In this Learning Note, we’ll explore each tonic pronoun and see some examples of how it is used with different prepositions. We’ll explore how certain prepositions can change the form of the pronoun, especially comwith .
Summary
Before we explain each pronoun in detail, here’s a quick overview. This chart shows each individual tonic pronoun on the left, and the possible outcomes when it is combined with the preposition com on the right.
Mim
The tonic pronoun that corresponds to euI, me is mim .
However, you cannot say ❌ com mim. When com combines with mim, it becomes comigowith me .
Ti
The tonic pronoun that corresponds to tuyou(inf.) is ti .
You cannot say ❌ com ti. When com combines with ti, it becomes contigowith you(inf.) .
- Não é bom para tiIt's not good for you
- Agora vivo mais perto de tiNow I live closer to you
- Estou a conversar contigoI'm talking with you
Vocês
Unlike eu and tu, which have a different tonic forms, the tonic pronoun for vocêsyou (pl.) is the same − vocês.
And when it comes to the preposition com, you have two options, which both have the same meaning:
- com vocês – Eu dancei com vocêsI danced with you (pl.)
- convosco – Eu dancei convoscoI danced with you (pl.)
Nós
You can also use nósus as a tonic pronoun with a preposition:
Combining com with the pronoun nós is a bit more complicated, but in most cases, you’ll use connosco:
- Trouxemos o cão connoscoWe brought the dog with us
- Podes vir connosco hoje à noiteYou can come with us tonight
You can also say com nós, but only if you are also including words such as mesmossame , própriosown , or todosall next to it, as in:
- Estamos preocupados com nós própriosWe're worried about ourselves
- Podem contar com todos nósYou can count on all of us
Ele / Ela / Eles / Elas
Again, you usually use the same word along with the preposition.
When ele/ela/eles/elas are combined with the preposition de, they become dele/dela/deles/delas.
- O João duvida delaJoão doubts her
- O Paulo falou delePaulo talked about him
- Ele falou delaHe talked about her
- A Maria gosta delesMaria likes them
Similarly, with the preposition em, the pronouns become nele/nela/neles/nelas.
(You can learn more about contractions like these here.)
Si & Consigo
Now it gets a little tricky, because the tonic pronouns si and consigo could also refer to ele, ela, eles, elas in reflexive contexts (i.e. when they refer to the same subject as the verb). For example:
However, in modern European Portuguese, it’s much more common for si and consigo to refer to você (formal “you”), as in:
- Isto é para siThis is for you (sing.,formal)
- Ele falou de siHe talked about you (sing.,formal)
- Eu vou consigoI'll go with you (sing.,formal)
- Ele está preocupado consigo.He's worried about you (sing.,formal)
We’ll discuss how to handle ambiguity like this in the next Learning Note.
Si can also play the part of a reciprocal pronoun, which is used when two people are performing the same action to each other. In this case, we need to add the word entrebetween, among .
Comments
I realize that this is off this topic, but I didn’t think it was correct to use “vivo” in this form: Agora vivo mais perto de ti. I thought you had to use the work “moro”
Moro works here too. Viver and morar both mean “to live”. You can use viver to mean either living in a particular place or just being alive in general, while morar is only used when talking about the place you live.
I really like the charts. They clear up quite a bit.
Can the statement:
O Pedro não lhe disse nada a ele.
be written without the lhe?
O Pedro não disse nada a ele.
Yes, it can. All these are possible and mean the same:
– O Pedro não lhe disse nada. (the best option, I’d say – more straight to the point)
– O Pedro não disse nada a ele.
– O Pedro não lhe disse nada a ele. (redundant for emphasis)
I’ve seen this construct used in some previous lessons:
Eu a vi
which I believe means I saw her. Are a/o considered tonic pronouns when used in this fashion?
Is the statement
Eu vi ela
an equivalent way of saying the same thing? Is one preferred over the other?
A feature of tonic pronouns that helps us distinguish them from clitic pronouns is that tonic pronouns are preceded by a preposition. They also don’t need to be next to the verb. Clitic pronouns are always next to the verb (right before, right after or inserted in the middle), without any prepositions between them. So, in “Eu a vi”, a is a clitic pronoun, not tonic. You can add a tonic pronoun to this sentence by saying “Eu vi-a a ela“.
Note that we prefer to say “Eu vi-a” instead of “Eu a vi”, because in simple affirmative sentences, the default is to place clitic pronouns after the verb (enclitically). They are only placed before the verb (proclitically) if there are any attracting elements pulling them. For example, in “Foi aqui que eu a vi” (It was here that I saw her), the word ‘que’ attracts the pronoun to before the verb, even though the statement is still affirmative.
“Eu vi ela” is only tolerated in Brazilian Portuguese and should not be used in European Portuguese. It means the same as “Eu vi-a”, though.
Hi,
There are 2 examples above using the verb “falar”.
– O Paulo falou dele.
– Ele não falou em nós.
As I got from these two, both “falar de” and “falar em” mean to talk about. Can I remake those sentences like these?
– O Paulo falou nele.
– Ele não falou de nós.
Do they have the same meaning as before?
Thank you.
Yes, you could remake the sentences as you did and they’d still mean the same 🙂 “Falar de”, “falar em” and “falar sobre” are generally considered interchangeable.
Please can you explain the differences in these two sentences:
– I do that for you. Faço isso por ti.
– It is not good for you. Não é bom para ti.
I don’t understand the grammatical differences specifically in this situation.
Please can you explain the difference between por and para in this context?
Olá!
– “Para ti” generally means that the person is the target of the action.
– “Por ti” generally means “on your behalf” or “in your honour”.
So when we say “Faço isso por ti”, we’re saying that we’re doing something in the place of someone or somehow honoring them. When we say “Não é bom para ti”, we’re saying that something is not good for the person that will do it or get it. For example, “Fumar não é bom para ti” (smoking isn’t good for you).
Here’s a Learning Note about the uses or por vs. para: The Difference Between Por and Para | Practice Portuguese
O Pedro não lhe disse nada. In the first table of the previous learning note of this lesson, it mentions ‘lhe’ and ‘se’ as Clitic pronouns for ele/ela. This is confusing me as I thought ‘se’ is used as reflexive pronoun. Could you please give me an example sentence when ‘se’ would be used as clitic pronoun? I scrolled a bit through previous lessons, but could not find it either (or I missed it somewhere …). Thanks in advance!
Olá! Reflexive pronouns (pronouns that refer back to the subject) are a subset of clitic pronouns. So, any examples of use of reflexive pronouns are examples of use of clitic pronouns 🙂