So far, you’ve learned what prepositions are and you’ve been introduced to quite a few of them.
Similar to English, there are dozens of prepositions in Portuguese grammar. There are simple prepositions (single words, some of which form contractions with pronouns and articles) and there are prepositional phrases. For example:
- Simple preposition (de): Eu gosto de jogar futebolI like to play soccer
- Prepositional phrase (perto de): Eu jogo futebol perto de minha casa.I play soccer near my house.
Let’s look at some of the most common examples of each type.
Simple Prepositions
Some of these you may remember from previous units. Keep in mind that the words often have many possible meanings, depending on the context in which they’re used, so the English translations shown are not all-inclusive.
| ato, at, on | entrebetween, among | contraagainst | parafor |
| apósafter, upon | perantein front of, before | defrom, of | porby, for |
| atéuntil, by, up to | semwithout | desdesince, from | sobunder, underneath |
| comwith | sobreon, about, over, above | emin, at, on, about | trásbehind, after |
Estou com os meus amigosI'm with my friends
Estou aqui até ao NatalI'm here until Christmas
Não como desde o pequeno-almoçoI haven't eaten since breakfast
Remember also that a, de, em, and por can be contracted with determiners and pronouns, giving you even more prepositions to work with.
Prepositional Phrases
While prepositional phrases in the English grammar consist, at least, of a preposition and an object, locuções prepositivasprepositional phrases , on the other hand, are just prepositions (simple and/or contracted) paired with another word (usually an adverb). These expressions must always end with a preposition.
Let’s take a look at a few examples. First, we have a prepositional phrase with 2 words: apesar dealthough, even though, despite
Correu bem apesar da chuvaIt went well despite the rain
Note: de + a = da (This is the preposition de and the definite article a.)
This next prepositional phrase has 3 words: a partir deas of, from (amt. of time) on . This includes 2 prepositions (a and de) and the verb partirleave, depart, break .
Não como mais carne a partir de hojeI'm not eating any more meat as of today
This chart shows some of the most common prepositional phrases you’ll come across in Portuguese, but there are many more as well.
| longe deaway, far from | atrás debehind | ao lado denext to, beside, alongside |
| graças athanks to | em frente ain front of | quanto aabout, in terms of |
| perto denear, around | por baixo debelow | em cima deon, above |
| debaixo deunder | por causa debecause of, due to | acerca deabout, on, regarding |
| além debesides, beyond, aside from | depois deafter | através dethrough |
| a par debesides | antes debefore, ahead of | por cima deon top of, above |
“Accidental” Prepositions
You will also notice some words that technically come from other grammatical categories, but that can also act as prepositions:
- conformeaccording to, in accordance with
- consoanteaccording to, as per
- duranteduring, for, over
- excetoexcept
- segundoaccording to
- senãobut
Here are a few sentences you could find yourself saying:
É feito consoante as normasIt is done according to the norms
Ele corre durante horas!He runs for hours!
Não tive hipótese senão voltar para trásI had no choice but to turn back
Difficult inasmuch as how does one know which of 3 choices e.g. conforme, consoante or segundo does one use in context for the prepositional term “according to”?
It’s safe to say that all three can most often be used interchangeably. In some cases, common usage has established a preference, but without eliminating the other options. For example (and this is actually the only case I can think of now!), to say “According to [person X]”, “segundo” is the most commonly used preposition, while “consoante” is less heard in that context. Still, these nuances are always difficult to pick up 🙂
Hello, I have a question regarding: “Eu jogo futebol perto de minha casa.” Why are you saying “de” and not “da”?
Hi! We can say it both ways, with no practical difference in meaning in this context.
When we’re talking about our home, we often either don’t use the definite article “a” before it (e.g. “Eu estou em casa”; “Tu saíste de casa”) or we use it along with the determiner “minha” (“Vou para a minha casa”). For other houses, we’d generally use the definite article (“Entrei na casa”; “Estou perto da casa”…).
Thank you, Joseph. This difference has been explained to me so many times in so many languages and I just never grasped it. And now I just wonder why I never understood. ….. Thank you!
I just stumbled across some phrases using the structure “de x em x”, for example: Este autocarro passa de 6 em 6 minutos. / Os testes são de 3 em 3 semanas.
My feeling tells me that the bus comes 6 times in 6 minutes or that there will be 3 tests in 3 weeks, but I have learned that it means that the bus comes every 6 minuts and that the tests are being taken every three weeks. This makes my head spin! Does anybody have any explanation?
That’s right, Birgit. “De x em x” means “every X periods of time”. Not sure that I can give you any in-depth explanation for that, though! Maybe it helps if you think of it as something like “from now to 6 minutes later”, for example.
