The Portuguese personal pronouns and possessives display a higher degree of inflection than other parts of speech. Personal pronouns have distinct forms according to whether they stand for a subject (nominative), a direct object (accusative), an indirect object (dative), or a reflexive object. Several pronouns further have special forms used after prepositions.

The possessive pronouns are the same as the possessive adjectives, but each is inflected to express the grammatical person of the possessor and the grammatical gender of the possessed.

Pronoun use displays considerable variation with register and dialect, with particularly pronounced differences between the most colloquial varieties of European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese.

Subject, object, and complement

Basic forms

The personal pronouns of Portuguese have three basic forms, subjective, objective (object of a verb), and prepositional (object of a preposition).

number	person	subject	object of verb	object of preposition
singular	1st.	eu	me	mim
	2nd.	tu	te	ti
	3rd.	ele, ela, você	o, a1; lhe; se3	ele, ela, você; si3
plural	1st.	nós	nos	nós
	2nd.	vós	vos	vós
	3rd.	eles, elas, vocês	os, as1; lhes vocês2; se3	eles, elas, vocês; si3

¹ direct object (masculine and feminine) ² indirect object ³ reflexive or reciprocal

Subjective pronouns

Forms of address

Like most European languages, Portuguese has different words for "you", according to the degree of formality that the speaker wishes to show towards the addressee (T-V distinction). In very broad terms, tu, você (both meaning singular "you") and vocês (plural "you") are used in informal situations, while in formal contexts o senhor, a senhora, os senhores and as senhoras (masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural "you", respectively) are preferred. However, there is considerable regional variation in the use of these terms, and more specific forms of address are sometimes employed.

Generally speaking, tu is the familiar form of address used with family, friends, and minors. Você indicates distance without deference, and tends to be used between people who are, roughly, social equals. O senhor / a senhora (literally "sir"/"madam") are the most ceremonious forms of address. English speakers may find the latter construction akin to the parliamentary convention of referring to fellow legislators in the third person (as "my colleague", "the gentleman", "the member", etc.), although the level of formality conveyed by o senhor is not as great. In fact, variants of o senhor and a senhora with more nuanced meanings such as o professor ("professor"), o colega ("colleague") and o pai ("father") are also employed as personal pronouns. In the plural, there are two main levels of politeness, the informal vocês and the formal os senhores / as senhoras.

This threefold scheme is, however, complicated by regional and social variation. For example, in most communities of Brazilian Portuguese speakers, the traditional tu/você distinction has been lost, and the previously formal você tends to replace the familiar tu in most cases. On the other hand, in Portugal it's common to use a person's own name as a pronoun more or less equivalent to você, e.g., o José, o sr. Silva, which is unheard of in Brazil.

When addressing older people or hierarchical superiors, modern BP speakers often replace 'você' and 'vocês' by the expressions O(s) senhor(es) and A(s) senhora(s), which also require third-person verb forms and third-person object/reflexive/possessive pronouns. 'O(s) senhor(es)' and 'A(s) senhora(s)' are also used in formal contexts in modern EP, in addition to a large number of similar pronominalized nouns that vary according to the person who is being addressed, e.g. a menina , o pai, a mãe, o engenheiro, o doutor, etc.

Historically, você derives from vossa mercê ("your mercy" or "your grace") via the intermediate forms vossemecê and vosmecê; compare with the derivation of Spanish usted from vuestra merced.

Nós vs. a gente

A very common colloquial alternative to the 1st. person plural pronoun nós "we" is the noun phrase a gente, which formally takes verbs and possessives of the 3rd. person singular. Although avoided in the most formal registers, it is not considered incorrect, unless it is accompanied by verbs conjugated in the 1st. person plural, as in "*A gente moramos na cidade", instead of the normative "A gente mora na cidade" "We live in the city".

Vós

The 2nd. person plural subjective pronoun vós has fallen into disuse in Portuguese. Currently, it is only employed:

• In religious texts and services.
• In very formal registers, for archaism.
• In a few dialects of northern Portugal.
• In historical fiction.

Instead of it, the word vocês is used, or equivalent forms of address which take verbs and possessives of the 3rd. person plural. See the "Forms of address" section, above, and also the notes on colloquial usage, at the bottom of the page.

