Making Sense Of Pronouns In Brazilian Portuguese

Making Sense Of Pronouns In Brazilian Portuguese Featured Image

Making Sense Of Pronouns In Brazilian Portuguese

Learn Portuguese Online with Rocket Languages

Pronouns are among the most used words in English, and as you can probably guess, in Portuguese as well. Luckily for us, Portuguese makes use of pronouns in essentially the exact same ways that English does.

In order to properly discuss pronouns, we need to step back and take some time to identify some vocabulary first.

By studying this table for a bit, you should start to see some patterns and commonalties arise. Also, you should notice that several pronouns in English correspond to various words in Portuguese.

Let’s begin:

English PronounPortuguese Translation
IEu
MeEu / Me
YouVocê/Tu
WeNós
UsNós
SheEla
HeEle
HerEla / A
HimEle / O
TheyEles/ Elas / As
ThemEles / Elas / Os
ThatEsse / Essa, Aquele / Aquela
ThoseEsses / Essas, Aqueles / Aquelas
ItIsto, Aquilo, Lo
MineMeu / Minha
YourSeu / Sua, Teu / Tua, De você
YoursSeus / Suas, Teus / Tuas, De vocês
OurNosso / Nossa
OursNossos / Nossas
HersDela, Sua
HisDele, Seu
TheirsDeles / Delas, Seus / Suas
WhatQue, O que
WhoQuem
WhoseCujo / Cuja / De quem, Do qual
WhomO qual, Quem, Que
WhichQual
ThisEste / Esta
TheseEstes / Estas
EitherOu, Qualquer um
NeitherNem, Nenhum, Nenhuma
NoneNenhum
No oneNinguém
NobodyNinguém
SeveralVários / Várias
ManyMuito / Muita, Muitos / Muitas
FewPoucos / Poucas
OtherOutro / Outra
AnyAlgum / Alguma, Qualquer, Quaisquer
AllTudo, Todo / Toda, Todos / Todas
EverythingTudo
NothingNada
EveryCada
Each otherUm ao outro / Uma à outra
One anotherUm outro / Uma outra
MyselfEu mesmo
YourselfVocê mesmo
HerselfEla mesma
HimselfEle mesmo
ItselfSe, Em si, A si mesmo
OneselfSe, O próprio, A si mesmo
ThemselvesEles mesmos / Elas mesmas
YourselvesVocês mesmos
OurselvesNós mesmos / Nós mesmas


Now that you have been introduced to the translation of each pronoun in Portuguese, we are going to continue this topic by listing each type of pronoun in English and looking at its Portuguese counterpart. Then we will look at some examples of each.

By the end of this article, you should hopefully see that your knowledge of English will once again expedite the Portuguese learning process.

Pronouns fall under the following categories:

Pronoun TypeHow it is UsedEnglish ExamplesPortuguese examples
PersonalUsed to substitute the name of a noun.I, me, you, we, us, she, he, her, him, they, them, those, itEu, você, tu, ele, ela, nós, a gente, o senhor, a senhora, vocês, else, elas, isto, isso, aquilo  
PossessiveExpresses the ownership or possession of a thing.Mine, yours, ours, Hers, His, TheirsMeu, minha, meus, minhas, teu, tua, teus, tuas, seu, sua, seus, suas,nosso, nossa, nossas, nossas, dele, dela  
RelativeAssociates a particular sentence to a specific noun.Who, whose, whom, which, thatQue, qual, quais, quem
DemonstrativeCalls attention to a particular noun in a phrase.This, that, these, those, either, neither, noneEste, esta, estes. Estas, esse, essa, esses, essas, aquele, aquela, aqueles, aquelas, isto, isso, aquilo  
IndefiniteDiscusses a noun without specifically identifying it.Some, a few, Someone, each, any, somebody, something, none
no one, nobody,
several, many, few, other, any, all, everything, nothing, every
Alguém, ninguém, algum, alguns, algo, certo, certa, certos, certas, nenhum, nenhuma, quanto, quanta, quantos, quantas, muito, muita, muitos, muitas, tanto, tanta, tantos, tantas, vários, várias, pouco, pouca, poucos, poucas, nada, cada, outro, outra, outros, outras, qualquer, todo, toda, todos, todas, tudo,  
InterrogativeUsed when asking a question.  Who, what, whose, whom, whichQual, quanto, quais, quantos, quanta, quantas, que, o que, quem, como, onde, quando

ReciprocalUsed when multiple subjects are doing the same thing or reciprocate to the other.Each other,
One another
Ao outro
ReflexiveUsed use when the subject and the object are one in the same.Myself, yourself, herself, himself, itself, oneself, themselves, yourselves, ourselvesMe, se, te, nos

This table is packed with information, and it can be hard to know what you are looking at, at first.

Especially without having yet memorized the translation of each pronoun in Portuguese. I have purposefully created this table to give you as much of an overview as possible in one place.

I cannot recommend highly enough that you take some time to really look it over, not just once, but several times. The more you see these words, the more familiar they will become to you. I know it seems like a lot at first, but the beauty of it is, this is it. They do not change. So, once you get it down, you are golden.

