Portuguese Personal Pronouns: A Complete Guide

Introduction

Personal pronouns are fundamental building blocks of Portuguese communication. Whether you’re greeting someone in Rio de Janeiro or writing an email to a colleague in Lisbon, understanding how to properly use personal pronouns will transform your Portuguese from choppy phrases into natural, flowing conversation. This complete guide explores subject pronouns, object pronouns, reflexive forms, and the cultural nuances that make Portuguese pronoun usage both fascinating and essential for learners at every level.

What Are Personal Pronouns in Portuguese?

Personal pronouns in Portuguese replace nouns and refer to people, places, or things in conversation. Just as English uses I, you, he, and she, Portuguese employs its own system of pronouns that indicate who is speaking, who is being spoken to, and who or what is being discussed.

The Portuguese pronoun system is more complex than English because it includes formal and informal distinctions, gender agreements, and multiple object pronoun forms. However, mastering these pronouns opens the door to authentic Portuguese expression and helps you navigate social situations with confidence.

Subject Pronouns: The Foundation of Portuguese Sentences

Subject pronouns indicate who performs the action in a sentence. In Portuguese, these pronouns are often optional because verb conjugations already reveal the subject. However, knowing them remains crucial for clarity and emphasis.

The Complete List of Subject Pronouns

The Portuguese subject pronouns are organized by person and number:
First person singular: eu (I)
Second person singular informal: tu (you)
Second person singular formal: você (you)
Third person singular masculine: ele (he)
Third person singular feminine: ela (she)
First person plural: nós (we)
First person plural informal: a gente (we)
Second person plural informal: vós (you all)
Second person plural formal: vocês (you all)
Third person plural masculine: eles (they)
Third person plural feminine: elas (they)

Understanding Eu: The First Person Singular

The pronoun eu represents the speaker and translates to I in English. Unlike English, where the pronoun is always capitalized, eu appears in lowercase except at the beginning of sentences.

Example sentences:
Eu moro no Brasil. (I live in Brazil.)
Eu gosto de café. (I like coffee.)
Eu estudo português todos os dias. (I study Portuguese every day.)

In many contexts, Portuguese speakers omit eu because the verb conjugation makes the subject clear. For instance, Moro no Brasil is perfectly acceptable because the verb moro can only refer to eu. Speakers typically include eu for emphasis or contrast.

Tu vs. Você: Navigating Formality in the Second Person

One of the most distinctive features of Portuguese is the choice between tu and você for addressing a single person. Both mean you, but they carry different levels of formality and vary significantly by region.

Tu is the informal second person pronoun, historically used among friends, family, and children. In Brazil, tu appears primarily in southern and northern regions, while much of the country prefers você for all contexts. In Portugal, tu remains the standard informal pronoun.

Você originated as a contraction of Vossa Mercê (Your Mercy) and technically functions as a third person pronoun grammatically, even though it means you. This explains why verbs conjugate in the third person when using você.

Examples:
Tu és inteligente. (You are intelligent – informal with second person conjugation)
Você é inteligente. (You are intelligent – using third person conjugation)

Ele and Ela: Third Person Singular Pronouns

The pronouns ele (he) and ela (she) refer to third parties and must agree with the grammatical gender of the person or thing they replace. Portuguese assigns gender to all nouns, so even inanimate objects take ele or ela.

Examples with people:
Ela trabalha no hospital. (She works at the hospital.)
Ele estuda medicina. (He studies medicine.)

Examples with objects:
A casa é bonita. Ela tem três quartos. (The house is beautiful. It has three rooms.)
O carro é novo. Ele custa muito. (The car is new. It costs a lot.)

Nós and A Gente: Two Ways to Say We

Portuguese offers two options for the first person plural: the traditional nós and the increasingly popular colloquial form a gente.

Nós is the formal grammatical subject pronoun for we, requiring first person plural verb conjugations. It appears in written Portuguese, formal speech, and traditional contexts.

A gente literally means the people but functions as an informal substitute for nós. Despite meaning we, a gente takes third person singular verb forms because it is grammatically singular. Brazilian Portuguese speakers use a gente extensively in everyday conversation.

Comparison examples:
Nós falamos português. (We speak Portuguese – formal)
A gente fala português. (We speak Portuguese – informal)

Vocês: The Plural You

The pronoun vocês serves as the plural form of você, addressing multiple people. In Brazilian Portuguese, vocês is the standard way to say you all in both formal and informal contexts.

