In this Learning Note, we’ll explore each tonic pronoun and see some examples of how it is used along with different prepositions. As you will see, certain prepositions change the form of the pronoun, especially comwith .
Summary
Before we explain each pronoun in detail, here’s a quick overview. This chart shows each individual tonic pronoun on the left, and the possible outcomes when it is combined with the preposition com on the right.
Me
The tonic pronoun that corresponds to euI, me is mim .
Tens medo de mim?Are you scared of me?
Faço isso por mimI do that for me
However, you cannot say ❌ com mim. When mim combines with comwith , it becomes comigowith me .
Vem comigo!Come with me!
You (Informal)
The tonic pronoun that corresponds to tuyou(inf.) is ti .
Não é bom para tiIt's not good for you
Agora vivo mais perto de tiNow I live closer to you
You cannot say ❌ com ti. When ti combines with comwith , it becomes contigowith you(inf.) .
Estou a conversar contigoI'm talking with you
You(Plural)
Unlike eu and tu, which have a different tonic forms, with other persons, you can often simply use the same word along with the preposition. For example, with the plural form of ‘you’, you can use vocêsyou(pl.) along with a preposition. For example:
Não significou nada para vocêsIt didn't mean anything to you
When it comes to the preposition com, you have two options for vocês, which both have the same meaning:
- com vocêswith you(pl.) – Eu dancei com vocêsI danced with you(pl.)
- convoscowith you(pl.) – Eu dancei convoscoI danced with you (pl.)
Us
You can also use nósus as a tonic pronoun along with a preposition.
Ele não falou em nósHe didn't talk about us
Ele fugiu de nósHe ran from us
Combining com with the pronoun nós is a bit more complicated, but in most cases, you’ll use:
connoscowith us
You can also use com nós, but only if you are also including words such as mesmossame , própriosown , or todosall next to it. For example:
Estamos preocupados com nós própriosWe're worried about ourselves
Podem contar com todos nósYou can count on all of us
Him, Her, and Them
With the 3rd person pronouns ele/ela and eles/elas, you typically use the same word along with the preposition.
elehe elashe elesthey(masc.) elasthey(fem.)
Eu corri para elaI ran to her
Eu fui com eles à praiaI went with them to the beach
Emphasizing the Indirect Object
When preceded by a, these 3rd person pronouns play an important role in clarifying the indirect object of a sentence. This happens when the clitic pronoun lhe is used. For example:
O Pedro não lhe disse nadaPedro didn't say anything to...
Hmm… it’s hard to tell who lhe refers to. Is it another person or is it you(formal)? To make it clear, we can say:
O Pedro não lhe disse nada a elePedro didn't say anything to him
Contractions with “De” and “Em“
With the preposition de , the pronouns combine with the preposition to become dele/dela & deles/delas.
A Maria gosta delesMaria likes them
O João duvida delaJoão doubts her
O Paulo falou delePaulo talked about him
Similarly, if the preposition em is used, the pronouns become nele/nela & neles/nelas.
Não confias nela?You don't trust her?
You can learn more about contractions like this here.
Contractions with “Com”
Sometimes you’ll hear the contraction consigo when combining com with ele/ela/eles/elas. However, to avoid ambiguity, it’s better to say com ele, com elas, etc., instead. Still, consigo is technically allowed, if it’s very clear from context who/what is being referred to.
You(Formal)
We’ll cover si and consigo, the 3rd person pronouns that most often correspond to vocêyou (formal) , in more detail in this Learning Note: Si and Consigo
I realize that this is off this topic, but I didn’t think it was correct to use “vivo” in this form: Agora vivo mais perto de ti. I thought you had to use the work “moro”
Moro works here too. Viver and morar both mean “to live”. You can use viver to mean either living in a particular place or just being alive in general, while morar is only used when talking about the place you live.
I really like the charts. They clear up quite a bit.
Can the statement:
O Pedro não lhe disse nada a ele.
be written without the lhe?
O Pedro não disse nada a ele.
Yes, it can. All these are possible and mean the same:
– O Pedro não lhe disse nada. (the best option, I’d say – more straight to the point)
– O Pedro não disse nada a ele.
– O Pedro não lhe disse nada a ele. (redundant for emphasis)
I’ve seen this construct used in some previous lessons:
Eu a vi
which I believe means I saw her. Are a/o considered tonic pronouns when used in this fashion?
Is the statement
Eu vi ela
an equivalent way of saying the same thing? Is one preferred over the other?
A feature of tonic pronouns that helps us distinguish them from clitic pronouns is that tonic pronouns are preceded by a preposition. They also don’t need to be next to the verb. Clitic pronouns are always next to the verb (right before, right after or inserted in the middle), without any prepositions between them. So, in “Eu a vi”, a is a clitic pronoun, not tonic. You can add a tonic pronoun to this sentence by saying “Eu vi-a a ela“.
Note that we prefer to say “Eu vi-a” instead of “Eu a vi”, because in simple affirmative sentences, the default is to place clitic pronouns after the verb (enclitically). They are only placed before the verb (proclitically) if there are any attracting elements pulling them. For example, in “Foi aqui que eu a vi” (It was here that I saw her), the word ‘que’ attracts the pronoun to before the verb, even though the statement is still affirmative.
“Eu vi ela” is only tolerated in Brazilian Portuguese and should not be used in European Portuguese. It means the same as “Eu vi-a”, though.
Hi,
There are 2 examples above using the verb “falar”.
– O Paulo falou dele.
– Ele não falou em nós.
As I got from these two, both “falar de” and “falar em” mean to talk about. Can I remake those sentences like these?
– O Paulo falou nele.
– Ele não falou de nós.
Do they have the same meaning as before?
Thank you.
Yes, you could remake the sentences as you did and they’d still mean the same 🙂 “Falar de”, “falar em” and “falar sobre” are generally considered interchangeable.
Please can you explain the differences in these two sentences:
– I do that for you. Faço isso por ti.
– It is not good for you. Não é bom para ti.
I don’t understand the grammatical differences specifically in this situation.
Please can you explain the difference between por and para in this context?
Olá!
– “Para ti” generally means that the person is the target of the action.
– “Por ti” generally means “on your behalf” or “in your honour”.
So when we say “Faço isso por ti”, we’re saying that we’re doing something in the place of someone or somehow honoring them. When we say “Não é bom para ti”, we’re saying that something is not good for the person that will do it or get it. For example, “Fumar não é bom para ti” (smoking isn’t good for you).
Here’s a Learning Note about the uses or por vs. para: The Difference Between Por and Para | Practice Portuguese
O Pedro não lhe disse nada. In the first table of the previous learning note of this lesson, it mentions ‘lhe’ and ‘se’ as Clitic pronouns for ele/ela. This is confusing me as I thought ‘se’ is used as reflexive pronoun. Could you please give me an example sentence when ‘se’ would be used as clitic pronoun? I scrolled a bit through previous lessons, but could not find it either (or I missed it somewhere …). Thanks in advance!
Olá! Reflexive pronouns (pronouns that refer back to the subject) are a subset of clitic pronouns. So, any examples of use of reflexive pronouns are examples of use of clitic pronouns 🙂