In this lesson, we’ll have a look at direct and indirect object pronouns in Portuguese. These fall into the category of pronomes clíticosclitic pronouns , along with reflexive pronouns, which we will cover separately, but which follow many of the same rules.
Keep in mind that we are focusing on how to use object pronouns in European Portuguese, as there are some differences in the Brazilian dialect.
So What IS a Clitic Object Pronoun?
You may recall from the Reflexive Verbs unit that a clitic pronoun is an unstressed morpheme (sort of like a mini-word) that goes along with a verb. A clitic object pronoun shows to whom or to what the action refers. In other words, it takes the place of the people or objects represented by the direct or indirect objects.
For example, the direct object pronouns -me and -os:
Ele disse-meHe told me
Ela viu-os na televisãoShe saw them on TV
Chart of Object Pronouns in Portuguese
Here are the direct and indirect object pronouns (“clitics”) associated with each subject pronoun:
Important Notes:
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- Me, te, nos, and vos: The same word is used for both direct and indirect objects.
- For the rest: You have to pay attention to whether it’s direct or indirect (we’ll discuss the difference in the next Learning Note).
- The pronouns o, a, os and as are used in place of direct objects.
- In contrast, lhe/lhes are used to represent an indirect object.
Position of Object Pronouns
Before we continue to learn more about object pronouns in Portuguese, we should learn about where these pronouns can be placed in relation to the verb.
There are three possible positions:
- ➡️ After the verb
- ⬇️ In the middle of the verb
- ⬅️ Before the verb
➡️ After the Verb
Clitic object pronouns appear after the verb in simple affirmative statements (and also after an auxiliary verb that precedes a past participle). These are separated from the verb by a hyphen. For example:
- Eu digitalizo-osI'll scan them
- Eu vi-a ontem no café.I saw her yesterday at the café.
- Eles pagaram-me o jantar.They paid for my dinner.
- A Joana disse-me isso ontem.Joana told me that yesterday.
- Dá-lhe uma caneta, por favor.Give her a pen, please.
⬇️ Middle of the Verb
Clitic object pronouns that appear in the middle of the verb look complicated at first, but the rules are actually fairly simple.
These forms are only used with two types of verbs: the future indicative tense (the first example) and the conditional (the second example).
The pronoun is placed between the verb stem (e.g. entregar-, ter-) and the ending of the verb (e.g. -ei, -ia), always between two hyphens. Examples:
- Future Indicative: Entregar-lhe-ei o ensaio amanhã.I will hand him my essay tomorrow.
- entregarei → entregar-lhe-ei
- Conditional: Eu ter-lhe-ia ligado se tivesse bateria no telemóvel.I would have called her if I had battery on my cell phone. (i.e. if my phone were charged)
- teria → ter-lhe-ia
⬅️ Before the Verb
The clitic pronoun comes before the verb when the verb follows certain adverbs, pronouns, and conjunctions.
There are a lot of specific contexts included in this ‘before the verb’ category! Familiarize yourself with some of the guidelines below, but don’t feel the need to memorize them. We think it’s easier to learn these from experience, rather than trying to analyze which grammatical category each word falls into.
Over time, you’ll notice that certain words tend to “pull” the clitic pronoun before the verb. Here are some examples of these 🧲 “magnetic” words: não, nunca, nada, ninguém, quando, onde, como, que, porque, quem, já, ainda, sempre, quase, cada, enquanto, se, alguém, todos, qualquer, certos, tantos
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🚫 Within negative statements (following a “negative word” like não, nunca, nada, or ninguém)
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❓When the verb follows open-ended “question words” (interrogative adverbs and interrogative pronouns)
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⏰ When the verb follows certain adverbs of time
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〰️ When the verb follows an indefinite or relative pronoun
- Indefinite pronouns are pronouns that refer to a noun in a more general way (todos, alguém, qualquer, cada, certos, tantos, etc)
- Relative pronouns include que, quem, etc.
