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Clitic Pronouns: Nos & Vos

In this lesson we’ll explore two more clitic object pronouns in Portuguese, nos and vos.
A quick reminder: With 1st person plural verbs that end in s, such as vamos, the s is dropped before adding the pronoun nos. For example:

Nos

Nos corresponds to us or to/for us, as it is used for both direct and indirect objects. Examples:
O professor chamou-nos no final da aula.The professor called us at the end of class.
Não nos parece justa esta decisão.This decision doesn’t seem fair to us.
Bear in mind that you will also see nos used for third person plural when the preceding verb form ends in a nasal sound (-am/-em/-êm/-ão) and the reference is masculine, due to the need to add n to the default form of os. Refer back to this learning note for a more detailed explanation of this rule: 3rd Person Clitic Pronouns
For example, in the sentence Eles foram-nos buscarThey picked us up, They picked them up , nos could refer to either them or us. You would have to rely on context to know for sure. Sometimes, if we want to avoid confusion, we would say:

Vos

Vos corresponds to you or to/for you when talking to multiple people (vocês) and it is also valid for both direct and indirect objects. Examples:
Eu ia comprar maçãs, mas deram-vos laranjas.I was going to buy apples, but you(plural) were given oranges.
Alguém vos deu uma cópia?Has someone given you(plural) a copy?

Comments

  • Hi guys,

    This example: Alguém vos deu uma cópia?

    Should ‘vos’ not be placed enclitically as it is not a negative question? I.e. Alguém deu vos uma cópia?

    Thanks

    • Olá, Cameron. Questions don’t have to be negative to promote proclitic placement of clitic pronouns. These pronouns are placed enclitically in most interrogative sentences, and that has a lot to do with the attractive force of interrogative pronouns (e.g. quem, quando, qual – who, when, which…). In the example you gave, there’s no interrogative pronoun, but there’s an indefinite pronoun, “alguém”, which also attracts pronouns to the proclitic position.

  • Just want to check my language sense here.

    On this page https://www.practiceportuguese.com/learning-notes/verb-phrases-clitic-pronouns/ I read that “it’s also correct if you place the clitic pronoun after the auxiliary verb separated by a hyphen,” So this is the reason it’s ok to attach the object (nos) to the verb form of Ir (“foram-nos”) instead of buscar. Great.

    On the other hand, since “buscar” is the action affecting the direct object, not ir, my sense would be to say “Eles foram buscar-os”. Shorter, wIth the added advantage of eliminating the them/us ambiguity.

    Is that correct and which form, if not both, sounds more natural? Thanks!

    • That’s correct, but when you place the clitic pronoun after ‘buscar’, you should write it as ‘buscá-los’, since ‘buscar’ ends in a consonant, as mentioned in this Learning Note: Clitic Pronouns: 3rd Person | Practice Portuguese (the accent is then added to distinguish the infinitive form from the second-person singular form ‘busca-los’, derived from ‘buscas’).

      Either form sounds perfectly natural. You can confidently use either one when referring to ‘us’ and preferably use “foram buscá-los” when referring to ‘them’ 🙂

    • They’d be seen as two distinct sentences. “Eles foram-nos buscar”, by default, is interpreted as “They picked us up” (i.e., “-nos” refers to us), and might eventually mean “They picked them up” (a less ambiguous option for the latter is “Eles foram buscá-los”=.
      On the other hand, “Eles foram buscar para nós” is interpreted as “They went to get [something] for us” and if the context doesn’t already explain what the ‘something’ is, the sentence is incomplete.

  • In lessons 4, we have the sentence

    Nós contamo-vos tudo

    Taking into account the remark by Rodentsoft, would this be wrong?

    “contamos-vos” is actually used in one option marked as wrong.

    • Indeed, ‘contamos-vos’ is the grammatically correct option. We’re already looking into any phrase pairs that might be misaligned in this grammar topic, since it’s tricky even for native speakers!

      • @Joseph

        I got here trying to work out the different treatment of the “s” in two sentences using “dar” in my smart review stack:

        – Nós damos-vos tudo o que vocês pedem

        – Nós demo-vo-las no Natal

        (I know that that second sentence has two things going on with an “s”. It is the verb I was researching)

        Is one of these sentences wrong, or is there another twist that I’m missing?

        • Olá! The second example should be ‘demos-vo-las’ – thanks for catching that one too. It’s been marked for review.

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