Possessives

The purpose of this Learning Note is to address a common question we get from learners after they’ve finished our Unit about possessives in European Portuguese. The question is about when to use definite articles before possessive determiners/pronouns, and when they can be dropped. In other words, what’s the difference between Eles são os meus […]

Maria is pregnant and just moved in to a new home. She loves cooking and decorating, so she invites her cousin Diogo over for dinner and a tour.

Practice possessive pronouns / determiners in this dialogue about Afonso’s birthday plans.

Rita realizes that she has quite a bit in common with Marcelo’s siblings! Listen for lots of possessive pronouns and possessive determiners throughout their conversation.

Adriano tells us about each member of his family. Toggle on the Translate button and explore the differences between the verbs ser and estar, the verbs that mean “to be”. For this episode, let’s focus more on exploring the language, instead of comprehending what you hear. Listen once and then go through line by line, […]

Isabel goes to a party where she doesn’t know anyone, so Eduardo tells her about each of the guests.

Menus might be missing at this restaurant’s table, but a courteous waiter is eager to keep a new customer satisfied.

Dele vs seu? When forming 3rd person possessives in European Portuguese, how do we decide when to use dele, dela, deles, delas  vs.  seu, sua, seus, suas? Both ways are correct, so there’s no need to stress. It’s just a matter of whether you’re providing enough clarity / specificity. When in doubt: dele/dela/deles/delas is usually […]

The Ambiguity of Seu, Sua, Seus, and Suas To review, the Portuguese possessive pronouns/determiners for the third-person forms are the following: Subject Possessive Pronoun/Determiner English Equivalent Ele, Ela, Você His, Her/Hers, Your/Yours(formal) Eles, Elas Their, Theirs As you can see, ele, ela, você, eles, and elas all share the same exact possessive determiners! Since the determiners agree […]

Possessive Determiners vs. Possessive Pronouns In this unit, we’re going to learn about possessive determiners and possessive pronouns in European Portuguese, which both serve the function of expressing possession or ownership of something. In English, these are words like my, your, his, her, their, and our (possessive determiners) and mine, yours, his, hers, theirs, and […]

Mine, Yours, and Ours Let’s take a closer look at this first group of possessives: meu, teu, nosso and vosso, plus their feminine and plural forms. Subject Possessive Pronoun/Determiner (for masculine nouns) Possessive Pronoun/Determiner (for feminine nouns) Eu Tu Nós Vós, Vocês Gender and Number Agreement Remember that the pronoun/determiner has to agree in gender […]

His, Hers, Yours, and Theirs There are just a few more Portuguese possessives to learn: Subject Possessive Pronoun/Determiner English Equivalent Ele, Ela, Você His, Her/Hers, Your/Yours (formal) Eles, Elas Their, Theirs See what happens there? The pronouns/determiners for the third-person singular (+ você) and the third-person plural are all the same! Gender and Number Agreement […]