In Portuguese, when we use a verb that asks for both a direct and indirect object (and the objects are known, i.e. we’re aware of what/who they are), we can create a contraction by combining the third person direct object pronoun with the indirect object pronoun. Sounds complicated, we know.
Let’s see a practical example…
Dei uma prenda à Joana.I gave Joana a gift.
In the sentence above, neither the direct object (uma prenda) nor the indirect object (a Joana) have been replaced by a clitic.
Dei-lhe uma prenda.I gave her a gift.
Now, we’ve replaced the indirect object (a Joana) with the clitic –lhe, while the direct object remains in place.
Dei-lha.I gave it to her.
Finally, both objects have been replaced by clitics. The direct object, a prenda, was replaced by the clitic –a. The indirect object, à Joana, was replaced by the clitic -lhe. Then, the two were merged: -lhe + -a = -lha.
This merger only works when the direct object is in the third person. If the direct object is in the first or second person, it’s not possible to merge the two.
The table below shows how to make these mergers between indirect object pronouns (me, te, lhe, nos, vos) and 3rd person direct object pronouns (o, a, os, as).
Guide to Merging Pronouns
What about -lhes?
These mergers are not usually done with –lhes. That’s because they can easily be confused with the mergers for the singular –lhe, since they’re the exact same in both cases:
So, to minimize confusion, when -lhes is replacing the indirect object, we can maintain the direct object in place after it.
Example:
Nós demos-lhes um computador.We gave them a computer.
Hi,
If in the sentence”We gave them a computer.”, we wanted to say “We gave it to them”, would we never shorten the direct object, the computer, or else how could we say that?
Many thanks
Olá Gill!
Just like in English, we could shorten the direct object depending on the context. If so, the phrase “We gave it to them.” could be “Nós demo-lo a eles/elas”, where -lo refers to the computer. Completing it with “a eles” or “a elas” (to them) emphasizes to whom it was given, since saying only “Nós demos-lho.” wouldn’t be so specific. It could be either to him/her or to them.
Cheers,
Luís
Olá Luís,
Thanks for your explanation. Meanwhile, I would like to ask why “Nós demos-lho” and not “Nós demo-lho”
In complemento direto , we omit the s, r, z and add “l” to “a”or “o”. Is it also the “lho” “lha” with the component of complemento direto be omitting the “s” in the end of the verb?
Olá! Ending consonants are only dropped with 3rd-person direct object pronouns 🙂 With indirect object pronouns and with these contracted pronouns (indirect+direct), the consonants are kept. So, we should write ‘demos-lho’.
This may be a silly question, but when merging/ contracting direct and indirect object pronouns in Portuguese, does the indirect pronoun always precede the direct pronoun? Isn’t this the opposite in English? Thanks!
Olá! Yes, in Portuguese, the indirect pronoun is always the ‘backbone’ of the contracted forms, as shown in the table 🙂
This is really helpful. But I have a question. I’ve been learning European Portuguese and this is the information I expected. But I was told by a friend in Brazil that combining the pronouns in everyday speech isn’t very common and they would be more likely to say ‘O deu a mim’. [he gave it to me – where o is a masculine object]. Would you agree with this? Thanks for your help.
It is indeed not very common to merge direct & indirect object pronouns in casual speech. So, combinations such as ‘deu-mo’ (deu-me + o) or “dei-lha” (dei-lhe + a) are unusual. One common way to work around the presence of the two objects (direct & indirect) is to simply omit one of them, if obvious in context. Some examples:
– Ele deu-te o livro? / Sim, ele deu-me. (Did he give you the book? / Yes, he gave it [to me].) -> omitted indirect object
– Ele deu o livro à Sara? / Não, ele deu a mim. (Did he give the book to Sara? / No, he gave [it] to me) -> omitted direct object
We can also, for example, use a clitic pronoun for the direct object and a tonic pronoun for the indirect object:
– Ele deu o livro a quem? / Ele deu-o a mim (Who did he give the book to? / He gave it to me)
That’s pretty much what your friend was suggesting, but their example sounds awkward in European Portuguese. Unless grammatically required in a certain sentence, we would not place the object pronoun before the verb (“…o deu a mim”), but after (“…deu-o a mim”).
Hi,
I’ve been practicing using this app for a year now and I still cannot understand half of the people being recorded on the street for the life of me. It’s either they don’t pronounce the whole phrases, or the sound quality is bad or both.
I don’t know why but there is a huge difference between the studio recording and the people recorded on the street.
Does anyone else feel the same?
The street recordings are meant to demonstrate ‘real-world’ Portuguese – with regional accents, particular pronunciations, and even with the interference of external conditions – which makes them inherently challenging, especially for less trained ears.
These people are mostly random people we approach on the street, so it is really difficult to have them indoors. We understand that this can be frustrating, but we believe it’s an important part of learning a language to be exposed to how it’s spoken in a variety of real-life situations.
I’m sure these videos will gradually feel less challenging to you as you go along! Whenever you’re in doubt, it’s totally OK if you just rely on the audio examples to confirm what is being said. 🙂
I actually love outdoor speakers because that how most people speak and it helps to get familiar with more severe word swallowing. I have not heard many people speak yr staffs excellent pronunciation. It is like trying to understand scottich when you have inly been taught the queens english. But i agree that sometimes the street guys very difficult