We’ve been using subject pronouns for a while (eu, tu, ela, etc.), but there are also a couple other types of personal pronouns you should know about:
- clitic pronouns – These go with verbs and will be covered in-depth later.
- tonic pronouns – These go with prepositions and they are our current focus.
Different Types of Pronouns
Here’s a quick overview, just so you can see the different types together:
| Subject Pronouns | Clitic Object Pronouns | Tonic Pronouns | Tonic Pronouns + “Com“ |
| eu | me | mim | comigowith me |
| tu | te | ti | contigowith you (informal) |
| ele/ela, você | lhe, se | ele ela si |
com elewith him com elawith her consigowith him, with her, with you (formal) |
| nós | nos | nós | connoscowith us |
| vocês | vos | vocês | convoscowith you (plural) |
| eles/elas | lhes, se | eles elas |
com eleswith them (masc.) com elaswith them (fem.) consigowith them |
Luckily, the tonic pronouns are pretty easy to remember, because most look identical to the subject pronouns you already know! The exceptions are just mim, ti, and si. Also notice that some pronouns can merge with comwith into a single word (comigo, contigo, connosco, convosco).
When to Use Tonic Pronouns
1. After prepositions like de, para, por, até, and com
Certain prepositions simply require a tonic pronoun. This is the most common reason you’ll use them in everyday life. Here are some examples:
- Eu gosto de tiI like you
- Ele tem medo de mimHe's scared of me
- Eu olhei para vocêsI looked at you (pl.)
- Eu fiz isto por tiI did this for you
- A Joana correu até nósJoana ran to us
- Ela veio connoscoShe came with us
- Vocês foram embora, e ela foi convoscoYou (pl.) left, and she went with you (pl.)
2. After por, in passive sentences
In a passive sentence, the group of words that follows the preposition porby is called the complemento agente da passiva. This “passive agent complement” indicates who performed the action, and sometimes it’s a tonic pronoun.
- Este livro foi escrito por mimThis book was written by me
- A casa foi construída por nósThe house was built by us
3. After a, as the indirect object
Simply put, a direct object answers the question who?, while an indirect object answers the question to whom?. More info here.
When used as indirect objects, tonic pronouns are always preceded by the preposition a.
Now that we’ve had an introduction to tonic pronouns in European Portuguese, we’ll take a closer look at each one in the next Learning Note.
Comments
Eu entreguei-lhe o envelope a ele.
In this sentence isn’t lhe redundant?
If not why not?
Yes, it is, Richard. That’s precisely the point that was being made at that part of the article: despite the redundancy, we sometimes use both the clitic pronoun (-lhe, in this case) and the tonic pronoun (ele, in this case) together just for extra emphasis 🙂 You can remove either one of them and the sentence will still work just fine:
– Eu entreguei-lhe o envelope
– Eu entreguei o envelope a ele
The passive sentences part seems reasonable, but is there a unit discussing these?
Not yet, but it’s on the list! However, the unit on Past Participles includes a lot of passive language.
Is these examples,
Ele não me disse isso a mim.
Eu entreguei-lhe o envelope a ele.
Why is me before the verb but -lhe after the verb?
These clitic and tonic pronouns have appeared in many earlier lessons. I think it would be helpful to place this unit earlier in the course. A unit on reflexive verbs would also be useful much earlier in this course.
Peter, the choice of pronoun doesn’t depend on placement, but on who the indirect object is (i.e. the person who the action applies to). In the first case, it’s “me” because the action is applied to a first person (he didn’t tell ME that). In the other example, it’s “lhe” because it refers to a third person (I gave the envelope to HIM).
Your feedback was noted, by the way. Thank you for your comment!
Hi
I am also wondering about the construction of the 2 sentences mentioned by Peter Steele
Why is the “me” before the verb, but the “lhe” is after the verb? Or, why can I not say ” eu lhe entreguei o envelope” ?
Thanks 🙂
Olá, Teri. I’m glad you also asked, because I think I misunderstood Peter’s question at the time! In terms of placement, negative sentences pull the pronouns to a position before the verb (proclitic position), while in affirmative sentences, the default position is after the verb (enclitic position). This is why “me” comes before the verb in “Ele não me disse isso a mim” (negative), but “lhe” appears after (affirmative). “Eu lhe entreguei…” is also grammatically correct, but not idiomatic in European Portuguese, hence, not recommended 🙂
In the phrase…”Eu não a vi ultimamente” which is in the smart review flash cards, where’s the pronoun ? Is it “a” ? and if so how does “a” fit in ?
Thanks –
Peter
The pronoun in that sentence is a, which is the feminine, singular direct object pronoun: Eu não a vi ultimamente – I haven’t seen her lately. With this translation, the a refers to her, but in other contexts a could also refer to you (sing.,formal) when speaking to a woman, or it, when speaking about an object that has the feminine gender. We’ll cover this and other clitic object pronouns in this unit: https://www.practiceportuguese.com/units/main/clitic-pronouns/
For the passive, could you use the reflexive form eg “este livro escreveu-se por mim”?
That sentence would sound weird… It means something like “This book wrote itself by me”.
HI,
So “com + eles/elas” is also said as ‘consigo’?
Thanks
It can be, but with the note that it’s only used as such reflexively (i.e. the subject is also “eles/elas”). For example:
– Elas levaram tudo consigo. (They took everything with them) -> Acceptable
– Eu vou estar com eles. -> Acceptable
– Eu vou estar consigo. -> Not acceptable if ‘consigo’ is meant to mean ‘with them’. We would always interpret this as ‘with you’.
Let me also add that in practice, this reflexive use is uncommon in conversational European Portuguese, and you’re most likely to simply hear “com + ele(s)/ela(s)” 🙂
Thank You that is exactly what i was wondering about!
I’m very confused by this example from the lesson. The question to translate is “Do you (pl) want to come with us to the beach?” Why is the correct translation “Querem vir connosco até â praia?” and not just “Querem vir connosco à praia?” Doesn’t “à” mean “to the” and serve as the preposition required to deploy a tonic pronoun?
Good question. In the past, “até à” became normalized in European Portuguese, so “Querem vir connosco até à praia?” is an idiomatic choice for us to use, in spite of the potential redundancy.
It is also fine to simply say ‘Querem vir connosco à praia?’. The word ‘até’ is only essential if, instead of simply describing going to the beach, we wanted to specifically describe covering the distance up to the beach, as if it were some sort of target or finish line.