Examples:
Vocês moram aqui? (Do you all live here?)
Vocês querem café? (Do you all want coffee?)

The older form vós existed as the plural of tu, but it has virtually disappeared from modern Portuguese except in religious texts, literature, and some rural Portuguese communities.

Eles and Elas: They in Masculine and Feminine

The third person plural pronouns eles (they masculine) and elas (they feminine) follow the same gender agreement rules as their singular counterparts. When referring to mixed-gender groups, Portuguese defaults to the masculine eles.

Examples:
Eles estudam na universidade. (They study at the university – all male or mixed group)
Elas trabalham juntas. (They work together – all female)

Direct Object Pronouns: Receiving the Action

Direct object pronouns replace nouns that receive the action of a verb directly, without a preposition. These pronouns answer the question what? or whom?

Forms of Direct Object Pronouns

The direct object pronouns in Portuguese are:
me (me)
te (you informal)
o (him, it masculine)
a (her, it feminine)
nos (us)
vos (you all informal – rarely used)
os (them masculine)
as (them feminine)

Placement and Usage of Direct Object Pronouns

In European Portuguese, object pronouns typically precede the verb, while Brazilian Portuguese often places them after the verb, connected by a hyphen in formal writing.

European Portuguese examples:
Eu te vejo amanhã. (I see you tomorrow.)
Ela me conhece bem. (She knows me well.)

Brazilian Portuguese examples:
Eu vejo você amanhã. (I see you tomorrow – often uses você instead of te)
Vou encontrá-lo na praça. (I will meet him at the square – formal writing)

In spoken Brazilian Portuguese, speakers frequently avoid direct object pronouns altogether, using full nouns or omitting the object when context makes it clear.

The Forms Lo, La, Los, Las

When direct object pronouns follow verbs ending in r, s, or z, the final consonant drops and the pronoun changes to lo, la, los, or las.

Examples:
Vou comprar o livro. becomes Vou comprá-lo. (I am going to buy it.)
Queremos ver os filmes. becomes Queremos vê-los. (We want to see them.)

The Forms No, Na, Nos, Nas

After verbs ending in nasal sounds (marked by ~ or m), the direct object pronouns become no, na, nos, and nas.

Examples:
Eles põem a mesa. becomes Eles põem-na. (They set it – the table.)
Dão as flores. becomes Dão-nas. (They give them – the flowers.)

Indirect Object Pronouns: The Recipients

Indirect object pronouns indicate to whom or for whom an action is performed. They answer the questions to whom? or for whom?

Forms of Indirect Object Pronouns

The indirect object pronouns closely resemble direct object pronouns:
me (to me)
te (to you informal)
lhe (to him, to her, to you formal)
nos (to us)
vos (to you all informal – rarely used)
lhes (to them, to you all formal)

Using Indirect Object Pronouns in Context

Indirect object pronouns appear with verbs of giving, telling, showing, and other actions involving transfer or communication.

Examples:
Eu te dei o presente. (I gave you the present.)
Ela me contou a história. (She told me the story.)
Nós lhe mostramos a casa. (We showed him/her the house.)

The pronoun lhe and its plural lhes do not specify gender, making them useful but sometimes ambiguous. For clarity, Portuguese speakers often use prepositional phrases instead.

Clearer alternatives:
Eu dei o livro a ele. (I gave the book to him.)
Ela mostrou as fotos a elas. (She showed the photos to them – feminine.)

Reflexive Pronouns: Actions Upon Oneself

Reflexive pronouns indicate that the subject performs an action upon itself. These pronouns are essential for expressing daily routines and self-directed actions.

The Complete Set of Reflexive Pronouns

The reflexive pronouns mirror the subject pronouns:
me (myself)
te (yourself informal)
se (himself, herself, yourself formal, itself)
nos (ourselves)
vos (yourselves informal – rarely used)
se (themselves, yourselves formal)

Common Reflexive Verbs in Daily Life

Many everyday activities use reflexive verbs in Portuguese. These verbs describe personal care, positioning, and emotional states.

