Portuguese 2.7. Object Personal Pronouns

Object personal pronouns in Portuguese can be divided into three classes: prepositional, direct, and indirect object pronouns.

Prepositional Object Pronouns

Prepositional object pronouns come after a preposition, such as “de” (of, from, or about), “com” (with), “em” (in or on), “sem” (without), etc. Prepositional object pronouns are the same as subject pronouns except in the first-person singular case.

Personal Subject Pronoun	Prepositional Object Pronoun	Examples
eu	mim	Eles falam sobre mim. They talk about me.
ele/ela/você	ele/ela/você	Este presente é para você. This gift is for you.
nós	nós	Ele não está contra nós. He is not against us.
eles/elas/vocês	eles/elas/vocês	Eu não vou sem eles. I won’t go without them.

• One notable exception is when using the preposition “com” with “mim” and “nós.” One must use “comigo” and “conosco” instead of “com mim,” and “com nós,” respectively, which do not exist, e.g., “Venha comigo” (Come with me), “Ele quer jantar conosco” (He wants to have dinner with us), etc.
• The subject pronoun “eu” is used instead of “mim” following the prepositions: “entre” (between/among), “exceto” (except), and “incluindo” (including). For example, “Muitas pessoas, inclusive eu, não leem o jornal” (Many people, including myself, do not read the newspaper), “Nós mantemos isso entre você e eu” (We keep it between you and me), etc.

Reflexive Prepositional Pronouns

The reflexive prepositional pronouns are a special case of the prepositional object pronouns, such as “myself,” “yourself,” “himself,” etc. This is used when the subject and the object pronoun refer to the same person.

Subject Pronoun	Reflexive Prepositional Object Pronoun	Examples
eu	mim	Eu não falo sobre mim. I don’t talk about myself.
você(s)	você(s)	Comprou um presente para você. You bought a gift for yourself.
ele/ela	si	Ela elogia a si mesma. She praises herself.
nós	nós	Nós fazemos isso por nós. We do it for ourselves.
eles/elas/vocês	si	Eles querem tudo para si. They want everything for themselves.

• More often than not, the reflexive prepositional object pronoun is followed by the adjective “mesmo,” “mesma,” “mesmos,” or “mesmas,” meaning “same” for emphasis. For example, in the expression “Eu falo de mim mesmo,” meaning “I speak about myself,” the adjective “mesmo” is added to emphasize that one is speaking about himself. The expression “Eu falo de mim” has the same meaning but without emphasis.
• The reflexive prepositional pronoun “si” becomes “consigo” when combined with the preposition “com.” For example, “Ele está feliz consigo mesmo” (He is happy with himself).
• Note that “si” can mean “himself,” “herself,” “itself,” “themselves,” or “yourselves,” depending on the subject it refers to.

Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns

The second and third classes of object pronouns are direct and indirect object pronouns. This tends to be a challenging topic for English-speaking students. Nevertheless, the use of direct and indirect objects is so ubiquitous that we feel obliged to cover it at this beginner level. Feel free to return to this lesson at times of confusion if you do not fully grasp all of the details.

Before we delve into the details, let us first define the difference between the two classes, since the distinction in English is not always clear. The direct object is the noun directly acted upon, whereas the indirect object is usually the noun (or person) receiving the direct object. For example, in the expressions “He gives it to us” and “I give it to you,” the “it” is the direct object acted upon, whereas “us” is the indirect object in the first example and “you” in the second. In English, we use “me,” “you,” “him,” “her,” “us,” and “them,” regardless of whether we are referring to a direct or indirect object.

There are two sets of direct and indirect object pronouns in Portuguese: one set that is formal, which is used in written and formally spoken language, and another set that is informal, which is used in everyday informal spoken language.

Formal Object Pronouns

Let us start with the formal sets of the direct and indirect object pronouns and their equivalents in English.

Direct Object Pronoun	Indirect Object Pronoun	English Equivalent
me	me	me
o/a	lhe	him/her/you (singular)
nos	nos	us
os/as	lhes	them/you (plural)

Notice that the direct and the indirect object pronouns are only different in the third-person singular and plural forms.

For example, in the sentence “Eu o vio” (I see him), the meaning of “him” is represented by the direct object pronoun “o;” whereas in the sentence “Eu lhe dou um presente” (I give him a present), the pronoun “him” is translated as the indirect object pronoun “lhe.”

The direct object pronouns “o” and “a” can mean “him,” “her,” or “you.” Similarly, the indirect object pronoun “lhe” can also mean “him,” “her,” or “you.” To avoid the confusion, we often add the direct object after the verb. For example:

Eu o vio a ele. Eu a vio a ela. Eu o vio a você.	I see him. I see her. I see you.
Eu lhe dou um presente a ele. Eu lhe dou um presente a ela. Eu lhe dou um presente a você.	I give him a present. I give her a present. I give you a present.

