Pronouns

There are five types of personal pronouns in Portuguese:

I.SUBJECT PRONOUNS

English	Portuguese	Notes
I	eu
we	nós [a gente]	A gente is a colloquial expression that can mean ‘we’. Being a singular noun, it is followed by a 3rd person singular verb (e.g. ‘a gente trabalha’ = ‘we work’).
you (singular)	tu você [o senhor] [a senhora]	Although você and o senhor/a mean ‘you’ (2nd person sing.) in English, in Portuguese the verb must be in the 3rd person singular. Tu is only used when addressing friends, relatives and children. Você is a form of address and not pronoun, but it is often used as subject pronoun, especially in Brazilian Portuguese. Você is a little more formal, but not formal enough to address either someone you have never met before or a superior, in which case you should use o senhor or a senhora. O senhor or a senhora are nouns so must be followed by a 3rd person verb.
you (plural)	vocês vós [os senhores] [as senhoras]	Vocês is a form of address and not pronoun, but it is often used as subject pronoun. As above, although vocês form refers to the 2nd person plural, the verb in Portuguese is in the 3rd person plural.
he/it (masculine)	ele	The masculine singular pronouns can refer to a male person (he, him) or any masculine singular noun (it).
she/it (feminine)	ela	The feminine singular pronouns can refer to a female person (she, her or any feminie singular noun (it).
they	eles elas	The masculine plural pronouns can refer to two or more males, two or more people of whom at least one is male, any masculine plural noun or a combination of masculine
Subject pronouns are usually omitted in Portuguese, because the verb already contains information on person and number. The subject pronoun is also used to emphasize who is doing what.

II.DIRECT OBJECT PRON

English	Portuguese	Notes
me	me	The object form me is unstressed
us	nos	Note that the subject pronoun (we) has an acute accent (‘nós’) whereas the direct object pronoun (us) does not (‘nos’).
you (singular)	te o a lo la	‘te’ is used informally. ‘o’ and ‘a’ are used formally, for male and female objects respectively, ‘lo’ and ‘la’ are also used formally.
you (plural)	os los / nos as las / nas	‘lo’ and ‘la’ are used after the infinitive form
him/it (masculine)	o lo / no
her/it (feminine)	a la / na
them	os los / nos as las / nas

III.INDIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS

English	Portuguese	Notes
[to/for] me	me para mim	All of these indirect pronouns have an alternative using, after the proposition ‘para’ (‘to’).
[to/for] us	nos para nós	Note the acute accent on ‘nós’ when using after the proposition ‘para’ variation.
[to/for] you (singular)	te para ti lhe para você	‘te’ and ‘para ti’ are informal. ‘lhe’ and ‘para você’ are formal.
[to/for] you (plural)	lhes para vocês
[to/for] him/it (masculine)	lhe para ele para o senhor
[to/for] her/it (feminine)	lhe para ela para a senhora
[to/for] them	lhes para eles para elas

IV.PREPOSITIONAL PRONOUNS

English	Portuguese	Notes
me	mim
us	nós a gente
you (singular)	ti si
you (plural)	vocês
him	ele
her	ela
them	eles elas	The plural of ti and si is vocês, or os senhores, as senhoras.

With the prepositions com, em and de, some prepositional pronouns change their form:
com + mim = comigo com + nós = connosco, conosco
com + ti = contigo com + vós = convosco
com + si = consigo
But com ele, com ela, com vocês, com eles, com elas.
de + ele = dele de + eles = deles
de + ela = dela de + elas = delas
But de mim, de ti, de nós, de vocês.
em + ele = nele em + eles = neles
em + ela = nela em + elas = nelas
But em mim, em ti, em nós, em vocês.

Contraction of Preposition ‘with’ and Prepositional Pronouns

English	Portuguese	Notes
with me	comigo
with us	connosco
with you (singular)	contigo consigo	contigo is informal, consigo is formal.
with you (plural)	convosco

Contraction of Preposition ‘of/from’ and Prepositional Pronouns

English	Portuguese	Notes
of/from us	da gente	More often, ‘de nós’.
of/from you (singular)	do senhor da senhora	Alternatively ‘de você’.
of/from him	dele
of/from her	dela
of/from them	deles delas

Contraction of Preposition ‘in/on’ and Prepositional Pronouns

English	Portuguese	Notes
in/on me	{% trans "em mim
in/on us	em nós
in/on you (singular)	em ti	Or, em você
in/on you (plural)	em vocês
in/on him	nele
in/on her	nela
in/on them	neles nelas

V.REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS

English	Portuguese	Notes
myself	me
ourselves	nos
yourself	te se	te is informal, and ‘se’ is formal
yourselves	se vos	vos is pretty much obsolete nowadays.
himself	se
herself	se
themselves	se

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

English	Portuguese	Notes
my/mine (singular possession / an owner)	o meu a minha	The definite article (‘o’; ‘a’; ‘os’; ‘as’) is not required for ‘mine’ and is not always required for ‘my’ – the same principle applies to all of these possessive pronouns.
my/mine (plural possession / an owner)	os meus as minhas
our/ours (singular possession / more than one owner)	o nosso
our/ours (plural possession / more than one owner)	os nossos as nossas
your/yours (singular possession / an owner)	o teu a tua o vosso a vossa o seu a sua	‘seu’ and ‘sua’ are sometimes avoided in speech because they can easily be confused between the second and third person (the same form is used for both) – ‘dele’ and ‘dela’ are not so ambiguous (see below). In the written language, it is usually more obvious who is being spoken about, so they can be used without a problem. ‘Vosso’ and ‘vossa’ refer to multiple possessors of a single possession.
your/yours (plural possession / more than one owner)	os teus as tuas os vossos as vossas os seus as suas
their/theirs (singular possession / an owner)	o seu a sua
their/theirs (plural possession / more than one owner)	os seus as suas

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS

English	Portuguese
	Singular		Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine	Invariable
este, esta, estes, estas (near the speaker) this/these	este esse aquele mesmo outro o tanto tal	esta essa aquela mesma outra a tanta tal	estes esses aqueles mesmos outros os tantos tais	estas essas aquelas mesmas outras as tantas tais	isto isso aquilo
esse, essa, esses, essas (near the hearer) that/those
aquele, aquela, aqueles, aquelas (far from both) that/those