Comigo, Contigo, Conosco: 'With' Forms | Portuguese (Brazil) Grammar

Portuguese has a small set of irreplaceable words that fuse the preposition com ("with") together with a pronoun into a single form. "With me" is not com mim — it is comigo, one word. This is a closed, ancient set inherited from Latin, and the forms are obligatory: you cannot build them analytically. This page teaches all of them, draws the sharp line between the pronouns that fuse and the ones that don't, and kills the most common learner error in the language: com mim.

The fused forms

These four pronouns fuse with com. The fusion is built right into the word — there is no separate com sitting in front.

Meaning	Fused form	Built from
with me	comigo	com + (mim)
with you (tu)	contigo	com + (ti)
with him/her/yourself (reflexive)	consigo	com + (si)
with us	conosco	com + (nós)

Spelling notes for Brazilian Portuguese: it is conosco (one n, two distinct vowels) — the European spelling connosco is not used in Brazil. None of these forms carries a written accent.

Vem comigo, vai ser rápido.

Come with me, it'll be quick.

Quero falar contigo um minuto.

I want to talk with you for a minute. ('tu' regions / affectionate)

Ela trouxe o cachorro conosco.

She brought the dog with us.

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Learn these four as single vocabulary items, like irregular verbs: comigo, contigo, consigo, conosco. You cannot assemble them from parts, and you cannot replace them with com + pronoun.

The pronouns that do NOT fuse

This is the crucial half of the rule, and it is where Brazilian Portuguese diverges from the older system. The fusion only happens with the old pronoun set — mim, ti, si, nós. The modern, everyday pronouns você, vocês, ele, ela, eles, elas do not fuse. With them, you simply write com as a separate word.

Pronoun	"with" form	Fused?
mim / ti / si / nós	comigo / contigo / consigo / conosco	Yes — obligatory
você	com você	No
vocês	com vocês	No
ele / ela / eles / elas	com ele / com ela / com eles / com elas	No

Posso ir com você?

Can I go with you? (com + você — no fusion)

Vou jantar com eles hoje.

I'm having dinner with them today. (com + eles — separate words)

A gente conta com vocês.

We're counting on you all. (com + vocês)

This split matters in Brazil because você has largely replaced tu in most of the country. So a learner constantly needs the unfused com você, while contigo is more limited to tu-speaking regions (the South, the Northeast, parts of the Amazon) or to a warmer, more intimate or song-lyric tone even among você speakers.

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The line is between two generations of pronouns. The old set (mim/ti/si/nós) fuses → comigo/contigo/consigo/conosco. The new set (você/vocês/ele/ela) does not → com você, com ele. When in doubt, ask which pronoun you're using.

The cardinal sin: "com mim"

If you remember one thing from this page, remember this: com mim does not exist. Neither does com ti or com nós. The moment you reach for com plus one of the old pronouns, the language forces the fused form. This is the single most frequent mistake among learners of all source languages, because the logical analogy ("with" + "me" = com mim) is so tempting — and so wrong.

Ela mora comigo.

She lives with me. (never 'com mim')

Conta conosco para o que precisar.

Count on us for whatever you need. (never 'com nós')

Não quero brigar contigo.

I don't want to fight with you. (never 'com ti')

English speakers feel this acutely because English has nothing comparable. "With me, with you, with us" are always two clean words; English never welds a preposition onto a pronoun. The closest analogy is irregular words like myself (not me-self), which at least signals that some pronoun forms are not built by adding pieces. Treat comigo the way you treat myself: a fixed, learned word.

Consigo — the tricky one

Consigo deserves its own note because it has two faces. Its core meaning is reflexive: "with himself / herself / themselves," referring back to the subject.

Ele levou o problema consigo.

He took the problem with him(self). (reflexive — refers to the subject 'ele')

Ela trouxe os filhos consigo.

She brought her children with her(self).

Be careful: in European Portuguese, consigo is also a polite way to say "with you" (formal address). In Brazil, that usage sounds foreign — a Brazilian hearing consigo will read it as reflexive ("with himself"). To say "with you" to one person in Brazil, use com você. So Falo consigo amanhã reads as European/formal "I'll speak with you tomorrow," whereas a Brazilian says Falo com você amanhã.

Falo com você amanhã.

I'll talk to you tomorrow. (BR — NOT 'consigo')

Common Mistakes

❌ Você quer ir com mim?

Incorrect — 'com mim' does not exist; it must fuse.

✅ Você quer ir comigo?

Do you want to go with me?

❌ Ele vai com nós.

Incorrect — 'com nós' must fuse to 'conosco'.

✅ Ele vai conosco.

He's going with us.

❌ Quero falar com ti.

Incorrect — 'com ti' must fuse to 'contigo'.

✅ Quero falar contigo.

I want to talk with you.

❌ Eu vou comigo você.

Incorrect — 'você' does not fuse; mixing the two systems is wrong.

✅ Eu vou com você.

I'm going with you.

❌ Falo consigo amanhã.

In Brazil this reads as 'with himself', not 'with you' — sounds European.

✅ Falo com você amanhã.

I'll talk with you tomorrow. (BR)

Key Takeaways

com fuses with the old pronoun set: comigo, contigo, consigo, conosco (Brazilian spelling: conosco, one n).
It does not fuse with the modern set: com você, com vocês, com ele/ela/eles/elas stay as two words.
com mim / com ti / com nós are always wrong — the fused form is obligatory.
consigo is reflexive ("with himself/herself") in Brazil; to say "with you" use com você, not the European consigo.

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