The direct and indirect object pronouns are the same in the first-person singular, i.e., “me,” and plural, i.e., “nos.” For example:

Ele me vê. Ele nos vê.	He sees me. He sees us.	“me” and “nos” are direct object pronouns
Ele me envia cartas. Ele nos envia cartas.	He sends me letters. He sends us letters.	“me” and “nos” are indirect object pronouns

Informal Object Pronouns

In daily spoken language, we use the following informal sets of the direct and indirect object pronouns:

Direct Object Pronoun	Indirect Object Pronoun	English Equivalent
me	me para mim	me
você/te	para você/ti	you (singular)
ele/ela	para ele/ela	him/her
nos	nos para nós	us
eles/elas	para eles/elas	them/you (plural)

The first-person singular and plural indirect object pronouns have unstressed forms, i.e., “me” and “nos,” and stressed forms, i.e., “para mim” and “para nós.” For example, the sentence “He sent me a letter” can be translated using one of two forms:

Ele me enviou uma carta.	formal or unstressed informal
Ele enviou uma carta para mim.	stressed informal

There are two ways to express the second-person informal singular direct object pronoun “you” in spoken Portuguese: using “você” after the verb, or more colloquially using “te” before the verb. Remember that the formal written direct object pronoun meaning “you” is “o” or “a,” depending on the gender of the addressee. Thus, the following three sentences can have the same meaning:

Eu o/a amo (a você).	I love you.
Eu amo você.
Eu te amo.

The formal second-person “you” can also be expressed using the indirect object pronouns “para o senhor” and “para a senhora” for masculine and feminine, respectively. For example:

Vou vender a casa para o senhor.	I will sell you the house, sir.
Vou vender a casa para a senhora.	I will sell you the house, madam.

More examples on Direct & Indirect Object Pronouns

1. Direct Object Pronouns

Ele sempre me segue. (formal/informal)	He always follows me.
Eu não o/a ouço. (formal) Eu não ouço você. (informal) Eu não te ouço. (informal)	I don’t hear you.
Ele não nos vê. (formal/informal)	He doesn’t see us.
Nós não o entendemos. (formal) Nós não entendemos ele. (informal)	We don’t understand him.
Nós não a entendemos. (formal) Nós não entendemos ela. (informal)	We don’t understand her.
Eu os amo. (formal) Eu amo eles. (informal)	I love them.

2. Indirect Object Pronouns

Ele me vendeu a casa. (formal) Ele vendeu a casa para mim. (informal)	He sold me the house.
Vou lhe enviar uma carta. (formal) Vou enviar uma carta para você. (informal) Vou enviar uma carta para ti. (informal)	I will send you a letter.
Ele nos devolveu o livro. (formal) Ele devolveu o livro para nós. (informal)	He returned the book to us.
Nós lhe pedimos um favor. (formal) Nós pedimos um favor para ele. (informal)	We asked him a favor.
Nós lhe pedimos um favor. (formal) Nós pedimos um favor para ela. (informal)	We asked her a favor.
Sempre lhes dou dinheiro. (formal) Sempre dou dinheiro para eles. (informal)	I always give them money.

Attaching Object Pronouns to Verb Ends

The object pronouns “me,” “te,” “o(s),” “a(s),” “se,” “nos,” and “lhe(s)” can be placed before the verb or attached, with a hyphen, to the end the verb. Let us consider these cases:

1. In formal writing, one must not start a sentence or phrase with an object pronoun. If the explicit subject is removed, the object pronoun is attached to the end the verb.

Eu o vejo. Vejo-o.	I see him.
Eu lhe mando cartas. Mando-lhe cartas.	I send him letters.

In informal spoken language, there is no such restriction. Avoiding object pronoun attachment to the verb-end can sound more natural in an informal dialogue.

2. If the subject is a noun, rather than a subject pronoun, attachment to the verb-end is optional and tends to be more formal. For example:

O homem o visitou. O homem visitou-o.	The man visited him.
Os fãs lhe mandam cartas. Os fãs mandam-lhe cartas.	The fans send him letters.

3. Object pronouns often attach to the infinitive in formal writing, but are placed before the infinitive in informal speech.

Ele quer me ver. Ele quer ver-me.	He wants to see me.
Ela quer nos ligar. Ela quer ligar-nos.	She wants to call us.

If the object pronoun is “o(s)” or “a(s),” the pronoun is changed to “lo(s)” or “la(s),” respectively, and the final “r” of the infinitive is dropped. For example:

Eu o quero ver. Quero vê-lo.	I want to see him.
Eu os quero enviar. Quero enviá-los.	I want to send them.

4. If the verb is in the first-person plural ending in “-mos” and the object pronouns is “o(s)” or “a(s),” the pronoun is changed to “lo(s)” or “la(s),” respectively, and the final “s” of the verb ending is dropped. For example:

Nós a visitamos. Visitamo-la.	We visit her.
Nós os vemos. Vemo-los.	We see them.

5. If the verb ends in a nasal sound “-am,” “-em,” “-ão,” or “-õe,” and the object pronouns is “o(s)” or “a(s),” the pronoun is changed to “no(s)” or “na(s),” respectively. For example:

Eles o visitam. Visitam-no.	They visit him.
Ela os põe em risco. Ela põe-nos em risco.	She puts them at risk.

Combining Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns

We can also combine direct and indirect object pronouns in the same sentence. In this case, we often place the direct object pronoun before the verb and the indirect object pronoun after the verb, as shown in the following two examples:

Ela me vende a casa. Ela a vende. Ela a vende para mim.	She sells me the house. She sells it. She sells it to me.
Eu lhe dou um presente. Eu odou. Eu odou para ele.	I give him a gift. I give it. I give it to him.

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