3rd Person Possessives: De + Pronoun

The Ambiguity of Seu, Sua, Seus, and Suas

To review, the Portuguese possessive pronouns/determiners for the third-person forms are the following:

Subject	Possessive Pronoun/Determiner	English Equivalent
Ele, Ela, Você	Seu Slow audio Play audio Determiner, Masculine Sua Slow audio Play audio Determiner, Singular, Feminine Seus Slow audio Play audio Pronoun, Singular Suas Slow audio Play audio Determiner, Plural, Feminine	His, Her/Hers, Your/Yours(formal)
Eles, Elas	Seu Slow audio Play audio Determiner, Masculine Sua Slow audio Play audio Determiner, Singular, Feminine Seus Slow audio Play audio Pronoun, Singular Suas Slow audio Play audio Determiner, Plural, Feminine	Their, Theirs

As you can see, elehe, him Slow audio Play audio Pronoun , elashe, her Slow audio Play audio Pronoun , vocêyou(formal) Slow audio Play audio Pronoun, Singular , elesthey, them(masc.) Slow audio Play audio Pronoun, Plural , and elasthey, them(fem.) Slow audio Play audio Pronoun, Plural, Feminine all share the same exact possessive determiners! Since the determiners agree with both the number and the gender of the noun that is being possessed (rather than the subject), knowing precisely who we’re talking about is a bit tricky. Let’s see some examples:
O seu sofá é muito confortável.Her sofa is very comfortable. Slow audio Play audio

Without any extra context, this could also mean His sofa, Your(formal) sofa, or Their sofa

A sua caldeirada de marisco é de morrer.His seafood stew is to die for. Slow audio Play audio

This could also mean Her stew, Your(formal) stew, or Their stew

Os seus sapatos são feitos à mão.Her shoes are handmade. Slow audio Play audio

This could also mean His shoes, Your(formal) shoes, or Their shoes

As suas encomendas foram enviadas para trás.His packages were sent back. Slow audio Play audio

This could also mean Her packages, Your(formal) packages, or Their packages

A Better Alternative Using “De”

Confusing, right? Luckily, Portuguese also has another way to talk about possession which makes things a bit clearer. To avoid confusion, you can use these four determiners: dele, dela, deles, delas. These are formed by contracting the preposition deof, from Slow audio Play audio Preposition with the third-person subject pronouns. Let’s see what they look like:

• DeOf Slow audio Play audio Preposition + EleHe, him Slow audio Play audio Pronoun = DeleHis Slow audio Play audio Determiner, Contractions, Singular, Masculine
• DeOf Slow audio Play audio Preposition + ElaShe, her Slow audio Play audio Pronoun = DelaHer Slow audio Play audio Determiner, Contractions, Singular, Feminine
• DeOf Slow audio Play audio Preposition + ElesThey, them(masc.) Slow audio Play audio Pronoun, Plural = DelesTheir(masc.) Slow audio Play audio Determiner, Contractions, Plural, Masculine
• DeOf Slow audio Play audio Preposition + ElasThey, them(fem.) Slow audio Play audio Pronoun, Plural, Feminine = DelasTheir(fem.) Slow audio Play audio Determiner, Contractions, Plural, Feminine

Both ways are correct, but using “de” + the pronoun is more specific in the way it references the intended subject.
O seu casaco e a sua t-shirt.His coat and his t-shirt? Her coat? Their t-shirt? Who knows? Slow audio Play audio
O casaco e a t-shirt dela.Her coat and t-shirt. With no other possibility. Slow audio Play audio

Differences in usage

There are 2 important differences regarding the use of dele, deles, dela, and delas:

• They are always placed after the noun
• They agree in gender and number with the subject/person who owns the noun (instead of agreeing with the noun itself)

Because it avoids ambiguity, the third-person possessive with dele, dela, deles and delas is very convenient and more frequently used in everyday life compared to seu, sua, seus and suas.

More Examples

Dele

Dele is used for the third person singular, referring to a masculine subject. It is equivalent to “his” in English. Example:
O cão dele é velho.His dog is old. Slow audio Play audio

Dela

Dela is used for the third person singular, referring to a feminine subject. It is equivalent to “her” in English. Example:
As calças dela são azuis.Her trousers are blue. Slow audio Play audio

Deles

Deles is used for the third person plural, referring to a masculine subject (or when both males and females are being referenced collectively). It is equivalent to “their” in English. Example:
As notas deles pioraram este semestre.Their grades worsened this semester. Slow audio Play audio

Delas

Delas is used for the third person plural, referring to feminine subjects only. It is equivalent to “their” in English. Example:
Os carros delas são a gasóleo.Their cars run on diesel fuel. Slow audio Play audio
Later in this unit, we’ll review this topic and get more examples comparing when to use dele vs seu.

Sidenote…

Dele(s) and dela(s) are not strictly possessive words. They also show up in other contexts when you need to combine the preposition de with ele(s) or ela(s). For example:

• A Maria gosta delas. – Maria likes them. | Remember that gostar is followed by de. Elas could refer to a group of females or to a plural feminine noun, such as canetas (pens)
• Falam muito bem deles. – They speak very well (highly) of them. | Eles could refer to a group of people, or to a plural masculine noun.
• O Paulo falou dele – Paulo talked about him. | Ele could also refer to “it”, a singular masculine noun.