Objective pronouns

Proclisis, enclisis, and mesoclisis

As in other Romance languages, objective pronouns are clitics, which must come next to a verb, and are pronounced together with it as a unit. They may appear before the verb (proclisis, lhe dizer), after the verb, linked to it with a hyphen (enclisis, dizer-lhe), or, more rarely, within the verb, between its stem and its desinence (mesoclisis, dir-lhe-ei).

Enclisis and mesoclisis may require some euphonic adjustments in the verb ending and/or in the pronoun, e.g. cantar + o = cantá-lo "to sing it". The direct and indirect object pronouns can be contracted, as in dar + lhe + os = dar-lhos "to give them to him"; cf. Spanish dar + le + los = dárselos.

comprá-lo-ei = comprarei + o "I will buy it".

dar-to-ia = daria + o + te "I would give it to you".

dar-lho-ia = daria + o + lhe "I would give it to him".

When a verb conjugated in the 1st. person plural, ending in -s, is followed by the enclitic pronoun nos, the s is dropped. Examples: "Vamo-nos [vamos + nos] embora amanhã" (We are leaving tomorrow), "Respeitemo-nos [respeitemos + nos] mutuamente" (Let us respect each other).

Allomorphs

Third person direct object clitic pronouns have several forms, depending on their position with relation to the verb and on the verb's ending. If the pronoun is enclitic and the verb ends with a consonant, or if the pronoun is mesoclitic and the root of the verb ends with a consonant, then that consonant is elided, and an l is added to the beginning of the pronoun. If the pronoun is enclitic and the verb ends with a nasal diphthong (spelled -ão, -am, -em, -ém, -êm, -õe, or -õem), an n is added to the beginning of the pronoun. The same happens after other clitic pronouns, and after the adverbial particle eis.

default	after a consonant	after a nasal diphthong
o	lo	no
a	la	na
os	los	nos
as	las	nas

The third person forms o, a, os, and as may present the variants lo, la, los, las, no, na, nos, and nas:

• Lo, la, los, and las are used after verbal forms ending with a consonant, which is elided. Examples: seduz + a = sedu-la, faz + o = fá-lo, diz + o = di-lo, destróis + os = destrói-los (different from destrói-os, in which the verb is conjugated in the imperative mood), comes + a = come-la (different from come-a), apanha-las (apanhas + as), amá-lo (amar +o), fazê-lo (fazer + o), partire-lo (partires +o), tem-la (tens + a, notice how the n changes into an m). Note the exception quere-o (quer + o) instead of qué-lo (qué-lo is still permitted, but uncommon).
• This also occurs when the pronoun is in mesoclitic position: matá-lo-ás (matarás + o), fá-lo-ias (farias + o), feri-lo-ias (feririas + o), comê-lo-ias (comerias + o).
• The variants no, na, nos and nas are used after a verbal form ending with a nasal diphthong. Examples: põe-no (põe + o), tem-na (tem + a), comeram-nos (ambiguous, can mean comeram + os "they ate them", or comeram + nos "they ate us").
• The pronouns o, etc. present the same forms as above when they follow other clitic pronouns, such as nos and vos, or the adverbial particle eis. Examples: comeram-no-lo (comeram + nos + o), "Não vo-lo [vos + o] quero dar a entender."

Contractions between clitic pronouns

indirect object	direct object
	o	a	os	as
me	mo	ma	mos	mas
te	to	ta	tos	tas
lhe	lho	lha	lhos	lhas
nos	no-lo	no-la	no-los	no-las
vos	vo-lo	vo-la	vo-los	vo-las
lhes	lho	lha	lhos	lhas

Notice how lhes + o is contracted into lho, not *lhe-lo or *lhos. This occurs because lhe used to be employed indistinctly for the singular and the plural and, while the agglutinated form suffered no alteration, lhe evolved into lhes for the plural number.

These forms are never used in Brazil.