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➕ When the verb follows a subordinating conjunction
- O gato não vai embora enquanto lhe deres atençãoThe cat won't leave as long as you give him attention
- O meu joelho dói quando me mexoMy knee hurts when I move
- Se me derem os livros, eu digitalizo-os.If they give me the books, I’ll scan them.
- Ela faz se lhe pediresShe'll do it if you(sing.,inf.) ask her
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❗️ In certain exclamations / expressions of desire
- Deus me livre!God forbid
- Quem me dera!I wish!
Summary: Rules for Placing Object Pronouns in European Portuguese
If the rules for where to place an object pronoun seem complicated, you can start by just remembering this summary of the general guidelines:
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- 🚫 A sentence will never begin with a clitic pronoun.
- ➡️ Simple affirmative statements: The pronoun comes after the verb
- ➡️ Auxiliary verbs before a past participle: The pronoun comes after the auxiliary verb
- ⬇️ Future indicative tense and the conditional tense: The pronoun is placed in the middle of the verb
- ⬅️ Negative statements, open-ended questions, and most other grammatical constructions: The pronoun comes before the verb
Related Topics
As a reference, here are few related topics that are outside the scope of this unit:
- Reflexive pronouns (another type of clitic pronoun)
- Placement of object pronouns within verb phrases (locuções verbais), i.e. when using auxiliary verbs.
Next Up!
💡 Note to Practice Portuguese members: Clitic pronouns are a tricky topic for many learners. If you’re learning from a web browser, we recommend keeping these Learning Notes open in a separate tab, so you can reference them while completing the exercises in the upcoming lessons. We’ll cover most of the following topics throughout this Unit, but if you want to go ahead and open them now, click the links below:
Object Pronouns in Portuguese (done!) | Direct vs Indirect Objects | Me & Te | 3rd Person Clitic Pronouns (o, a, lhe, etc) | Nos & Vos | Merging Clitic Pronouns | Verb Phrases & Clitic Pronouns
Now you can click Mark as Complete to continue on, or return to the Units page to find your place.
Hi,
All very helpful.
A wee comment, in the last translation example “they paid for me dinner” is perhaps used colloquially in some parts of the uk and elsewhere, however “my” would normally be considered the correct form.
Keep up the excellent work.
Haha, you’re absolutely right! Thanks for this, I’ll add that correction now 🙂
Do the prepositions alter their position in a negative sentence?
Hello, Christopher! Negative sentences keep to the general rule: the clitics are placed before the verb (proclitically).An example: “Não me apetece estudar” (I don’t feel like studying). This is also valid for negative questions: “Não te foste embora?” (Didn’t you go away?). I hope these examples helped!
Very clear explanation and easy to keep in mind. Thanks!
Phew! this one is difficult.
My recollection is that Brazilian Portuguese has very different rules with regard to clitic pronouns. Is that the case?
Olá, Jay. Brazilian Portuguese generally has a strong preference for proclitically placed pronouns and the two other options (mesoclitic, enclitic) are avoided 🙂
And this is the opening section on Clitic Pronouns! The only thing I remember is Deus me livre.
This is tough section for sure! I would recommend repeating this unit and reading through the Learning Notes a few times. Also I’ll make a note to see if we can reorganize in a way to make it less overwhelming!
Hi Molly, I suggest breaking the topic into small pieces and, introducing the linguistic jargon slowly. We’re almost learning 2 languages here!
Keep the exercises simple and in the present tense so that students just need to concentrate on the pronouns, and give lots of easy examples.
I used to visit France ands speak French well enough to work in their language. My German is not as good, however I reached level B2 in that but now, in Portuguese I’ve gone back to Duolingo to revise pronouns because you’re making it too difficult. It doesn’t need to be difficult.
Ah I forgot to add: Be cautious when using Brazilian Portuguese sites to review pronouns (e.g. Duolingo) as there are some differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese. You can read more here: European vs Brazilian Portuguese under the “clitic pronouns before the verb” heading.