Once you have looked over the table enough times to feel comfortable moving on, let’s keep going with some examples to drive these concepts home.


Personal pronouns examples:

EnglishPortuguese
We want to go fishing.Nós queremos ir pescar.
She does not like the red meat.Ela não gosta da carne vermelha.
They don’t like it.Eles não gostam disso.

Possessive pronoun examples:

EnglishPortuguese
That is her bottle.Essa é a garrafa dela.
Is this table yours?Esta mesa é sua?
This house is ours.Esta casa é nossa.


Relative pronoun examples:

EnglishPortuguese
I have a sister whose hair is long.Eu tenho uma irmã cuja cabelo é comprido.
This is the dog that you saw before.Este é o cachorro que você viu antes.
I have the bowl which you lost.Eu tenho a tigela que você perdeu.

Demonstrative pronoun examples:

EnglishPortuguese
This is a good day.Este é um bom dia.
That field is very green.Esse campo é muito verde.
These are comfortable shoes.Estes são sapatos confortáveis.

Indefinite pronoun examples:

EnglishPortuguese
Does anyone have some juice?Alguém tem um pouco de suco?
You can do anything you want!Você pode fazer o que quiser!
Everybody was happy.Todo mundo estava feliz.

Interrogative pronoun examples:

EnglishPortuguese
Whose rock is this?De quem é essa pedra?
What kind of music is playing?Que tipo de música está tocando?
Who got here first?Quem chegou primeiro?

Reciprocal pronoun examples:

EnglishPortuguese
We all passed the potato to one another.Todos nós passamos a batata uns para os outros.
They kept staring at each other.Eles continuaram olhando um para o outro.
They gave each other a bracelet.Eles deram um ao outro uma pulseira.


Reflexive pronoun examples:

EnglishPortuguese
She gave herself some extra time.Ela se deu um tempo extra.
You will need to look after yourself.Você precisará cuidar de si mesmo.
The bear warmed itself in a cave.O urso se aqueceu em uma caverna.


We will conclude the article on pronouns here. As I often do, I like to close out these posts by offering the reminder that you should not stress over the amount of information there is to take in here. But rather, your focus should be on taking in what you can and moving forward.
I can guarantee you that everything I have said so far on this site will come up again and again as you continue your journey with Portuguese, and every time that you see it, it will make more and more sense as you continue to build context.

If you are looking for the best place to start with learning Brazilian Portuguese, then I have no higher recommendation than to head on over to Rocket Languages Portuguese to get started.

They have all the tools you need to fast track your learning journey and get you speaking like a native in record time!

image

Good luck my friend, e até a próxima!

How To Speak Brazilian Portuguese Site Logo
-Galilee

Trending

Identifying Portuguese Nouns: People, Places, And Things

Identifying Portuguese Nouns: People, Places, And Things

Identifying Portuguese Nouns: People, Places, And Things In English, we define a noun as a person, place, object,…

Master Basic Portuguese Conversation

Master Basic Portuguese Conversation

Master Basic Portuguese Conversation Have you been interested in visiting Brazil, but your Portuguese skills are a little…

Making Sense Of Pronouns In Brazilian Portuguese

Making Sense Of Pronouns In Brazilian Portuguese

Making Sense Of Pronouns In Brazilian Portuguese Pronouns are among the most used words in English, and as…

Brazilian Portuguese Irregular Verbs

Brazilian Portuguese Irregular Verbs

Brazilian Portuguese Irregular Verbs In the last article, we looked very closely at the two verbs, “ser,” and,…

Brazilian Portuguese Verbs

Brazilian Portuguese Verbs

Brazilian Portuguese Verbs If you are reading this then I have no doubt that you’ve made it through…

Finding Context In The Unknown In Brazilian Portuguese

Finding Context In The Unknown In Brazilian Portuguese

Finding Context In The Unknown In Brazilian Portuguese In my last article, Mastering The Concept Of Word Gender,…

Recent Posts

Master Basic Portuguese Conversation

Master Basic Portuguese Conversation

ByGalileeMay 21, 20225 min read

Master Basic Portuguese Conversation Have you been interested in visiting Brazil, but your Portuguese skills are a little rusty?Trust me, I know that feeling. Maybe you have a partner or…

Brazilian Portuguese Adjectives And Adverbs

Brazilian Portuguese Adjectives And Adverbs

ByGalileeAug 23, 2021

Brazilian Portuguese Adjectives And Adverbs If you have made it through the lessons on verb conjugation and tenses, that is huge. You are now at a point in your Portuguese…

Tenses Beyond The Present Indicative In Brazilian Portuguese

Tenses Beyond The Present Indicative In Brazilian Portuguese

ByGalileeAug 18, 2021

Tenses Beyond The Present Indicative In Brazilian Portuguese Everything that I have discussed so far when it comes to verb conjugation has dealt with either the infinitive form of a…

Brazilian Portuguese Irregular Verbs

Brazilian Portuguese Irregular Verbs

ByGalileeAug 13, 2021

Brazilian Portuguese Irregular Verbs In the last article, we looked very closely at the two verbs, “ser,” and, “estar,” and I made the point that these two verbs are classified…

Categories:

No Responses

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *