Grammatically speaking, the pronouns si and consigo belong to the 3rd person subjects: ele(s)/ela(s). This is because they were initially only used as reflexive pronouns*, which are pronouns that refer to the same subject or thing as the verb. For example:
Ele levou a mala consigoHe took the suitcase with him
The sentence above is still correct and wouldn’t be confusing because the context makes it clear who consigo refers to. Nowadays, however, it’s more common to see si and consigo used with 2nd person formal subjects. Si and consigo can replace você, as using você in European Portuguese can sometimes be seen as disrespectful or too intense. For example:
Isto é para siThis is for you
Eu vou consigoI'll go with you
*We’ll talk more about reflexive tonic pronouns in an upcoming Learning Note, but you can read more about reflexive clitic pronouns here.
How Do I Know When Si and Consigo are Being Used Reflexively or Not?
Since si and consigo are no longer used (only) as reflexive pronouns, this creates some ambiguity. Luckily there are many common ways to make it clear who you’re referring to.
Take a look at the following sentence:
Ele falou de si
What’s the translation here?
- Is si reflexive and referring to ele (“He talked about himself“)?
- Does si refer to someone else (“He talked about her“)?
- Does si refer to você (“He talked about you(formal)”)?
Given what we just learned, if you guessed você, you’re probably right. Nowadays, that’s what it typically stands for, but this wasn’t always the case. Thus, to make it clear that si or consigo are being used reflexively, especially if it’s not clear from the context, you should add the words mesmo or próprio.
Ele falou de siHe talked about you(formal)
Ele falou de si próprio.He talked about himself.
Ele está preocupado consigo.He's worried about you.
Ele está preocupado consigo mesmo.He's worried about himself.
On the other hand, if you wanted to refer to someone else and avoid ambiguity, you would probably say:
Ele falou deleHe talked about him or Ele falou delaHe talked about her
Emphatic Use of Si
Similar to ele(s)/ela(s), si often goes along with the clitic pronoun lhe, as way of emphasizing the indirect object. Remember to include the preposition ato .
O médico receitou-lhe a si este remédio?The doctor prescribed this medicine to you?
O João disse-lhe isso a si.João said that to you.
With both examples, it’s clear who we’re talking about. If you were to remove a si, however, it might be tricky without extra context.
O João disse-lhe issoJoão said that to...
Did João speak to you or to another person (he/she)? Without adding a si (or having more information), it’s impossible to figure it out.
Si as a Reciprocal Pronoun
Lastly, si can also play the part of a reciprocal pronoun if two people are performing the same action to each other. In this case, we need to add the word entrebetween, among .
Eles discutiram entre si.They argued with each other.
A Maria e o João trocaram prendas entre si.Mary and John exchanged gifts with each other.
Can you explain please what mesmo and próprio mean and are they always paired in the same way ; mesmo with consigo and próprio with si?
Olá 🙂 In this context, you shouldn’t think of mesmo and próprio as having a specific meaning per se; they work together with the preceding pronoun to emphasize who the subject is or that the action is reflexive. Both words also have other unrelated uses, so you do have to keep context in mind when looking at them. Those pairings aren’t fixed; the two words are typically interchangeable.
Olá! Couldn’t you also say “O médico receitou este remédio a si”? What does the “-lhe” add?
Muito obrigado! Estou a aprender bastante!
Olá, Eric. Yes, in that sentence, you can omit the “-lhe” or, in alternative, omit the “a si”. As the learning note describes, they are used together for emphasis and clarity, but it is not mandatory 🙂
Can you explain why
They care about us is
Eles preocupam-se connosco
while They think about us is
Eles pensam em nós
Olá, Peter. Verbs may have different requirements for prepositions and clitic pronouns. So, while the verb preocupar usually asks for the preposition com (connosco = com + nós), the verb pensar comes with the preposition em instead. Verbs such as gostar ask for the preposition de. And so on. It does take some memorization to get used to all these different patterns.
And why does the first example require -se after the verb while the second one does not?
Olá, Peter. That’s because the verb preocupar is used reflexively and pensar isn’t. More on reflexive verbs here (I think you’ve already seen this, in the meantime): Reflexive Pronouns
Yes, I’m there now. Scary stuff! Amazingly, after studying French for many years in school, the concept of reflexive verbs and clitic and tonic pronouns was never covered. I checked and these same concepts exist in French, which makes me realize just how poor my French classes were. You guys should adapt your site for other languages! 🙂
Are “entre si” and “um com o outro” interchangeable?
Yes, between two people, we can use both interchangeably 🙂
HI,
Why do you use de in “Ele falou de si” and em in ” O Joao falou em nos”? Or can both be used to say to “talk about”?
Thanks
Olá! The verb falar accepts different pairings: falar de, falar sobre, falar em.
They’re mostly interchangeable, although sometimes we might prefer one over the other just due to common usage patterns set over time. Some cases below:
– Sometimes “falar em” can imply that the topic of conversation was incidental or brief.
Example: Por falar em filmes, viste o novo lançamento da Marvel? [Speaking of movies, did you watch the latest Marvel release?]
– “Falar de” is a usual preference when we refer to talking negatively about someone (but this preposition can still be used neutrally anyway).
Example: Porque é que estás a falar dele assim? [Why are you talking about him like that?]
– To refer to the main topic of a conversation/presentation/etc, “falar sobre” and “falar de” are preferred over “falar em”.
Example: Precisamos de falar sobre a Joana. [We need to talk about Joana.]
Olá. With “O médico receitou-lhe a si este remédio?”, why is it clear whom we’re talking about? Couldn’t it also be “the doctor prescribed this medicine to her”? Obrigado!
Without the emphasis of “a si”, -lhe could mean her, him or you (sing. formal) without context! Adding “a si” it makes it clear that the subject is you (sing. formal). Here “a si” means “to you”! Never “to her” or “to him”. In that case would be “a ela” or “a ele”, respectively.
Aha! Muito obrigado!
Surely it should be:
‘Eles trouxeram o gato com eles’, not ‘…consigo. as it is ‘with them’?
My wife agrees with me – e ela é portuguesa!
Olá! Grammatically speaking, both versions are possible. As noted in the Learning Note, ‘consigo’ can be used as a 3rd-person reflexive pronoun, whether singular or plural. However, it is true that this won’t sound very natural in every sentence or for every speaker. In fact, the use of the plural ‘consigo’ seems to be more restricted to formal language nowadays. There’s also a tendency to place this pronoun right after the verb, rather than after the object — that is, “Trouxeram consigo [X]” seems more common than “Trouxeram [X] consigo”.