Hi again Molly. I’ve remembered that I first learned pronouns with the book ‘Basic Portuguese’ by Sue Tyson-Ward (McGraw Hill pub.).
It has a short chapter on direct-object pronouns with easy examples, followed by another, similar, short chapter on indirect-object pronouns followed by a third on position of pronouns. I see that I completed all the exercises without difficulty and I strongly recommend the book to others.
Thanks Patrick, we’ll work on simplifying things! In the meantime, here are the Learning Notes from the rest of the unit which break down some of the topics a bit more:
Direct & Indirect Objects
Me and Te
3rd Person
Nos and Vos
Merging Clitic Pronouns
Verb Phrases and Clitic Pronouns
Reflexive Pronouns
Before starting with Practice Portuguese, I’d had lessons on placing object pronouns before and after the verb, but I’d never had a lesson explaining that they can placed them in the middle of verbs. I had seen cases where the pronoun was I the middle while reading books, but I was always confused when I saw them. I thought maybe ia and ei were new pronouns I had not yet learned. I am glad to finally have a lesson explaining this!
É um bocadinho difícil esta parte, vou estudar muito. Tenho uma pergunta na frase : Não vos parece um dia lindo? é possível também usar esta outra frase: Não lhes parece um dia lindo?
Olá, Gabriela. Sim, as duas frases são possíveis 🙂
I am a bit confused about the without object pronoun example:
Without object pronoun: Dá uma caneta “a ela”, por favor. (indirect)
Is “a ela” optional? Meaning the correct sentence can be written in both ways as below?
Option 1: Dá uma caneta, por favor.
Option 2: Dá uma caneta a ela, por favor.
Thank you.
The “without object pronoun” examples are there to show you what exactly the pronoun is replacing. That is, the pronoun “-lhe” in this sentence would be replacing “a ela”:
– Dá-lhe uma caneta = Dá uma caneta a ela
Both options are grammatically possible, but using object pronouns is usually preferred.
Note that the other option you wrote, “Dá uma caneta, por favor”, is already a different sentence, it’s not the same. There’s no object there, so it would just translate to “Give a pen, please”, which feels incomplete.
Hi,
First of all thank you so much for this course in European Portuguese, it is really good.
Could you please help me understand what is the form “conhecê” in “ Estamos ansiosos por conhecê-la”
Why is it not the infinitive: conhecer ?
Thanks in advance
Muito obrigada
Olá, Jenny! Thanks for your kind words 🙂 In “conhecê-la”, the infinitive is actually there, but because it ends in the consonant R, this consonant is dropped when the pronoun “-a” is attached (and the pronoun gains an L). We touch on that here: Clitic Pronouns: 3rd Person
The accent is added to distinguish between “…conhecê-la” (conhecer + a –> infinitive form) and “conhece-la” (conheces + a –> simple present, second-person singular).
Trying so hard and constantly failing to get my head around this language and to use it (but love what you guys do). ..
I get SO lost with trying to make sense of the explanations of grammar. Perhaps it’s my age, or my brain….but for me it’s like trying to learn 2 languages at once (the language of Grammar and the language of Portuguese). Feeling useless (again!). Doh.
I completely understand! We try to reduce the “grammar lingo” when possible, but sometimes it’s unavoidable.🙃 Clitic object pronouns are an especially tricky topic.
When it’s feeling like the grammar explanations are overwhelming, I would recommend 1) Taking notes — putting it in your own words might help you wrap your head around it, and/or 2) Spend time just focusing on the example sentences and try to learn from those. Often you can notice patterns in the examples and figure out how it works without having to understand all the complex grammar behind it.
Sometimes this 2nd method is even better, depending on how you learn. In a real conversation you won’t have time to analyze the grammar, but if you have enough exposure to different examples, you’ll eventually develop a more “natural” sense of how to form the sentence (at least most of the time 🙂 ). And don’t worry if you get to the end of a Learning Note and still don’t understand fully. The phrases that come up throughout the Lesson activities will give you more opportunities to figure it out. And if you’re using Smart Review, it will keep coming up again to practice there too. You can even work through the whole unit a 2nd time. It might feel a bit easier on the 2nd try, once you have all the extra context!
