Introduction
Introdução
Also called personal pronouns, Portuguese subject pronouns tell you who is doing the action of a sentence.
They are especially important in Portuguese because the conjugation of verbs changes depending on the subject.
In English, subject pronouns are words such as "you", "we" and "it".
Portuguese, however, is slightly more complicated because of its use of formality and the wide regional differences. For example tu is the informal word for "you", but is used primarily in Portugal. In Brazil, você is used much more frequently as the informal "you", despite it being the formal "you" in Portugal.
To address someone formally in Brazil, o senhor (masculine) or a senhora (feminine) are used. In Portugal these would seem overly formal as they translate as "sir" or "madam".
Because in Brazil both the formal and informal second-person pronouns take the traditionally third-person verb conjugation, you'll find that they drop subject pronouns much less frequently than in Portugal or as in Spanish.
Simplifying it somewhat though, Portuguese has no subject pronoun for "it", which is generally implied in the sentence.
They are especially important in Portuguese because the conjugation of verbs changes depending on the subject.
In English, subject pronouns are words such as "you", "we" and "it".
Portuguese, however, is slightly more complicated because of its use of formality and the wide regional differences. For example tu is the informal word for "you", but is used primarily in Portugal. In Brazil, você is used much more frequently as the informal "you", despite it being the formal "you" in Portugal.
To address someone formally in Brazil, o senhor (masculine) or a senhora (feminine) are used. In Portugal these would seem overly formal as they translate as "sir" or "madam".
Because in Brazil both the formal and informal second-person pronouns take the traditionally third-person verb conjugation, you'll find that they drop subject pronouns much less frequently than in Portugal or as in Spanish.
Simplifying it somewhat though, Portuguese has no subject pronoun for "it", which is generally implied in the sentence.
| Singular | First-person |
eu
I
|
|---|---|---|
| Second-person |
tu
you
informal Portugal
|
|
| Third-person |
você
you
formal Portugal
you
informal Brazil
ele
he
ela
she
o senhor
you
masculine formal Brazil
a senhora
you
feminine formal Brazil
|
|
| Plural | First-person |
nós
we
a gente
we
exclusive
|
| Third-person |
vocês
you all
eles
they
masculine
elas
they
feminine
|