Portuguese 2.6. Demonstrative Adjectives & Pronouns

In this lesson, we cover demonstrative adjectives and pronouns in Portuguese.

Demonstrative adjectives (this, that, these, those) come before a noun, e.g., “I want this book,” while possessive pronouns (same as demonstrative adjectives: this, that, these, those) are used to replace a noun and its possessive adjective, e.g., “I want this.”

Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns must agree in gender and number with the noun being described.

The following are the demonstrative adjectives in Portuguese:

	Masc. Singular	Masc. Plural	Feminine Singular	Feminine Plural
this/these	este	estes	esta	estas
that/those	esse	esses	essa	essas
that/those (over there)	aquele	aqueles	aquela	aquelas

In general, “este,” “esta,” “estes,” and “estas” are used to refer to nouns close to the speaker and listener.

On the other hand, “esse,” “essa,” “esses,” and “essas” are used to refer to nouns close to the listener but far away from the speaker, whereas “aquele,” “aquela,” “aqueles,” and “aquelas” are used to refer to nouns far away from both the speaker and the listener.

Demonstrative pronouns are the same as demonstrative adjectives in addition to the set of invariable neuter demonstrative pronouns “isto,” “isso,” and “aquilo,” which mean “this,” “that,” and “that over there,” respectively. The neuter demonstrative pronouns have no gender or plural forms. These are used to refer to a whole sentence or concept, e.g., “Isto não é aceitável” (This is not acceptable), or to point at something without mentioning it, e.g., “O que é isso?” (What is that?). The following are the demonstrative pronouns in Portuguese:

	Masc. Sing.	Masc. Plural	Fem. Sing.	Fem. Plural	Neuter
this/these	este	estes	esta	estas	isto
that/those	esse	esses	essa	essas	isso
that/those (over there)	aquele	aqueles	aquela	aquelas	aquilo

Next: Object Personal Pronouns

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