The Brazilian Portuguese Personal Subject Pronouns

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The Brazilian Portuguese Personal Subject Pronouns

Imagine introducing yourself to a friend you’ve just met in school. He already knows your name because that’s the first thing you said after “oi”. Now you’re about to tell him your age, that you are twenty or something. You wouldn’t definitely “repeat” your name in your next sentence and the next sentence after the next. That’ll sound silly and unnecessary!

Now, you’d use “eu” instead of your first name, or full name, whichever information you gave. For example: Sou Miguel. Eu tenho 20 anos; instead of: Sou Miguel. Miguel tenho 20 anos.  These pronouns are usually omitted in speech. However, for the purpose of this lesson they are shown.

“Eu” is just one of the several subject pronouns in the Portuguese language. There are 9 other pronouns, and you’ll learn them as you advance. You use “eu” to refer to yourself (the first person, the “talker”). Say, you are tall. You say: Eu sou alto.

If you address your new friend directly (he’s the second person, the one talked to), you’d use “você” instead of his name. For example: Você tem quantos anos, não é?  

When you talk about your new friend’s fat teacher, you use “ele” if the teacher is male or “ela” if female. For example: Ela é gorda. The teacher is the third person, the one talked about although not necessarily around during the conversation.

If you talk about your friend INCLUDING yourself, you use “nós”.  You say Nós somos amigos to tell him (or anyone else) that you two are friends now. “Nós” is a first-person pronoun because you are still referring to yourself (the talker) although now you have a companion (your friend). Since there are the two of you, it’s a plural pronoun. You say “nós” is a first-person plural pronoun.

On the other hand, “eu” is a first-person singular pronoun. Singular because there’s only 1 person that is referred to, and that is “yourself”.

Study the table below to know the different subject pronouns in the Portuguese language.

	SINGULAR	PLURAL
FIRST PERSON	eu	nós
SECOND PERSON	tu, você	vós, vocês
THIRD PERSON	ele, ela	eles, elas

Noticed the boldfaced pronouns in the SECOND PERSON row? These forms are rarely used in the Brazilian variant of Portuguese; they are more common in the European. So for now, just focus on the unhighlighted ones in the table.

In Brazil, you will also hear “a gente” used instead of “nós”. Both refers to the same person (first person, plural). “O senhor” and “a senhora” used in place of “você” is considered more respectful. Say, you are addressing a stranger, someone you met for the first time, a much older person than you or a person in authority. For example, in a restaurant where respect is very important, a waiter would say: O senhor quer algo para comer? instead of Você quer algo para comer?

One more thing is the gender of the plural pronouns “eles” and “elas”. When talking about a couple composed of a man and a woman, you use the masculine plural pronoun “eles”. You also use the same pronoun for a group of students (a mix of male and female students). For example:  Eles estão na sala de aula. The class can have 11 boys and 12 girls, or 20 boys and 2 girls, as long as it is a mix of boys and girls. However, you use  “elas” and never “eles” to talk about all your three sisters, for example.

Now, test your knowledge of the Portuguese subject pronouns by doing the exercise below.

EXERCISE: Suppose you are the speaker of the following sentences. Fill in the blank with the correct subject pronoun. Clues are in parentheses after the sentences.

1. _____ canta muito bem.         (The subject here is Mariah Carey)

2. _____ somos brasileiros.         (The subject here is you and your girlfriend)

3. _____ é baixo.                             (The subject here is your friend who is a boy)

4. _____ sou jovem.                      (The subject here is you yourself)

5. _____ não são muito velhos. (The subject here is both your parents)

6. _____ sempre me acordo às seis horas.           (The subject here is you yourself)

7. _____ é muito inteligente.     (The subject here is your professor who is a girl)

8. _____ está atrasado.                                (The subject here is the mailman)

9. _____ estão tomando café.   (The subject here is a certain Melissa and Tamara)

10. _____ está lendo.                    (The subject here is the reader)

I hope you enjoy this lesson! Please don't forget to comment below for your answers or suggestions. They are really helpful. Thank you and happy holidays!!!