Este vs Esse in BR: Spoken vs Written | Portuguese (Brazil) Grammar

If you learned the textbook rule that este means "this (near me)" and esse means "that (near you)," you are about to discover that spoken Brazilian Portuguese mostly ignores it. This is one of the largest gaps between what grammar books teach and what Brazilians actually say, and getting it right will make your speech sound far more native. The short version: in speech, Brazilians use esse for almost everything, and let the words aqui/aí carry the distance.

The prescriptive rule (what books say)

Formal, prescriptive grammar — the kind taught in school and enforced in writing — keeps a clean two-way split between the first two demonstratives:

este / esta = near the speaker ("this," in my hand, here by me)
esse / essa = near the listener ("that," there by you, where you are)

(The third demonstrative, aquele, for things far from both people, behaves the same in speech and writing — it's only the este/esse pair that collapses.)

Este relatório que estou segurando está atualizado; esse que está com você, não.

This report I'm holding is up to date; that one you have is not. (formal/written)

Esta caneta é minha; essa que está na sua mão é da Ana.

This pen is mine; that one in your hand is Ana's. (formal/written)

In careful writing, this distinction is real and observed. An editor would correct you if you mixed them up. So you do need to know it.

The Brazilian spoken reality (what people say)

Here is the honest truth that most courses bury: in everyday Brazilian speech, este has nearly disappeared, and esse has swallowed its territory. A Brazilian holding a pen in their own hand will overwhelmingly say "esse aqui" — not "este." The form esse now covers both "this" and "that," and the distance is signaled by the locative adverb tacked on:

esse aqui = "this one here" (by me)
esse aí = "that one there" (by you)
esse ali / esse lá = "that one over there"

Me empresta esse aqui?

Can you lend me this one (here)? (everyday BR; prescriptively 'este')

Esse aí na sua mão é o quê?

What's that one (there) in your hand? (everyday BR)

Não quero esse, quero aquele lá no fundo.

I don't want this/that one, I want that one over there in the back.

So when you point to your own coffee cup and ask if it's yours, a Brazilian says "esse aqui é meu?" — using esse for something literally in their own hand, which the textbook says should be este. This is not sloppy or wrong; it's simply how the spoken dialect works.

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Don't agonize over este vs esse when speaking. Reach for esse and pin down the distance with aqui (by me), aí (by you), or ali/lá (over there). You will sound more natural doing this than if you carefully deploy "este" in conversation — which can come across as stiff or bookish.

Why did this happen?

There's a clean phonetic explanation. In rapid Brazilian speech, unstressed initial vowels are weak, and the difference between es- and est- is hard to hear and easy to flatten. When two forms sound nearly identical and one of them (esse) is shorter, the language tends to let the simpler one absorb the other. The three-way distance information didn't get lost — it just migrated out of the demonstrative and onto the adverbs aqui / aí / ali, which are loud, clear, and unambiguous.

This is a common pattern in languages: when one part of a system gets phonetically eroded, another part picks up the semantic slack. English did something similar when it lost the "yonder" tier and made "that" cover everything not-near.

When you still need "este"

Este is not dead — it's specialized. Reserve it for these contexts:

1. Formal and academic writing. Essays, reports, contracts, news articles, and exams all expect the full este/esse distinction. Writing "esse trabalho" when you mean the document the reader is currently holding will read as an error in a formal text.

Este artigo defende a hipótese apresentada na seção anterior.

This article defends the hypothesis presented in the previous section. (academic)

2. "This here" referring to the present text/moment in writing. When an author points to their own current document, este is standard: "neste capítulo," "nesta carta," "no dia de hoje."

Neste e-mail, gostaria de confirmar os detalhes da reunião.

In this email, I would like to confirm the details of the meeting. (formal writing)

3. Time: the current period. "Esta semana," "este mês," "este ano" survive even in fairly casual speech to mean the current week/month/year, contrasting with "essa" for a period that was just mentioned.

Este ano vou viajar menos do que no ano passado.

This year I'm going to travel less than last year. (current year — 'este' survives)

Lembra daquela viagem? Essa semana que você mencionou foi ótima.

Remember that trip? That week you mentioned was great. ('essa' = the just-mentioned week)

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A useful rule of thumb for time: este = the period we're living in right now; esse = a period that just came up in the conversation; aquele = a period in the distant past. "Este fim de semana" (this coming/current weekend) vs. "naquele fim de semana" (that weekend long ago).

A note on writing vs. speaking strategy

If you're a learner, the practical strategy is split by skill:

When speaking: default to esse
- an adverb. You'll virtually never be wrong, and you'll sound native.
When writing formally: observe the full distinction — este for what's near you / the present document / the current time, esse for what's near the reader / just mentioned.
When reading: recognize that a writer's este points to their side and esse to the reader's side — useful for parsing contracts, letters, and academic prose.

Common Mistakes

❌ Este é muito bom! (said while excitedly handing your phone to a friend, in casual chat)

Not wrong, but sounds bookish/stiff in casual speech.

✅ Esse aqui é muito bom!

This one here is really good! (natural spoken BR)

❌ Esse contrato que você está lendo regula esse acordo. (in a formal legal document)

Incorrect — formal writing needs 'este' for the present document.

✅ Este contrato regula o presente acordo.

This contract governs this agreement. (correct formal register)

❌ Esse ano eu vou me formar. (meaning the current year)

Marginal — 'esse ano' for the current year sounds careless to careful speakers.

✅ Este ano eu vou me formar.

This year I'm going to graduate. ('este' for the current year)

❌ Êsse aqui.

Incorrect — there is no circumflex; modern orthography is plain 'esse'.

✅ Esse aqui.

This one here. (no accent on esse)

❌ Me dá este, o que tá na sua mão. (pointing at something by the listener, in speech)

Odd — 'este' suggests it's by you, the speaker, but it's by the listener.

✅ Me dá esse aí, o que tá na sua mão.

Give me that one there, the one in your hand. (esse + aí marks the listener's space)

Key Takeaways

Prescriptively: este = near speaker, esse = near listener. Books and formal writing enforce this.
In spoken Brazilian: the distinction collapses — esse covers both, and aqui / aí / ali carry the distance.
esse aqui = this (by me); esse aí = that (by you); esse ali/lá = that (over there).
Keep este for formal/academic writing, references to the current document, and the current time period ("este ano").
When speaking, default to esse
- adverb — you'll sound native and you'll almost never be wrong.

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