Syntax

Apart from the pronouns that act as subjects of a sentence, and from the stressed object pronouns which are employed after prepositions, Portuguese has several clitic object pronouns used with nonprepositional verbs, or as indirect objects. These can appear before the verb as separate words, as in ela me ama ("she loves me"), or appended to the verb after the tense/person inflection, as in ele amou-a ("he loved her") or ele deu-lhe o livro ("he gave her/him the book"). Note that Portuguese spelling rules (like those of French) require a hyphen between the verb and the clitic pronoun.

In West Iberian-Romance, the position of clitic object pronouns with respect to the verbs which govern them was flexible, but all Romance languages have since adopted a more strict syntax. The usual pattern is for clitics to precede the verb, or, in compound tenses, the auxiliary verb; e.g. Sp. Yo te amo, Fr. Je t'aime "I love you"; Sp. Tú me habías dicho, Fr. Tu m'avais dit "You had told me" (proclisis). The opposite order occurs only with a few tenses, such as the imperative: Sp. Dime, Fr. Dis-moi "Tell me" (enclisis). Spoken Brazilian Portuguese has taken more or less the same route, except that clitics usually appear between the auxiliary verb and the main verb in compound tenses, and proclisis is even more generalized: Eu te amo "I love you", but Me diz "Tell me", and Você tinha me dito "You had told me".

In European Portuguese, by contrast, enclisis is the default position for clitic pronouns in simple affirmative clauses: Eu amo-te "I love you", Diz-me "Tell me". In compound tenses, the clitic normally follows the auxiliary verb, Você tinha-me dito "You had told me" (like in Brazilian Portuguese, but conventionally spelled with a hyphen), though other positions are sometimes possible: Você vai dizer-me "You are going to tell me" (Spanish allows this syntax, as well), Você não me vai dizer "You are not going to tell me" (like in Spanish). Still, in formal Portuguese the clitic pronouns always follows the verb in the infinitive. The Brazilian proclisis is usually correct in European Portuguese (often found in ancient literature), though nowadays uncommon and emphatic. Only sentences that begin with a clitic pronoun, such as Te amo or Me diz, are considered unacceptable in European Portuguese.

With verbs in the future indicative tense or the conditional tense, enclitic pronouns are not placed after the verb, but rather incorporated into it: eu canto-te uma balada "I sing you a ballad" becomes eu cantar-te-ei uma balada in the future, and eu cantar-te-ia uma balada in the conditional (mesoclisis).

This is because these verb forms were originally compounds: cantarei = cantar + hei, cantarás = cantar + hás. In spoken Brazilian Portuguese, where proclisis is nearly universal, mesoclisis never occurs. Although the mesoclisis is often cited as a distinctive feature of Portuguese, it is becoming rare in spoken European Portuguese, since there is a growing tendency to replace the future indicative and the conditional with other tenses.

Although enclisis (or mesoclisis) is the default position for clitic pronouns in European Portuguese, proclisis is mandatory in subordinate clauses, except non-finite clauses (in which case both proclisis and enclisis are usually valid). Since proclisis is the normal position for clitic pronouns in Brazilian Portuguese, this marking does not exist in it.

Prepositional pronouns

Governance

The personal pronouns labelled "object of preposition" above are always employed after a preposition, and most prepositions govern those pronouns, but a few of them require subjective pronouns. For example, prepositions denoting exception, such as afora, fora, excepto, menos, salvo, and tirante. In those cases, the subject pronouns eu, tu, ele, ela, eles and elas are used. Examples: "Todos foram ao cinema excepto eu/tu", "Ele referiu toda a gente excepto ele mesmo." (not "Ele referiu toda a gente excepto si"), but "Ele referiu-se a toda a gente excepto a si", "Falaste a todos menos a mim", "Falaste com todos menos comigo" (not "com eu").

Contractions with the prepositions de and em

The following 3rd. person pronouns contract with the prepositions de "of/from" and em "in/on/at".

pronoun	contracted with de	contracted with em
ele	dele	nele
ela	dela	nela
eles	deles	neles
elas	delas	nelas

Contractions with the preposition com

The following prepositional pronouns contract with the preposition com "with" (circumstantial complement).

pronoun	contracted form
mim	comigo
ti	contigo
si	consigo
nós	co(n)nosco
vós	convosco
si	consigo

The form connosco is used in European Portuguese, while conosco is used in Brazilian Portuguese.

