Demonstrative Contractions: Nesse, Naquele, Disso, Daquilo | Portuguese (Brazil) Grammar

When the prepositions em (in/on), de (of/from), and a (to) bump into a demonstrative, Portuguese fuses them into a single contracted word. These contractions are not optional and not casual — they are mandatory in both speech and writing, the way English "do not" can stay separate but "I'm" is essentially required. Writing de isso or em esse is a flat error in Portuguese; the correct forms are disso and nesse. This page gives you the full set and the logic so you never have to guess.

Why contractions are obligatory

Portuguese has a strong tendency to merge a preposition with the word that follows it whenever they form a tight unit — you already see this with articles (de + o = do, em + a = na). Demonstratives get the exact same treatment. The reasoning is phonetic and historical: these little function words lean on each other so heavily in speech that the language froze the merger into the spelling. There's no "uncontracted" version available to fall back on; the merged form is the word.

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Treat the contraction as a single vocabulary item, not a sum you compute on the fly. Learn nesse as the word for "in that," disso as the word for "of that," just as you learned do and na. Trying to keep the pieces separate is what produces errors.

em + demonstrative → ne- / na-

The preposition em drops its vowel and prefixes n- onto the demonstrative.

em +	= contraction	em +	= contraction
este / esta	neste / nesta	estes / estas	nestes / nestas
esse / essa	nesse / nessa	esses / essas	nesses / nessas
aquele / aquela	naquele / naquela	aqueles / aquelas	naqueles / naquelas
isto	nisto	isso / aquilo	nisso / naquilo

Nesse caso, é melhor a gente esperar.

In that case, it's better for us to wait.

Tem alguma coisa errada nisso aí.

There's something wrong with that (there).

Ela mora naquele prédio azul, no quinto andar.

She lives in that blue building, on the fifth floor.

de + demonstrative → de- / da-

The preposition de drops its vowel and prefixes d-.

de +	= contraction	de +	= contraction
este / esta	deste / desta	estes / estas	destes / destas
esse / essa	desse / dessa	esses / essas	desses / dessas
aquele / aquela	daquele / daquela	aqueles / aquelas	daqueles / daquelas
isto	disto	isso / aquilo	disso / daquilo

Eu gosto muito disso.

I really like that.

A casa fica perto daquele prédio que a gente viu ontem.

The house is near that building we saw yesterday.

Não me lembro desse filme; faz tempo que vi.

I don't remember that movie; it's been a while since I saw it.

Watch the verbs that require de: gostar de ("to like"), precisar de ("to need"), lembrar de ("to remember"), gostar disso, precisar disso. The de is part of the verb's structure, so it inevitably contracts with a following demonstrative.

a + aquele → àquele (the crase)

This is the trickiest contraction and the one English speakers most often miss. The preposition a (to) contracts only with the aquele/aquilo family — and the merger of a + a is marked with a grave accent, the crase: à.

a +	= contraction
aquele / aquela	àquele / àquela
aqueles / aquelas	àqueles / àquelas
aquilo	àquilo

The grave accent on à is doing real work: it's the visible sign that two a's (the preposition a + the demonstrative's initial a-) have merged into one. Without the accent, aquele is just the plain demonstrative ("that"); with it, àquele means "to that."

Refiro-me àquele problema que discutimos na semana passada.

I'm referring to that problem we discussed last week. (formal)

A professora se dirigiu àqueles alunos do fundo da sala.

The teacher addressed those students at the back of the room.

Não dei muita importância àquilo na hora.

I didn't give much importance to that at the time.

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The preposition a does not contract with este/esse (you write a este, a esse with no accent) — only with the aquele family, because only there do you get the a + a collision that produces the crase à. If you don't see two a's meeting, there's no grave accent.

Note that este/esse + a stays uncontracted: a este caso ("to this case"), a essa altura ("at this point"). Many learners over-apply the crase and write àesse — there is no such form.

A note on register

Some of these contractions are far more common in writing than speech, simply because the demonstrative inside them (este, isto) is itself bookish in spoken Brazilian. So neste / nisto / deste / disto lean formal/written, while nesse / nisso / desse / disso dominate everyday speech — consistent with the broader collapse of este→esse and isto→isso covered on the este vs esse and isto/isso/aquilo pages. The àquele crase forms appear in both, but are most visible in careful writing. For the complete picture of how em/de/a contract with articles and other words too, see the complete contractions table.

Common Mistakes

❌ Eu gosto de isso.

Incorrect — de must contract with isso.

✅ Eu gosto disso.

I like that. (de + isso = disso, obligatory)

❌ Em esse caso, vamos cancelar.

Incorrect — em must contract with esse.

✅ Nesse caso, vamos cancelar.

In that case, let's cancel. (em + esse = nesse)

❌ Me refiro a aquele documento.

Incorrect — a + aquele must contract, with the crase accent.

✅ Me refiro àquele documento.

I'm referring to that document. (a + aquele = àquele)

❌ Eu vou a esse lugar.

Over-correction the other way is fine here, but writing it as 'àesse' would be wrong.

✅ Eu vou a esse lugar.

I'm going to that place. (a + esse stays uncontracted — no crase, no accent)

❌ Perto de aquele prédio.

Incorrect — de + aquele must contract.

✅ Perto daquele prédio.

Near that building. (de + aquele = daquele)

Key Takeaways

em, de, and a always contract with a following demonstrative — these mergers are obligatory in speech and writing.
em → nesse / naquele / nisso / naquilo; de → desse / daquele / disso / daquilo.
a contracts only with the aquele/aquilo family, producing the crase à: àquele, àquilo.
a + este/esse does not contract — write a esse, a este with no accent.
Forms with este/isto (neste, disto) skew formal/written; forms with esse/isso (nesse, disso) dominate speech.

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