Portuguese 1.5. Subject Personal Pronouns

In this lesson, we study the subject personal pronouns in Portuguese.

Subject personal pronouns in Portuguese serve the same function as their English counterparts. They point out who carries out the action described by the verb.

eu	I	1st person singular
você	you (informal singular)	2nd person singular
o senhor/a senhora	you (formal singular)	2nd person singular
ele/ela	he/she/it	3rd person singular
nós	we	1st person plural
vocês	you (plural)	2nd person plural
eles/elas	they	3rd person plural

Dropping the Subject Pronoun

Sometime, the subject personal pronoun is dropped because the verb endings can be sufficient to refer to the subject, as you will learn in Lesson 6 of this level.

“Tu” vs. “você” in Portuguese

There is another second-person singular form that is used in Portugal and in some parts of Brazil, that is the form “tu.” Here is the difference in summary:

• In Portugal, the form “tu” is informal and “você” is formal. The form “tu” is conjugated differently but will not be discussed in the lessons to come.
• In Brazil, the form “você” is the widely used form for the second-person pronoun. However, some parts of Brazil use “tu” instead but keep the verb conjugation the same as “você.” In general, “o senhor” (literally, “the gentleman”) and “a senhora” (literally, “the lady”) are used in Brazil as a formal way to address older people, with people we are not familiar with, or to show respect.

Throughout the lessons, we use the standard Brazilian Portuguese “você” with informal second person and “o senhor/a senhora” with formal second person.

“Nós” vs. “a gente” in Portuguese

In everyday life in Brazil, there is an informal alternative to the first-person plural “nós” (we), that is “a gente” (literally “the people”).

We use the third-person singular verb conjugation with “a gente,” , e.g., “A gente dorme cedo” (We sleep early).

The Equivalent of “it” in Portuguese

There is no direct translation of the subject pronoun “it” in English. To refer to a statement or a situation in Portuguese, the subject pronoun is not needed, e.g., “Não significa muito” (It does not mean much).

Alternatively, one can also use a neuter demonstrative pronoun like “isso,” meaning “this/that,” e.g., “Isso não significa muito.” More details on demonstrative pronouns are discussed in Level II, Lesson 6.

Next: Present Tense I: Regular Verbs

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