These contractions are derived from the Latin practice of tacking the preposition cum "with" to the end of the ablative form of personal pronouns, as in mecum or tecum. In Vulgar Latin, enclitic cum (later shifted to -go) became fossilized and was reanalysed as part of the pronoun itself. Then, a second cum began to be used before those words, and finally cum mecum, cum tecum, etc. contracted, producing comigo, contigo, and so on.

Reflexive pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are used when one wants to express the action is exercised upon the same person that exercises it or refers to such person. Examples:

• EP: "Eu vi-me ao espelho." BP: "Eu me vi no espelho."
• "Não te levas muito a sério."
• EP: "De repente, vimo-nos perdidos na floresta." BP: "De repente, nos vimos perdidos na floresta."

In the third person, the reflexive pronoun has a form of its own, se - or si / sigo if preceded by a preposition. Examples:

• EP: "Hoje ele levantou-se cedo." BP: "Hoje ele se levantou cedo."
• EP: "Eles lavam-se sempre muito bem." BP: "Eles se lavam sempre muito bem."
• "O gato sabe cuidar bem de si."
• "Os ladrões levaram consigo tudo o que puderam."

The reflexive pronoun forms, when used in the plural (me and te are therefore excluded), may indicate reciprocity. In those cases, they do not have reflexive character - for instance, "as pessoas cumprimentaram-se" does not mean that each person complimented himself, rather they complimented each other. In some situations, this may create ambiguity; therefore, if one means "they love each other", one might want to say "eles amam-se mutuamente" or "eles amam-se um ao outro" (although "eles amam-se" will probably be interpreted this way anyhow); if one means "each one of them loves himself", one should say "eles amam-se a si mesmos" ou "eles amam-se a si próprios". Sometimes, especially in the spoken Portuguese, ele mesmo, ela mesma, com ele mesmo, com eles mesmos, etc. may be used instead of si and consigo. Example: "Eles têm de ter confiança neles (em+eles) mesmos" or "Eles têm de ter confiança em si (mesmos)".

Possessive pronouns and adjectives

The forms of the possessives depends on the gender and number of the possessed object or being.

possessor	possessum
	masc. sing.	fem. sing.	masc. plur.	fem. plur.
eu	meu	minha	meus	minhas
tu	teu	tua	teus	tuas
ele, ela, você	seu	sua	seus	suas
nós	nosso	nossa	nossos	nossas
vós	vosso	vossa	vossos	vossas
eles, elas, vocês	seu	sua	seus	suas

The possessive pronouns are identical to possessive adjectives, except that they must be preceded by the definite article (o meu, a minha, os meus, as minhas, etc.) For the possessive adjectives, the article is optional, and its use varies with dialect and degree of formality.

Clearing ambiguity in the 3rd. person

Due to the use of 'seu(s)', 'sua(s)' as the preferred 2nd-person possessive pronouns, 'dele(s)' and 'dela(s)' are normally used as 3rd-person possessive markers in lieu of 'seu(s)'/'sua(s)' to eliminate ambiguity, e.g. Onde está o seu carro ("Where is your car?") vs. Onde está o carro dele? ("Where is his car?") 'Seu'/'Sua' as 3rd-person possessive pronouns are still frequent though, especially when referring to the subject of the clause or the gender is unknown and ambiguity can be solved from the context, e.g. O candidato Geraldo Alckmin apresentou ontem a sua proposta para aumentar a geração de empregos no Brasil ("Candidate Geraldo Alckmin presented yesterday his proposal to increase job creation in Brazil").

This does not apply to reflexive pronouns. Sentences such as *Há quem deteste a rotina dele ("There are some who hate their own routine") are not used in place of Há quem deteste a sua rotina.

Colloquial usage

In European Portuguese

In European Portuguese, si and consigo can also be used to refer to the person to whom the message is directed in the formal treatment by "o senhor", etc. or in the treatment by você. They are employed in the same circumstances ti and tigo would be used in the treatment by tu.

Examples:

• "Se você não se importar, eu vou consigo" (I'll go with you, if you don't mind).
• "Quando estava a passar pela Praça do Chile, lembrei-me de si".

Thus, in modern colloquial European Portuguese, the classical paradigm above is modified to (differences emphasized):