Examples of reflexive verbs:
levantar-se (to get up): Eu me levanto cedo. (I get up early.)
vestir-se (to get dressed): Ela se veste rapidamente. (She gets dressed quickly.)
sentar-se (to sit down): Nós nos sentamos na sala. (We sit down in the living room.)
chamar-se (to be called): Ele se chama Pedro. (He is called Pedro.)

Reciprocal Use of Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns also express reciprocal actions, where multiple subjects act upon each other.

Examples:
Eles se conhecem há anos. (They have known each other for years.)
Nós nos encontramos no parque. (We meet each other in the park.)
Vocês se ajudam sempre. (You all always help each other.)

Prepositional Pronouns: After Prepositions

When pronouns follow prepositions like de (of, from), para (for, to), com (with), and sem (without), they take special forms called prepositional pronouns or tonic pronouns.

Forms of Prepositional Pronouns

The prepositional pronouns are:
mim (me)
ti (you informal)
ele (him)
ela (her)
você (you formal)
nós (us)
vós (you all informal – archaic)
eles (them masculine)
elas (them feminine)
vocês (you all formal)

Common Prepositional Phrases

Prepositional pronouns appear frequently in everyday expressions and are essential for natural Portuguese.

Examples with various prepositions:
Este presente é para mim. (This gift is for me.)
Ela mora perto de nós. (She lives near us.)
Vou sem eles. (I am going without them.)
O livro é sobre ele. (The book is about him.)

Special Case: Com + Prepositional Pronouns

The preposition com (with) combines with certain pronouns to create contracted forms:

comigo (with me)
contigo (with you informal)
consigo (with himself, herself, yourself formal)

Examples:
Venha comigo. (Come with me.)
Ele sempre leva o passaporte consigo. (He always carries his passport with him.)

For other persons, use com followed by the regular prepositional pronoun:
Vou com ele. (I am going with him.)
Ela trabalha com eles. (She works with them.)

Demonstrative Pronouns: Pointing Out Specifics

Demonstrative pronouns indicate spatial or temporal distance and replace nouns while pointing them out. They correspond to this, that, these, and those in English.

The Three Levels of Distance

Portuguese demonstrative pronouns operate on a three-tier system based on proximity to the speaker and listener.

Near the speaker:
este, esta (this singular)
estes, estas (these plural)
isto (this – neuter)

Near the listener:
esse, essa (that singular)
esses, essas (those plural)
isso (that – neuter)

Far from both:
aquele, aquela (that singular over there)
aqueles, aquelas (those plural over there)
aquilo (that – neuter over there)

Using Demonstrative Pronouns in Conversation

Examples showing proximity distinctions:
Este livro é meu. (This book is mine – holding it.)
Esse livro é seu? (Is that book yours? – near you.)
Aquele livro é dele. (That book over there is his – across the room.)

The neuter forms isto, isso, and aquilo refer to abstract ideas or unspecified things:
Isto é interessante. (This is interesting.)
O que é isso? (What is that?)
Aquilo foi incrível. (That was incredible.)

Possessive Pronouns: Showing Ownership

Possessive pronouns indicate ownership or relationship and replace nouns while showing who possesses them.

Forms of Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns agree in gender and number with the thing possessed, not the possessor.

My/Mine:
meu, minha (singular)
meus, minhas (plural)

Your/Yours (informal):
teu, tua (singular)
teus, tuas (plural)

Your/Yours (formal), His, Hers, Its:
seu, sua (singular)
seus, suas (plural)

Our/Ours:
nosso, nossa (singular)
nossos, nossas (plural)

Your/Yours (plural informal):
vosso, vossa (singular)
vossos, vossas (plural)

Their/Theirs, Your/Yours (plural formal):
seu, sua (singular)
seus, suas (plural)

Using Possessive Pronouns Correctly

Examples showing agreement:
Este carro é meu. (This car is mine – masculine.)
Estas casas são nossas. (These houses are ours – feminine plural.)
Aquele livro é seu? (Is that book yours?)

Clarifying Ambiguous Possessives

The forms seu, sua, seus, and suas can mean his, her, your, its, or their, potentially causing confusion. Portuguese speakers often use prepositional phrases for clarity.

Clearer alternatives:
o carro dele (his car – literally, the car of him)
a casa dela (her house – literally, the house of her)
os amigos deles (their friends – masculine – literally, the friends of them)

Relative Pronouns: Connecting Clauses

Relative pronouns connect clauses and refer back to nouns mentioned earlier, similar to who, which, and that in English.

