Some relative clauses describe a noun that, inside the embedded clause, is governed by a preposition. "The house in which I live," "the friend with whom I spoke," "the reason for which I left." Brazilian Portuguese has a clean formal system for this — front the preposition before the relative pronoun — and a very different colloquial system that drops or strands the preposition. This page shows you both, so you can write the formal form correctly and understand the spoken one when you hear it. It builds on restrictive relative clauses; read that first if the basics are still shaky.
The formal rule: front the preposition
The standard written language puts the preposition directly in front of the relative pronoun. This is called pied-piping — the preposition is "dragged along" with the pronoun to the front of the clause. With things, the pronoun is que (or the heavier o qual); with people, it is quem.
| Preposition + pronoun | Example | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| em + que | a casa em que moro | the house I live in |
| com + quem | o amigo com quem falei | the friend I spoke with |
| de + quem | a autora de quem gosto | the author I like |
| por + o qual | o motivo pelo qual saí | the reason I left |
| para + a qual | a empresa para a qual trabalho | the company I work for |
A casa em que moro fica perto da praia.
The house I live in is near the beach.
O amigo com quem viajei mora em Salvador.
The friend I traveled with lives in Salvador.
Esse é o assunto sobre o qual eu queria falar.
That's the topic I wanted to talk about.
This is the great divide from English. English strands the preposition at the end ("the house I live in," "the friend I spoke with"); Portuguese, in its formal register, refuses to strand and instead fronts it. There is no Portuguese equivalent of leaving em dangling at the end of a careful written sentence.
Which pronoun after the preposition?
The choice depends on the antecedent and the register:
- People → quem is the default: o médico a quem recorri ("the doctor I turned to").
- Things → que works for the light prepositions a, de, em, com, por: o tema de que falamos, a caneta com que escrevi.
- o qual / a qual / os quais / as quais is the heavier, more formal option, and it agrees in gender and number with the antecedent. It is preferred after multi-syllable prepositions (sobre, durante, contra, perante) and after preposition + article contractions (pelo qual, no qual, do qual), where bare que would sound thin.
O projeto no qual estou trabalhando termina em junho.
The project I'm working on ends in June.
Os colegas com os quais divido a sala são ótimos.
The colleagues I share the office with are great.
A diretora a quem enviei o relatório ainda não respondeu.
The director I sent the report to hasn't replied yet.
See the relative pronoun quem and o qual for the fine-grained rules.
"Onde" replaces "em que" for places
When the preposition is em and the antecedent is a place, onde is the natural choice — and often preferred over em que. For motion toward a place, aonde (a + onde); for origin, de onde.
A cidade onde nasci mudou muito.
The city where I was born has changed a lot.
O país de onde ela veio fica no norte da África.
The country she came from is in North Africa.
Note that onde is for physical places only. For abstract "situations" or "cases," standard Portuguese wants em que, not onde — though spoken Brazilian increasingly uses onde loosely.
Houve casos em que o sistema falhou.
There were cases in which the system failed. (abstract — 'em que', not 'onde' in careful writing)
Colloquial Brazilian: drop it or strand it with a resumptive
Spoken Brazilian Portuguese largely abandons pied-piping. Two strategies dominate, both built on the all-purpose bare que:
Strategy 1 — drop the preposition entirely:
A casa que eu moro é alugada.
The house I live in is rented. (informal — 'em' dropped)
Esse é o motivo que eu não fui.
That's the reason I didn't go. (informal — 'por que / pelo qual' flattened)
Strategy 2 — keep a resumptive pronoun and strand the preposition inside the clause:
O cara que eu falei com ele é meu primo.
The guy I talked to is my cousin. (lit. 'the guy that I talked with him') — informal, stigmatized
A empresa que eu trabalho nela fica no centro.
The company I work for is downtown. (lit. 'that I work in it') — informal, stigmatized
Both are extremely common in everyday speech across all social classes, and both are stigmatized in writing. The standard forms restore the fronted preposition:
O cara com quem falei é meu primo.
The guy I talked to is my cousin. (standard)
A empresa em que / na qual trabalho fica no centro.
The company I work for is downtown. (standard)
Quick comparison table
| Meaning | Formal (written) | Colloquial (spoken) |
|---|---|---|
| the house I live in | a casa em que / onde moro | a casa que eu moro |
| the friend I spoke with | o amigo com quem falei | o amigo que eu falei com ele |
| the company I work for | a empresa para a qual trabalho | a empresa que eu trabalho |
| the reason I left | o motivo pelo qual saí | o motivo que eu saí |
Common Mistakes
❌ O amigo que falei com ele mora aqui. (in writing)
Stigmatized — resumptive 'ele'; the standard fronts the preposition with 'quem'.
✅ O amigo com quem falei mora aqui.
The friend I spoke with lives here.
❌ A empresa que trabalho fica no centro. (formal register)
Stigmatized in writing — 'trabalhar' takes 'em/para'; front the preposition.
✅ A empresa em que / na qual trabalho fica no centro.
The company I work for is downtown.
❌ O motivo por que saí... escrito 'porque saí'.
Incorrect — 'porque' (one word) means 'because'; the relative is 'pelo qual' / 'por que' (two words).
✅ O motivo pelo qual saí ainda é segredo.
The reason I left is still a secret.
❌ A pessoa que falei com não respondeu. (stranded bare preposition)
Incorrect — Portuguese does not strand a bare preposition at clause end as English does.
✅ A pessoa com quem falei não respondeu.
The person I spoke with didn't reply.
❌ A situação onde ele se meteu é complicada. (careful writing)
Stigmatized — 'onde' is for physical places; use 'em que' for abstract situations.
✅ A situação em que ele se meteu é complicada.
The situation he got himself into is complicated.
Key Takeaways
- Formal Brazilian Portuguese fronts the preposition: em que, com quem, pelo qual, para a qual. It never strands a preposition the way English does.
- quem for people, que for things after light prepositions, o/a qual (agreeing) for heavier prepositions and contracted forms.
- onde = em que for physical places; use em que for abstract cases.
- Colloquial Brazilian drops the preposition (a casa que eu moro) or strands it with a resumptive (que eu falei com ele) — both stigmatized in writing.
- Recognize all registers; write the fronted form.
Now practice Portuguese
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Restrictive Relative ClausesA2 — Restrictive (defining) relative clauses in Brazilian Portuguese — clauses that identify which one, written without commas — contrasted with non-restrictive clauses, plus the colloquial resumptive pronouns and dropped prepositions common in BR speech.
- 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'.
- Relative O Qual / A Qual: Formal AlternativeB2 — The formal, gender- and number-agreeing relative o qual — used to disambiguate antecedents and after longer prepositions in written Brazilian Portuguese.
- 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.
- 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.