Appendix:Portuguese pronouns

Personal pronouns

Portuguese personal pronouns

number	person		nominative (subject)	accusative (direct object)	dative (indirect object)	prepositional	prepositional with com	non-declining
singular	first		eu	me		mim	comigo	—
	second		tu	te		ti	contigo	você o senhor m a senhora f
	third	m	ele	o (lo, no)	lhe	ele	com ele	o mesmo
		f	ela	a (la, na)		ela	com ela	a mesma
plural	first		nós	nos		nós	connosco (Portugal) conosco (Brazil)	a gente
	second		vós	vos		vós	convosco com vós	vocês os senhores m as senhoras f
	third	m	eles	os (los, nos)	lhes	eles	com eles	os mesmos
		f	elas	as (las, nas)		elas	com elas	as mesmas
reflexive third / indefinite			—	se		si	consigo	o mesmo etc. (reflexive)

The Portuguese personal pronouns, show a higher degree of inflection compared to other parts of speech, being the only words that have distinct forms for subject (nominative case), direct object or indirect object, or object of a preposition.

Portuguese personal pronouns are categorized in three main groups: pronomes pessoais do caso reto “nominative case personal pronouns”, pronomes pessoais do caso oblíquo “accusative and dative case personal pronouns” and formas de tratamento “forms of address”.

Caso recto and Caso oblíquo

Most of these can be directly translated as the English words I, me, you, etc.

• The subject is always before a verb. Due to the high number of verb conjugations, this pronoun can be omitted if superfluous:

  Eu comi arroz ontem.; Comi arroz ontem. — “I ate rice yesterday.”

• Usually the direct object can be placed after or before a verb. If after, it is joined to the verb by a hyphen. However, there is a different rule when a verb is conjugated in the future indicative: the direct object can be placed before or inside this verb.

  Eu te fiz feliz.; Eu fiz-te feliz. — “I made you happy.”

  Nós te daremos um presente.; Nós dar-te-emos um presente. — “We will give you a gift.”

• The indirect object is used after a preposition.

  Ela comprou comida para ti. — “She bought food for you.”

  Ele gosta de mim. — “He likes me.”

Formas de tratamento

Portuguese forms of address (edit)
Second-person	Vossa Alteza, Vossa Eminência, Vossa Excelência, Vossa Magnificência, Vossa Majestade, Vossa Mercê, Vossa Onipotência, Vossa Reverendíssima, Vossa Senhoria
Third-person	Sua Alteza, Sua Eminência, Sua Excelência, Sua Magnificência, Sua Majestade, Sua Mercê, Sua Onipotência, Sua Reverendíssima, Sua Senhoria
Others
Dom, você, o senhor, a gente

They are often translated as English Your Majesty, Your Highness, etc., with few exceptions.

In many dialects, você is a common variation or complete substitution of tu, te and ti. Verbs taking this as subject are conjugated in third-person singular.

Eu te amo.; Eu amo você. — “I love you.”

In many dialects, vocês is a complete substitution of vós and vos. Verbs taking this as subject are conjugated in third-person plural. Therefore, second-person plural conjugations are almost unknown by many native speakers.

Vocês são os meus melhores amigos. — “You are my best friends.”

In many dialects, a gente is a common colloquial variation of nós and nos. Verbs taking this as subject are conjugated in third-person singular.

Nós vamos para casa.; A gente vai para casa. — “We are going home.”

Personal pronouns and verb forms

Not all personal pronouns are used with verb forms that correspond in number and person. The following table lists which verb forms are used with which personal pronouns:

pronoun	person and number of the pronoun	person and number of verb forms used with it	example with ser	notes
eu	first-person singular	first-person singular	eu sou
nós	first-person plural	first-person plural	nós somos
		third-person singular	*nós é	highly proscribed Brazilian usage
a gente	first-person plural	third-person singular	a gente é
		first-person plural	*a gente somos	highly proscribed Brazilian usage
tu	second-person singular	second-person singular	tu és
		third-person singular	tu é	regional Brazilian usage
você	second-person singular	third-person singular	você é
o senhor, a senhora	second-person singular	third-person singular	o senhor é
vós	second-person plural	second-person plural	vós sois
vocês	second-person plural	third-person plural	vocês são
os senhores, as senhoras	second-person plural	third-person plural	os senhores são
ele, ela	third-person singular	third-person singular	ele é
o mesmo, a mesma	third-person singular	third-person singular	o mesmo é
eles, elas	third-person plural	third-person plural	eles são
os mesmos, as mesmas	third-person plural	third-person plural	os mesmos são

In addition, the second-person singular imperative is sometimes used with você in colloquial usage.

Possessive pronouns

Portuguese possessive pronouns

			singular possessum		plural possessum
			masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
singular possessor	first person		meu	minha	meus	minhas
	second person		teu	tua	teus	tuas
	third person	any	seu	sua	seus	suas
		m	dele
		f	dela
plural possessor	first person		nosso	nossa	nossos	nossas
	second person		vosso	vossa	vossos	vossas
	third person	any	seu	sua	seus	suas
		m	deles
		f	delas

The Portuguese possessive pronouns are translated as the English words my, mine, your, etc.

Portuguese personal pronouns are inflected according to this information:

• Grammatical number (singular or plural) and person (first, second or third) of the owner.
• Grammatical number (singular or plural) and gender (masculine or feminine) of the thing owned.

Unlike English, there are no distinct words for attributive or other uses. For example, my and mine would be considered identical in Portuguese. However, there is a tendency for omitting articles in attributive context.

Examples:

Hoje é o meu dia de sorte. — “Today is my lucky day.”

A minha namorada é linda. — “My girlfriend is pretty.”

Eu não gosto dos teus filhos. — “I don't like your kids.”

Este cachorro é teu. — “This dog is yours.”

Contractions

The pronouns seu, sua, seus and suas have a high degree of ambiguity: there is no way to know whether they are singular or plural. Additionally, they can be used as second or third person, to agree with tu and você. Usually in dialectal or colloquial contexts, the contractions dele, dela, deles and delas are used in the third person instead.