Thank you Molly. I´ll give your suggestions a try . It´s taking me so long to learn (and lack of people to practise with doesn´t help!). Not to mention Covid-19´s contribution to throwing a spanner in the works on so many levels. The obligatory use of face mask does nothing to help me decipher what people here are saying (though pre-Covid was only marginally different for me!!) 😉 O meu deus!
Hi. Thank you for the post. But I’m still Confused with the examples.
Eu vi-a ontem no café.
I saw her yesterday at the café.
And this one
Dá-lhe uma caneta, por favor
Give her a pen, please
What makes the first one using via-a instead of via-lhe?
Thank you in advance! Your website is really helpful.
Olá, Ridha! Those pronouns refer to two different kinds of object. The pronoun “-a” is replacing a direct object (what they saw), while the pronoun “-lhe” is replacing an indirect object (who they’re giving the pen to). If in the second sentence, you wanted to replace the direct object instead (what they’re giving: the pen), you’d also end up with “Dá-a”.
Hi, question about inserting the pronoun in the middle of the future indicative. My teacher suggested most Portuguese speakers will avoid doing this in spoken Portuguese because it sounds too literary and instead opt for the ir + infinitive form. Do you agree?
Olá, Paul. Yes, your teacher is absolutely right. For example, instead of ‘entregar-lhe-ei’, we’d most likely say ‘vou entregar-lhe’ 🙂
Could you explain how the following two sentences from earlier lessons fit into this pattern / rule?
Pode ajudar-me?
Consegue compreender-me?
On the face of it these are question sentences, not simple affirmative ones. Deepl can generate other sentences in the form: can+infinitive+me
Another sentence from an earlier lesson: Pode me arranjar outro guardonapo? seems to rule out it being some odd characteristic of “can”.
Olá! Towards the end, the Learning Note summarizes that clitic pronouns come before the verb “when the verb follows certain adverbs, including “question words” (interrogative adverbs and interrogative pronouns)”. In the examples you mentioned, there is no interrogative adverb or pronoun (who, what, when, how…) that would attract the clitic to the front of the verb, so the placement follows the general rule for verb phrases in affirmative sentences, where the clitic has to stay either after the auxiliary verb or after the main one (see Practice Portuguese | Verb Phrases & Clitic Pronouns. Note that in European Portuguese, no sentence can start with a clitic pronoun, so saying “Me pode ajudar?” would not be acceptable.
I think other parts of the Learning Note were perhaps less clear about the need to have these “question words” and not simply a question in general, so we’ve just updated it for clarity 🙂 Sorry about that.
Joseph,
Thank you for the clear and prompt response. Great service as always.
Olá,
Was there a unit on Futuro do Indicativo? In this lesson, it looks like we’re assuming previous knowledge of it, but I when I look back at the units (and ahead to later units in B1 and B2) I don’t see one. Am I missing something?
Obrigado!
David
Good question! We don’t have a unit on the futuro do indicativo, but you can practice it under the Verbs section (under Learn in the menu). Using futuro do indicativo sounds more formal and a bit “stuffy” sometimes, sort of like saying “I shall do that” instead of “I’ll do that”. It comes up sometimes in written language, not as often in spoken language. We might add a unit for it in the future, but we prioritized the Informal Future unit first because it’s the more common way to speak about the future (ir + infinitive).
Muito obrigada pela explicação!
I have a question about the magnetic words – there are usually some examples but I would like to have a full list of them all. For example is talvez a magnetic word?
De nada! To answer your question, yes, ‘talvez’ is also a magnetic word, as we called them. You will usually come across short or long lists of examples, but not quite a full list of all the possibilites, as that would be a really really ambitious endeavour. But feel free to continue asking about any specific words that you’re not sure about – you can use our support channel 🙂
Do these sentences mean “They paid for my dinner” ?
