Word-Contractions And Prepositions In Brazilian Portuguese
The best place to start when discussing word-contractions in Portuguese is to re-define them first in English. A contraction word is what happens when we join two words together. For example, “is not,” becomes, “isn’t,” “can not,” becomes, “can’t,” and so on.
Portuguese also does this with many words, and we are going to discuss them now. The major difference between Portuguese and English contractions is that Portuguese does not utilize an apostrophe in order to join words together like English does.
Portuguese makes use of prepositions to make contractions.
So, let’s first look at what prepositions exist in Portuguese and then revisit the topic of contractions afterward and see how it all comes together… literally!
| Prepositions In English | Prepositions In Portuguese |
| Below | Abaixo |
| Above | Acima |
| Beyond | Além |
| In addition to | Além de |
| Before | Antes |
| Prior to | Antes de |
| Beside | Ao lado de |
| Despite | Apesar de |
| Around | Aproximadamente |
| That | Aquele, aquela |
| Those | Aqueles, aquelas |
| Until | Até |
| Behind | Atrás |
| Across | Através de |
| Through | Através |
| As well as | Bem como |
| With | Com |
| As | Como |
| According to | Conforme |
| Against | Contra |
| From | De |
| Of | De |
| Inside | Dentro |
| Within | Dentro de |
| After | Depois |
| Since | Desde |
| Due to | Devido a |
| Unlike | Diferente de |
| Far from | Distante, longe de |
| During | Durante |
| At | Em |
| In | Em |
| Into | Em |
| On | Em |
| On top of | Em cima de |
| Toward | Em direção a |
| On behalf of | Em nome de |
| Around | Em torno de |
| Instead of | Em vez de |
| Among | Entre |
| Between | Entre |
| This | Este, esta |
| These | Estes, estas |
| Except | Exceto |
| Except for | Exceto |
| Out | Fora |
| Outside | Fora de |
| Outside of | Fora de |
| Plus | Mais |
| But | Mas |
| In front of | Na frente de |
| Opposite | Oposto |
| For | Para |
| To | Para |
| Down | Para baixo |
| Up | Para cima |
| Near | Perto |
| Near to | Perto de |
| By | Por |
| Per | Por |
| Because of | Por causa de |
| Next | Próximo |
| Close to | Próximo a |
| Next to | Próximo de |
| Than | Que |
| Without | Sem |
| Under | Sob |
| About | Sobre |
| Over | Sobre |
| As far as | Tanto quanto |
Though there are a great many prepositions in Portuguese, as you can see from the table, we are only going to focus on a few of them when it comes to making contractions.
In order to do this, we use the definite and indefinite articles, “a, o, as, os, um, uma, uns, umas,” certain demonstratives, some specific pronouns and also a few adverbs and combine them with particular prepositions, “em, de, para, por, a,” to create whole new words; contraction words.
Put simply:
Preposition + definite article = Contraction word.
Preposition + indefinite article = Contraction word.
Preposition + demonstrative = Contraction word.
Preposition + pronoun = Contraction word.
Preposition + adverb = Contraction word.
This is best demonstrated with examples:
| Preposition | Article | Contraction word | English Translation |
| Em + | o = | No | In the/on the (masculine singular) |
| Em + | a = | Na | In the/on the (feminine singular) |
| Em + | os = | Nos | In the/on the (masculine plural) |
| Em + | as = | Nas | In the/on the (Feminine plural) |
| Em + | um = | Num | In a/on a (masculine singular) |
| Em + | uma = | Numa | In a/on a (feminine singular) |
| Em + | uns = | Nuns | In some/on some (masculine plural) |
| Em + | umas = | numas | In some/on some (feminine plural) |
| Preposition | Article | Contraction word | English Translation |
| De + | o = | Do | Of the/from the (masculine singular) |
| De + | a = | Da | Of the/from the (feminine singular) |
| De + | os = | Dos | Of the/from the (masculine plural) |
| De + | As = | Das | Of the/from the (feminine plural) |
| Preposition | Article | Contraction word | English Translation |
| Para + | o = | Pro | To the/For the (masculine singular) |
| Para + | a = | Pra | To the/For the (feminine singular) |
| Para + | os = | Pros | To the/For the (masculine plural) |
| Para + | As = | Pras | To the/For the (feminine plural) |
| Preposition | Article | Contraction word | English Translation |
| Por + | o = | Pelo | For/Around/Through/By the (Masculine singular) |
| Por + | a = | Pela | For/Around/Through/By the (feminine singular) |
| Por + | os = | Pelos | For/Around/Through/By the (Masculine plural) |
| Por + | As = | Pelas | For/Around/Through/By the (feminine plural) |
| Preposition | Article | Contraction word | English Translation |
| A + | o = | Ao | To the (Masculine singular) |
| A + | a = | À | To the (feminine singular) |
| A + | os = | Aos | To the (Masculine plural) |
| A + | As = | Às | To the (feminine plural) |
| Preposition | Demonstrative | Contraction word | English Translation |
| De + | este = | Deste | Of this/from this (Masculine singular) |