The Primary Relative Pronoun: Que

The most common relative pronoun is que, which can refer to people or things and serves as subject or object of relative clauses.

Examples:
O homem que trabalha aqui é meu amigo. (The man who works here is my friend.)
O livro que comprei é ótimo. (The book that I bought is great.)
As pessoas que conheci foram simpáticas. (The people whom I met were nice.)

Quem: For People After Prepositions

The relative pronoun quem refers exclusively to people and typically follows prepositions.

Examples:
A pessoa de quem falei chegou. (The person about whom I spoke arrived.)
O amigo com quem viajei mora longe. (The friend with whom I traveled lives far away.)

O Qual and Its Forms

The relative pronoun o qual (which, who) and its variants provide more formal alternatives to que and help avoid ambiguity. These pronouns agree in gender and number.

Forms: o qual, a qual, os quais, as quais

Example:
A empresa na qual trabalho é grande. (The company in which I work is large.)

Cujo: Expressing Possession

The relative pronoun cujo indicates possession and means whose. It agrees with the thing possessed, not the possessor.

Forms: cujo, cuja, cujos, cujas

Examples:
O escritor cujo livro li é famoso. (The writer whose book I read is famous.)
A casa cuja porta é azul é minha. (The house whose door is blue is mine.)

Interrogative Pronouns: Asking Questions

Interrogative pronouns help form questions about people, things, reasons, and manners.

Essential Interrogative Pronouns

Quem (who, whom) asks about people:
Quem é você? (Who are you?)
Com quem você mora? (With whom do you live?)

O que or Que (what) asks about things or actions:
O que você quer? (What do you want?)
Que aconteceu? (What happened?)

Qual and quais (which, which ones) ask about specific choices:
Qual é seu nome? (What is your name? – literally, which is your name?)
Quais livros você leu? (Which books did you read?)

Quanto, quanta, quantos, quantas (how much, how many) ask about quantity:
Quanto custa? (How much does it cost?)
Quantas pessoas vieram? (How many people came?)

Indefinite Pronouns: Unspecified References

Indefinite pronouns refer to non-specific people or things, similar to someone, anyone, something, and nothing in English.

Common Indefinite Pronouns

Alguém (someone, somebody):
Alguém ligou para você. (Someone called you.)

Ninguém (no one, nobody):
Ninguém sabe a resposta. (No one knows the answer.)

Algo or alguma coisa (something):
Preciso de algo para comer. (I need something to eat.)

Nada (nothing):
Não vi nada. (I saw nothing. / I did not see anything.)

Tudo (everything, all):
Tudo está pronto. (Everything is ready.)

Todos, todas (everyone, everybody, all):
Todos chegaram cedo. (Everyone arrived early.)
Todas as pessoas gostaram. (All the people liked it.)

Regional Variations in Pronoun Usage

Portuguese pronoun usage varies significantly between Brazil and Portugal, and even within different regions of each country.

Brazilian Portuguese Characteristics

Brazilian Portuguese shows several distinctive pronoun patterns that differ from European Portuguese standards.

The widespread use of você instead of tu in most regions creates a more uniform formality level in daily conversation. However, states like Rio Grande do Sul maintain strong tu usage with unique conjugation patterns that sometimes mix tu with third person verb forms.

The colloquial form a gente dominates spoken Brazilian Portuguese, largely replacing nós except in formal contexts. This shift reflects the informal, warm communication style characteristic of Brazilian culture.

Object pronouns, especially third person forms, appear much less frequently in Brazilian speech. Speakers prefer to repeat nouns, use demonstrative pronouns, or omit objects entirely when context permits.

European Portuguese Distinctions

European Portuguese maintains more traditional pronoun patterns and shows greater formality consciousness.

The tu form remains the standard informal pronoun, with você considered moderately formal rather than neutral. Portuguese speakers carefully distinguish between tu for friends and você for acquaintances, showing social awareness through pronoun choice.

Object pronouns appear regularly in speech and follow strict placement rules, typically preceding the verb in affirmative sentences and following it only in specific grammatical contexts.

The formal address o senhor (you masculine formal) and a senhora (you feminine formal) remain important in professional and respectful interactions, taking third person singular conjugations like você.

Pronoun Placement: Proclisis, Mesoclisis, and Enclisis

Portuguese grammar includes specific rules for positioning object pronouns relative to verbs, though Brazilian Portuguese has simplified these patterns in everyday speech.

Proclisis: Pronoun Before the Verb

Proclisis occurs when the pronoun appears before the verb, most common in European Portuguese and triggered by negative words, subordinate clauses, interrogatives, and certain adverbs.

Examples:
Não te vejo há muito tempo. (I have not seen you in a long time.)
Quando me ligares, estarei em casa. (When you call me, I will be at home.)
Sempre me lembro de você. (I always remember you.)

Enclisis: Pronoun After the Verb

Enclisis places the pronoun after the verb, connected by a hyphen. This occurs in European Portuguese when no proclisis trigger exists and in formal Brazilian writing.

Examples:
Encontrei-o na rua. (I met him on the street.)
Diga-me a verdade. (Tell me the truth.)
Levantei-me cedo. (I got up early.)

Mesoclisis: Pronoun in the Middle

Mesoclisis inserts the pronoun inside the verb, used exclusively with future and conditional tenses in very formal European Portuguese.

Examples:
Far-lhe-ei uma visita. (I will pay him/her a visit.)
Contar-te-ia tudo. (I would tell you everything.)

This form appears rarely in modern usage, even in Portugal, and virtually never in Brazilian Portuguese.

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Learners frequently encounter specific challenges with Portuguese pronouns. Understanding these common errors helps develop more natural usage.

Confusing Mim and Eu After Prepositions

A frequent mistake involves using eu after prepositions when mim is required. Remember that mim follows prepositions, while eu acts only as a subject.

Incorrect: para eu
Correct: para mim (for me)

Exception: When followed by an infinitive verb, use eu:
Este livro é para eu ler. (This book is for me to read.)

Overusing Object Pronouns in Brazilian Portuguese

Students often apply European Portuguese object pronoun rules to Brazilian speech, creating unnatural sentences. Brazilian speakers rarely use o, a, os, as as direct objects in conversation.

Textbook form: Eu vi-o ontem.
Natural Brazilian: Eu vi ele ontem. (I saw him yesterday.)

Misunderstanding Seu/Sua Ambiguity

The possessive seu and sua create confusion because they can mean his, her, your, or their. When ambiguity arises, use prepositional phrases.

Ambiguous: Maria pegou seu livro. (Maria took his/her/your book.)
Clear: Maria pegou o livro dele. (Maria took his book.)

Practical Tips for Mastering Portuguese Pronouns

Success with Portuguese pronouns comes through consistent practice and attention to context. Here are strategies for improvement.

Listen to Native Speakers

Exposure to authentic Portuguese reveals how speakers actually use pronouns in natural contexts. Brazilian and Portuguese media demonstrate regional variations and informal patterns that textbooks might not cover thoroughly.

Pay attention to pronoun omission, especially in Brazilian Portuguese, where subjects and objects frequently disappear when context makes meaning clear. Notice how speakers navigate formality through pronoun choice and when they opt for prepositional alternatives to avoid ambiguity.

Practice with Context

Rather than memorizing isolated pronoun lists, practice using them within complete sentences and realistic scenarios. Create example dialogues that reflect situations you might encounter, incorporating appropriate formality levels and regional preferences.

Role-play different social situations: greeting a friend requires different pronouns than addressing a business contact. This contextual practice builds intuition about which pronouns fit which circumstances.

Start Simple and Build Complexity

Begin with subject pronouns and basic sentences before tackling object pronouns and complex placements. Master reflexive verbs used in daily routines, then progress to reciprocal constructions and pronoun combinations.

Focus first on the pronouns most relevant to your specific Portuguese learning goals. Brazilian learners might prioritize você and a gente, while those studying European Portuguese should invest time in tu and object pronoun placement rules.

Conclusion

Portuguese personal pronouns form an intricate system that reflects the language’s rich grammatical structure and cultural nuances. From the informal warmth of Brazilian você to the traditional formality of European tu, these pronouns carry meaning beyond their literal translations. Mastering subject pronouns, object forms, reflexive constructions, and regional variations transforms your Portuguese from mechanical to authentic. Remember that natural usage comes through practice and exposure rather than perfect rule memorization. As you continue your Portuguese journey, embrace these pronouns as tools for genuine connection and cultural understanding.