Chapter Three - Pronouns and Question Words
In this chapter we're going to talk about pronouns, possessive pronouns, and we'll learn some question words.
Pronouns
| Eu | I |
| Voçê | You |
| Ele | he |
| Ela | she |
| Nós | We |
| Voçês | You (plural) |
| Eles | They (masculine) |
| Elas | They (feminine) |
Notice that there are two forms of "you" in Portuguese. "Voçê" is used when talking to one person. The plural form, "Voçês," is used when talking to a group. We do not distinguish between the two in English. We have also listed here two forms of "they."
The first, "eles," is used when referring to a group that is all male or of mixed gender. The word "elas" is used when the group is exclusively female.
When these possessive pronouns are used, they precede the noun. You'll notice that in parentheses following each pronoun your are shown the gender and plurality: "m" means masculine, "f" means feminine, "pl" indicates plural.
| Meu (m) | my |
| Meus (m, pl) | my |
| Minha (f) | my |
| Minhas (f, pl) | my |
| Seu (m) | your, his, her, its, their |
| Seus (m, pl) | your, his, her, its, their |
| Sua (f) | your, his, her, its, their |
| Suas (f, pl) | your, his, her, its, their |
| Nosso (m) | our |
| Nossos (m,pl) | our |
| Nossa (f) | our |
| Nossas (f, pl) | our |
| Dele | his, of him |
| Dela | hers, of her |
| Deles | theirs, of them |
| Delas | theirs, of them |
This looks like a lot of possessive pronouns, but it's really not. There are versions of each one because they change as the gender and plurality of their subjects change. For example you would say "nossa casa," but you would say "nossas casas" if you had more than one. Likewise, you would say "meu berimbau," but "meus berimbaus" if you had more than one. We mentioned gender briefly in Chapter 1 and we'll talk more about it in Chapter 6. For now, try to recognize the patterns and see if you can figure out which one is used when.
Seu and Sua can be ambiguous, they mean several things. To be more specific, it is often preferable to use dele or dela when possible. For example "seu peito" can mean "his chest, her chest, their chest, or it's chest" whereas "o peito dele" means only "his chest."
| A gente | the folk, we |
Very often in Brazilian Portugese rather than saying "we" or "us" you'll hear people refer to themselves as "a gente."
Question Words
| Quando | when |
| Quanto | how much |
| Onde | where |
| O que | what |
| Por que | why |
| Quem | who |
| Como | how |
These words are used in Portuguese very much the same way they are in English. To form a question you start the sentence off with one of these words and leave the rest of it the same. We're getting a bit ahead of ourselves now, but it's good to remember that they are easy to use.
Additional Vocabulary
| De novo | again |
| Mais uma vez | one more time |
| Assim | like this |
| Pior | worse |
| Melhor | better |
| Pouco | little/few |
| Muito | lots/many/very |
| Inglês | English |
| Portuguese | Portuguese |
Spend plenty of time memorizing what you've learned in this chapter. These concepts are some of the most important in communicating and being understood.
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