Eles pagaram o meu jantar.
Eles pagaram por o meu jantar.
Is this how you would say “They paid me for the dinner”?
Eles pagaram-me por o jantar.
I’m confused about what whether the following sentence can mean either of the above?
Eles pagaram-me o jantar.
Olá!
1) They paid for my dinner:
– Eles pagaram o meu jantar – correct!
– Eles pagaram pelo meu jantar – correct! (note that “por + o = pelo”)
2) They paid me for the dinner:
– Eles pagaram-me pelo jantar – correct! (again, attention to “pelo”)
Your last sentence, “Eles pagaram-me o jantar”, would be firstly interpreted as “They paid for my dinner”, unless context suggests otherwise.
Olá. Fico contente em alcançar a esta lição porque queria entender melhor as frases com lhe/lhes há tempo. Um exemplo que eu encontro frequentemente em “smart review” é “Nemhuma destas camisolas lhe agrada.” Ainda não a entendi porque não posso identificar o complemento indireto que explica porque se usa “lhe”. “As camisolas” é o sujeito e “ela” (que não gostas delas) é o complemento direto, não é? Podem me ajudar a entender? Obrigado!
Olá! O sujeito é “nenhuma”, o que explica porque é que o verbo “agrada” está conjugado no singular, em concordância com ele. Na frase do exercício, “ela” é o complemento indireto, que é substituído pelo pronome “lhe” (nota: o pronome “lhe” não varia com o género do complemento – é inespecífico).
Olá Joseph e obrigado pela resposta. Acho que o que eu faltava era que é possível ter uma frase com complemento indireto mas sem complemento direto. Esta lição https://www.practiceportuguese.com/learning-notes/clitic-pronouns-direct-indirect-objects/ diz que “Sentences can have indirect objects without direct objects, and vice-versa”, mas não há nenhum exemplo com só complemento indireto. Pode ser útil incluir o exemplo sobre que perguntei. Ainda mais útil seria dar uma lista de verbos comuns que requerer complemento indireto, entre eles “agradar”. Obrigado de novo.
Obrigado pelas sugestões! Serão tomadas em conta numa próxima revisão do artigo 🙂
When the verb is in the Futuro do Indicativo and a “magnetic” word such as “não” precedes it, does the pronoun go before the verb or in the middle of the verb?
Olá! The pronoun should go before the verb if there’s a “magnetic word” preceding it 🙂 Otherwise, it should stay in the middle. For example:
– Eu ajudar-te-ei. (I will help you)
– Eu não te ajudarei. (I won’t help you)
In practice, we tend to avoid using the future tense forms in daily life and we especially avoid having to use them along with object pronouns. The examples above would usually look more like this:
– Eu vou ajudar-te.
– Eu não te vou ajudar.
Thank you for the very comprehensive explanation. I understand it now. I know that one would normally avoid using the future tense, but the combination of the word não, the future tense plus a direct pronoun came up in a Portuguese language test and I was flummoxed!
Some important aspects don’t seem to have been mentioned: the modification of the verb and pronoun, such as with infinitives infinitives (Vou dejá-lo) and other situations e.g. eles dão-nos isso.
Thanks for your comment.
This introductory learning note provides a general overview of object pronouns. Other, more specific details, are discussed in subsequent learning notes, such as this one, specifically about 3rd-person object pronouns and their respective modifications: Clitic Pronouns: 3rd Person | Practice Portuguese
Thanks, but shouldn’t some reference have been made to these points in the original learning note, and a link to the more advanced information?
The links to the other information are at the bottom under the “Related Topics” and “Next Up” sections. It’s a pretty overwhelming topic for most learners already, so we felt that mentioning all the complexity in one Learning Note would be too much. Instead, we decided to break it into separate Learning Notes throughout the Unit, but also added those links at the bottom for those who want to skip ahead (and for non-members who are looking for related topics).