Thank you, Joseph. I guess some things we must simply accept and learn.
Is there a difference between
Não tive hipótese senão voltar para trás.
and
Não tive hipótese mas voltar para trás.
Olá, Peter. Yes, in that example, “senão” means something like “except for”, which is not a meaning typically carried by the word “mas”. So, they’re not interchangeable here, even though the English translation has the word ‘but’ (mas).
Oh but this is hard! My education never covered all the parts of speech in English, so my knowledge pretty much stops with verbs, nouns and adjectives. Think I have to study English before I can learn another language! I’m pretty depressed 😞
You are able to express yourself pretty well in english without knowing much about the grammatical parts of speech. Just try and ignore the technicalities and concentrate on listening to and learning the words and phrases in the unit lessons. Like you, I know very little about english or portuguese grammar, but then again we are learning a language, not taking an examination. Don’t try too hard and enjoy the learning at your own speed and all will be well😃
Can you give an example of ‘por cima de’. I can’t get Translator to give me anything . I can get ‘no topo de’ ; ’em cima de’; but nothong for por cima de. I thought of
A panela está por cima de fogão. But when I enter The pan is on top of the stove, I get em cima de. Clarification would be good please.
Thank you! You have shored up my sagging confidence!
How would you know which one to use??
For example, these ?
em – in, at, on
na,no – in the
da,do,de – of the, at the, on the
a,o – the, to, at, on
OR
por – by, for
para – for, to
Both used to say “for”. How to know which to use?
OR
por – by, for AND de – from, of, by
Both use “by”. How to know which to use?
Thank you!
Great question, but it’s a tough one! There’s not always a straightforward way to know which to use, so it mostly comes down to getting enough exposure to the language to know which prepositions are used in which contexts. It’s best not to get too caught up in the word for word translation. We just include these so you get a sense of the most common way they are translated, so you can use it as a starting point. Prepositions fill a more “functional” role in language, so the meaning is not as concrete as when you are learning nouns.
A few clarifications:
– na and no are just contractions of em plus a definite article (o or a)
– da and do are contractions of de plus o or a
– o and a are the masculine and feminine versions of the definite article “the”
– a is also a preposition that can mean to, at, etc.
Here are some links to some of our content that covers prepositions:
The Difference Between Por and Para
Prepositions 1 unit
Prepositions 2 unit (combining with demonstratives)
Prepositions 3 unit
Episodes highlighting particular prepositions
(If you’re not a member, you can still access the learning notes from those units, you just won’t be able to do the lessons in between.)
In one of the lessons in this unit there is the phrase: “Ele corre atrás do cão dele” and the translation given is “He runs after his dog”. Does the Portuguese sentence mean that he is running “behind” the dog, as in they are both running and the dog is in front of the person? Or does it mean that he is running after the dog as in he is chasing it or trying to catch it? When reading the English translation it feels more like the latter, while the Portuguese phrase seems more like the former. I know the difference is subtle and it will probably not be ambiguous when given actual context, but still, I want to make sure I am properly understanding the use of the preposition.
Olá! In theory, the sentence allows for both interpretations, but in practice, when we say “correr atrás”, we generally refer to chasing someone/something. So that is the meaning we had in mind for that exercise, which is reflected in the translation.
Why this section isn’t covered? I can’t seem to be able to search that part.
I noticed that nobody responded to davidcowling949 from April, 2021. I’m not entirely sure, but I think “por cima de” is used more for something passing over instead of just on top of. For example, “The truck went over the bridge.” (O camião passou por cima da ponte.)
vs “The truck was on the bridge.” (O camião estava em cima da ponte.)
Olá! Thanks for your comment. Your examples work 🙂 In suitable contexts, there is indeed an idea of movement that we associate with “por cima”, while “em cima” is static. In other cases, “por cima” may also refer to being over or above something, without direct contact. “Em cima” would then indicate direct contact.
In practice 4, I’m confused as to why it’s “perto de minha casa.” Why not “perto da minha casa”?
Actually, both forms are correct! The usage of “de” is just way more common. I’d say that using “da” is a more informal way of saying this, particularly in a situation where the other person knows your house. This my also vary according to regionalism. 🙂
In the sentence “Não como desde o pequeno-almoço” you’ve used the present tense for something that English uses the past for. Deepl suggests that both como and comi are viable alternatives. Are they, or is there something about the sentence that demands the use of the present tense?
Yes, both are possible, and can be used in the same sense, although “Não como…” emphasizes how the situation is or was ongoing up until the present moment (and may continue to be so).