The preposition emin can be combined with variable and invariable demonstratives to form a number of very useful contractions.
Remember that all the same rules for demonstratives remain valid when they appear in the following contractions.
Em + Variable Demonstratives
| Relative Position | Demonstrative | Contraction |
|---|---|---|
| Near the speaker: | estethis estathis estesthese estasthese | neste nesta nestes nestas |
| Near the listener: | essethat essathat essesthose essasthose | nesse nessa nesses nessas |
| Away from both: | aquelethat aquelathat aquelesthose aquelasthose | naquele naquela naqueles naquelas |
These contractions can be used to indicate positions, movement or time, to identify something more clearly, and so on.
Eu vou neste carro naquela direçãoI'll go in this car in that direction
Nada pode ser feito nesses casosNothing can be done in those cases
Muitas coisas eram diferentes naqueles temposMany things were different in those times
Em + Invariable Demonstratives
Similarly, em combines with the invariable demonstratives (isto, isso, and aquilo) to form:
- Near the speaker: nistoin this
- Near the listener: nissoin that
- Away from both: naquiloin that
Remember that contractions built from invariable demonstrative pronouns, as expected, can never be followed by nouns, and are usually used to describe things that are unknown or more abstract:
Não me vou envolver nistoI won't get involved in this
It may be useful if the English “in this”, “in these” etc were placed between the Relative Position/Number and Demonstrative?
I think in the exercises it would be useful to have little pictures showing the if something is near speaker, listener or far away. I struggle memorising this.
In the last example “Não me vou envolver nisto”, why is “me” placed before “vou”? I would have expected something like “Não vou envolver-me nisto”. Is there a rule for this?
Olá. In that sentence, the word “não” works as a ‘magnetic word’ that attracts the clitic pronoun ‘me’ to a position before the verb phrase (proclitic placement). In the presence of magnetic words, the proclitic placement is preferred, although it’s still grammatically possible to place the clitic pronoun at the end of the whole verb phrase, as you suggested. This is discussed in this Learning Note: Verb Phrases & Clitic Pronouns. We also have a full exercise unit dedicated to the subject of clitic pronouns (Clitic Pronouns | Practice Portuguese).
Ugh. I’m doing okay with pairing prepositions with demonstratives, but still struggling with when to use the invariable ones. That’s partly because if something is unknown or abstract, I don’t grasp “where” it is in location to the speaker or the listener.
I’m probably overthinking this. Is it maybe as simple as applying whether I would use this/these or that/those if I were constructing the same thought in English? For instance, a person tells me about a get-rich-quick scheme and I would say, “I don’t like the sound of that.” Or if the water heater breaks and is pouring out water, “I’m not happy about this.”
Olá! In fact, the rationale is just about the same for both variable and invariable demonstratives and you’ll find instances where either one can be used. What mostly sets invariable demonstratives apart is that they can be applied to abstract ideas or unknown objects and cannot be followed by a noun, but the underlying logic of physical, temporal or metaphorical proximity (e.g. when an idea is recently mentioned by someone, and so it is ‘close’ to them in that sense) is unchanged. I don’t know if you’ve seen it already, but this Learning Note goes into some detail on this: Invariable Demonstrative Pronouns | Practice Portuguese
Your English thought process would generally be aligned, I’d say.
What exactly does it add in terms of clarity or precision to say deste lapis rather than este lapis?
There’s not necessarily a difference at those levels – the addition of the preposition ‘de’ usually has to do with a structural requirement for an extra connector, a requirement which derives from other parts of the sentence, and so you always need to look at a full sentence/clause to understand what should be used and why. For example:
– Eu gosto deste lápis -> ‘Deste’ is used here because the verb ‘gostar’ requires the preposition ‘de’ as a connector.
– Eu quero este lápis -> Only ‘este’ is used here because the preceding verb/element has no preposition requirement.