A restrictive relative clause answers the question "which one?" It narrows a noun down to exactly the referent you mean. O livro que comprei is not just any book — it is the specific one I bought. Because the clause is doing essential identifying work, it is welded to the noun with no commas and no pause. This page covers how restrictive clauses work, how they contrast with non-restrictive ones, and two colloquial habits of Brazilian speech — resumptive pronouns and dropped prepositions — that you will hear constantly but should avoid in writing.
Restrictive = defining = "which one"
The restrictive clause is part of the identity of the noun. Remove it and you lose the information that tells you which thing is meant.
O livro que comprei ontem é ótimo.
The book I bought yesterday is great. (defines which book)
A mulher que mora ao lado é dentista.
The woman who lives next door is a dentist. (defines which woman)
Não gostei do filme que você recomendou.
I didn't like the movie you recommended. (which movie — the recommended one)
In each case, strip out the que-clause and the sentence loses its point: o livro é ótimo (which book?), a mulher é dentista (which woman?). The clause is doing identification work, so it gets no commas.
Contrast with non-restrictive clauses
The same string of words can mean two different things depending on the commas. Compare:
Meu pai que mora no Rio vem amanhã.
My father who lives in Rio is coming tomorrow. (implies I have more than one father)
Meu pai, que mora no Rio, vem amanhã.
My father, who lives in Rio, is coming tomorrow. (I have one father; the clause just adds info)
The first (restrictive, no commas) singles out one father from several — pragmatically odd, since most people have one father, which is exactly why the comma-less version sounds wrong here. The second (non-restrictive, commas) treats meu pai as already identified and tacks on a fact. This is the clearest demonstration that the commas are not optional — they change the meaning.
Os funcionários que chegaram atrasados foram advertidos.
The employees who arrived late were warned. (only the late ones)
Os funcionários, que chegaram atrasados, foram advertidos.
The employees, who arrived late, were warned. (all of them — and all were late)
For English speakers this distinction is familiar — English makes the identical contrast. The work is simply to apply the comma rule deliberately in Portuguese, where it carries the same semantic weight.
"Que" for both subject and object
In a restrictive clause, que can be the subject of its clause (the antecedent does the action) or the object (the antecedent receives it). Portuguese uses the same que either way; only context tells you which.
| Role of que | Example | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| Subject | o aluno que ganhou o prêmio | the student who won the prize |
| Direct object | o prêmio que o aluno ganhou | the prize (that) the student won |
A pessoa que me ajudou nem quis agradecimento.
The person who helped me didn't even want thanks. (que = subject)
O bolo que a vovó fez sumiu em cinco minutos.
The cake (that) Grandma made vanished in five minutes. (que = object)
When que is the object, English lets you drop it ("the cake Grandma made"); Portuguese keeps it.
Colloquial Brazilian habit 1: resumptive pronouns
Here is something you will hear all the time in Brazil. In casual speech, speakers often add a redundant resumptive pronoun later in the clause that re-states the antecedent — especially when the relative role is an object or sits inside a preposition. Linguists call this the pronome lembrete ("reminder pronoun").
O cara que eu falei com ele ontem trabalha aqui.
The guy I talked to yesterday works here. (literally 'the guy that I talked with him') — informal, stigmatized
Aquele professor que todo mundo gosta dele se aposentou.
That teacher everyone likes retired. (lit. 'that everyone likes of-him') — informal, stigmatized
The standard, written versions front the preposition and drop the resumptive pronoun:
O cara com quem falei ontem trabalha aqui.
The guy I talked to yesterday works here. (standard)
Aquele professor de quem todo mundo gosta se aposentou.
That teacher everyone likes retired. (standard)
Colloquial Brazilian habit 2: dropping the preposition
The flip side of the resumptive pronoun is simply dropping the preposition that the standard language requires, leaving a bare que. The verb nascer takes em, so the standard relative is a cidade em que / onde eu nasci — but speech routinely flattens it to a cidade que eu nasci.
A cidade que eu nasci é bem pequena.
The city (where) I was born is tiny. (informal — preposition 'em' dropped)
O motivo que eu vim é simples.
The reason I came is simple. (informal — 'por que/pelo qual' flattened to 'que')
The standard equivalents restore the preposition:
A cidade onde eu nasci é bem pequena.
The city where I was born is tiny. (standard)
O motivo pelo qual eu vim é simples.
The reason for which I came is simple. (standard, formal)
Both habits — resumptives and dropped prepositions — are part of the same phenomenon: spoken Brazilian Portuguese strongly prefers the bare, all-purpose que and works around the more complex pied-piping that the standard grammar demands. The full treatment of the preposition cases is on relative clauses with prepositions.
Common Mistakes
❌ O livro, que comprei ontem, é ótimo. (meaning: pick out which book)
Incorrect — commas turn a defining clause into an aside; for 'which book' use no commas.
✅ O livro que comprei ontem é ótimo.
The book I bought yesterday is great.
❌ A mulher mora ao lado é dentista.
Incorrect — missing the relative pronoun 'que'.
✅ A mulher que mora ao lado é dentista.
The woman who lives next door is a dentist.
❌ O cara que eu falei com ele trabalha aqui. (in writing)
Stigmatized — the resumptive 'ele' should not appear in standard writing.
✅ O cara com quem falei trabalha aqui.
The guy I talked to works here.
❌ A casa que eu moro é azul. (formal register)
Stigmatized in writing — 'morar' takes 'em', so use 'em que' or 'onde'.
✅ A casa em que eu moro é azul. / A casa onde eu moro é azul.
The house I live in is blue.
Key Takeaways
- Restrictive clauses define which one and take no commas; non-restrictive clauses add info and take commas. The comma changes the meaning.
- que works for both subject and object roles and is never dropped.
- Brazilian speech commonly inserts resumptive pronouns (que eu falei com ele) and drops prepositions (a cidade que eu nasci) — recognize both, but use the standard fronted forms in writing.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Relative Clauses: OverviewA2 — What relative clauses are in Brazilian Portuguese — clauses that modify a noun using que, quem, onde, o qual, or cujo — and the key split between restrictive (no commas) and non-restrictive (commas) clauses.
- Relative Que: The Universal RelativizerA2 — Why que is the all-purpose Brazilian relative for people and things, subject and object — and how speech avoids the prescriptive preposition + que.
- Relative Clauses with PrepositionsB1 — How Brazilian Portuguese handles relative clauses where the relative pronoun is governed by a preposition — formal 'preposição + que/quem/o qual' (a casa em que moro, o amigo com quem falei) versus the colloquial dropped-preposition and resumptive-pronoun strategies.
- Relative Quem: For People After PrepositionsB1 — How quem relativizes people after prepositions (com quem, de quem, para quem) and heads proverb-like headless clauses meaning 'he who / whoever'.
- Pronoun Placement ErrorsB1 — Clitic placement errors in Brazilian Portuguese — me chamo vs chamo-me, vi ele vs vi-o, and why the spoken/written gap makes learners over-apply one register.