| De + | esta = | Desta | Of this/from this (feminine singular) |
| De + | esse = | Desse | Of that/from that (Masculine singular) |
| De + | essa = | Dessa | Of that/from that (feminine singular) |
| De + | estes = | Destes | Of this/from this (Masculine plural) |
| De + | estas = | Destas | Of this/from this (feminine plural) |
| De + | esses = | Desses | Of that/from that (Masculine plural) |
| De + | essas = | Dessas | Of that/from that (feminine plural) |
| De + | aquele | Daquele | Of that/from that (Masculine singular) |
| De + | aquela | Daquela | Of that/from that (feminine singular) |
| De + | aqueles | Daqueles | Of those/from those (masculine plural) |
| De + | aquelas | Daquelas | Of those/from those (feminine plural) |
| De + | aquilo | Daquilo | Of it/from it (neutral gender) |
| De + | isto | Disto | Of it/from it (neutral gender) |
| De + | isso | Disso | Of that/from that (neutral gender) |
| Preposition | Demonstrative | Contraction word | English Translation |
| Em + | este = | Neste | In this (Masculine singular) |
| Em + | esta = | Nesta | In this (feminine singular) |
| Em + | esse = | Nesse | In that (Masculine singular) |
| Em + | essa = | Nessa | In that (feminine singular) |
| Em + | estes = | Nestes | In these (Masculine plural) |
| Em + | estas = | Nestas | In these (feminine plural) |
| Em + | esses = | Nesses | In those (Masculine plural) |
| Em + | essas = | Nessas | In those (feminine plural) |
| Em + | aquele = | Naquele | In that (Masculine singular) |
| Em + | aquela = | Naquela | In that (feminine singular) |
| Em + | aqueles = | Naqueles | In those (masculine plural) |
| Em + | aquelas = | Naquelas | In those (feminine plural) |
| Em + | aquilo = | Naquilo | In it (neutral gender) |
| Em + | isto = | Nisto | In this (neutral gender) |
| Em + | isso = | Nisso | In that (neutral gender) |
| Preposition | Pronoun | Contraction word | English Translation |
| Em + | ele = | Nele | In him/In it (masculine singular) |
| Em + | ela = | Nela | In her/In it (feminine singular) |
| Em + | eles = | Neles | In them (masculine plural) |
| Em + | elas= | Nelas | In them (feminine plural) |
| Com + | mim | Comigo | With me (neutral gender) |
| Com + | ti | Contigo | With you (neutral gender) |
| Com + | si | Consigo | With them (neutral gender) |
| Com + | nós | Connosco | With us (neutral gender) |
| Preposition | Adverb | Contraction word | English Translation |
| De + | aqui = | Daqui | Of here/From here |
| De + | aí = | Daí | Of there/ from there |
| De + | ali = | Dali | Of there/ from there |
| De + | onde | Donde | Of where/ from where |
| A + | onde | Aonde | To where |
There is plenty more to be said about contractions when we get into verb conjugations. But for now, all I ask is that you look over these tables again. Really study them with attention and take the time to notice the congruencies among each contraction. You will start to see after a bit that it is only natural that these contractions should exist. At least for the vast majority of them.
For example, if you were to say, out loud, “his horse is thirsty,” in Portuguese which is, “o cavalo dele está com sede,” and you did not say, “dele,” but rather left it as, “de ele,” you would have an awkward space in between the words; “de – ele.” It is more natural to let the words flow together to become one resounding word, “dele.”
Which, as I’m sure you know, is why contractions developed in the first place, speech.
Keep this in mind as you study the tables and I promise it will all start to make sense as you go along.
There are a couple more things I want to share with you before we conclude this article. All over Brazil you will hear a particular expression all the time. Brazilians will throw the word, “né,” on the end of a ton of their sentences. Or sometimes just use it all by itself.
So, what does it mean?
Well, “né,” is a contraction for the two words, “não,” and, “é.”
If we were to translate it literally, it would mean, “No it is.”
But that’s not coherent.
It’s, essentially the English equivalent of saying, “right?” or, “isn’t it?”
For example, a Brazilian might say to you, “que lindo dia, né?” Which means, “what a beautiful day, right?” or, “what a beautiful day, isn’t it?”
You will hear this word, “né,” over and over again, so tuck this lesson in a safe place in your mind for now. It will be useful to you sooner than you think.
Another expression you will hear constantly is, “ah tá.”
This is the Brazilian way of saying things like, “oh I see,” “ah, got it,” or, “ok, sure.”
Pretty much any time that someone explains something to you, you can respond with, “ah tá.” This is a very colloquial way of saying, “I understand.”
Obviously, “ah tá,” is not a contraction word, just a little tip I think is very useful to know!
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!
Good luck my friend, e até a próxima!
2 Responses
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