pronunciación y más de 25000 archivos de audio.

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Presente de Subjuntivo (Verbos Regulares e Irregulares) en Portugués

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Portal del Idioma Portugués. Curso Gratis Online. Todos los recursos para aprender portugués. Vocabulario, gramática, pronunciación y más de 25000 archivos de audio.

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Presente de Subjuntivo (Verbos Regulares e Irregulares) en Portugués

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Portal del Idioma Portugués. Curso Gratis Online. Todos los recursos para aprender portugués. Vocabulario, gramática, pronunciación y más de 25000 archivos de audio.

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Presente de Subjuntivo (Verbos Regulares e Irregulares) en Portugués

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Portal del Idioma Portugués. Curso Gratis Online. Todos los recursos para aprender portugués. Vocabulario, gramática, pronunciación y más de 25000 archivos de audio.

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Presente de Subjuntivo (Verbos Regulares e Irregulares) en Portugués

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Portal del Idioma Portugués. Curso Gratis Online. Todos los recursos para aprender portugués. Vocabulario, gramática, pronunciación y más de 25000 archivos de audio.

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O soe “s final” é diferente por todo Brasil. Por exemplo, No Belém é comum dizer português com o soe de “sh” também nas cidades, Florianópolis, e Rio de Janeiro. As cidades que tem “s final” com o soe de “s” são Recife Salvador, Belo Horizonte, São Paulo, Curitiba, e Porto Alegre.

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Brasil é muito interessante, porque tem 200 milhões de pessoas e muitos sotaques. Por exemplo, certas regiões usam o soe tchi/dji para as letras ti/di. Isso é mais comum por brasil com a maioria do mapa tem a palatização. Algumas partes do Brasil não têm palatal como o nordeste e o sul.

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Este vídeo usa o chainte com a palavra *mais* mas não para a palavra *mas*. A falador não usa o ditongo para a palavra, “mas” tampouco. Seu sotaque parece carioca então acho que ela mudou sua maneira de falar para mostra a diferente entre as palavras *mas* e *mais*.

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Aulas de Português - Prof.ª Eliane Vieira

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Em minha experiencia, as vezes a palavra, “mas” e “mais” se pronuncia mesmo. Isso é porque alguns sotaques do Brasil tem a chiante e ditongo da palavra, “mas” isso é a ração de similitude. Por exemplo, a chiante, muda a palavra a “mash” e a ditongo muda a pronunciação a *maish*. Isso é a ração de as similitudes. Este vídeo não usa chiante ou ditongo. então a pronunciação e como se escribe “mas”.

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O primeiro rei do Portugal foi o Afonso Henriques. Ele é conhecido por luchando contra os mouros. Ele manteve o território do Portugal porque um serie de matrimônios, seu pai foi de Burgandy, e foi conde do Portugal. O poder Burgandy ajuda o Portugal ficar livre dos espanholes. Ele se formou o país no ano 1139.

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Brasil tem 80 porcento das falantes do português no mundo com 200 milhões de pessoas no Brasil que falam português. Os portugueses espalharem o idioma Portugal durante o reino português. Agora o Portugal é número 4th do número de falantes do mundo com Angola e Moçambique que tem mais falantes. Outros países no mundo lusófono são Cabo Verde, Guiné-Bissau, São Tomé e Príncipe.

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O português tem muita variedade por todos seus dialetos.  Enquanto, o português do Brasil tem muita variedade entre a língua escrita e oral. O autor de este artículo diz que língua escrita e oral são como duas idiomas diferentes. A língua falada é mais espontânea e simples por exemplo “kolé” por “Qual é que é”.

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10 Portuguese slang words - Easy Brazilian Portuguese Basic Phrases (8)

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Este crioulo é falado nos islãs de Curação, Aruba, e Bonaire. Tem semelhanças com inglês, espanhol e português. Por exemplo,

"Mi nober ta" no papiamento tem semelhanças com o português
e espanhol. Português tem a palavra “nome” que é simular e também “ta”
significa “esta” no português. “Mi” tem semelhanças de espanhol com a palavra “mi”.

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Learn Papiamento - Lesson #1 - Introducing Yourself