Quem (Who/Whom)

Quem is the Brazilian Portuguese word for "who" and "whom." Unlike English, which (in careful speech) splits the two, Portuguese uses the single invariable form quem for every role: subject, object, and object of a preposition. The trickiest thing for English speakers is not the word itself but where the preposition goes — Portuguese fronts it, while English usually strands it at the end. This page walks through each use.

quem as subject: "Who …?"

When quem is the one doing the action, it sits at the front and the verb follows in normal order — no inversion, no "do."

The verb agrees in the third-person singular by default, even when the answer turns out to be plural. Quem quer café? takes singular quer even if five people raise their hands. This matches English ("Who wants coffee?" not "Who want coffee?"), so it should feel natural — the surprise is just that Portuguese keeps the singular consistently.

quem as object: "Who(m) … ?"

When quem is the object (the person the action is done to), it still fronts, and — this is the key point — the rest of the sentence keeps statement word order. No inversion, no "do."

Read those literally: "Who you saw?", "Who she invited to the party?" That word order is wrong in English but correct in Portuguese. The English brain wants to insert "did" and flip the subject — Quem viu você? would actually flip the meaning to "Who saw you?", because with no inversion rule, word order alone signals who does what. So be careful: Quem você viu? = you saw someone; Quem viu você? = someone saw you.

quem with prepositions: front the whole phrase

This is where English and Portuguese genuinely diverge. In casual English we strand the preposition at the end: "Who did you go with? Who is this for?" Portuguese cannot do that. The preposition travels to the front, glued in front of quem.

The English construction with the dangling preposition simply has no Portuguese equivalent — Quem você foi com? is ungrammatical. You must lead with the preposition. The closest English analogue is the formal "With whom did you go?", which tells you the structure but not the register: in Portuguese, fronting the preposition is completely neutral and everyday, not stuffy at all.

A special, very common case is possession with de ("whose"):

Portuguese has no single word for "whose" — it builds it from de quem. And remember that the preposition is dictated by the Portuguese verb, which often differs from English: gostar de (to like), precisar de (to need), confiar em (to trust), depender de (to depend on).

quem é que — the optional padding

Just like other wh-questions, quem readily takes the optional é que for a more conversational feel. It changes nothing grammatically.

Both Quem vai pagar a conta? and Quem é que vai pagar a conta? are correct; the second just sounds chattier.

quem in indirect questions and answers

Quem keeps the same shape when the question is embedded inside another clause — an "indirect question." There is still no inversion and no "do," and the preposition still fronts with quem.

When you answer a quem question, you typically reuse the same preposition the question fronted, because it is the verb that demands it. Com quem você foi? → Fui com a Ana. De quem é o carro? → É do meu irmão (note the mandatory contraction de + o = do). These contractions — do, da, dos, das, no, na, num, numa — are not optional in Portuguese, so an answer like de o meu irmão would be wrong.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• quem is invariable and covers who, whom, and (with de) whose.
• As a subject, it takes a singular verb: Quem quer café?
• No inversion and no "do" — keep statement word order; word order itself distinguishes Quem você viu? (you see) from Quem viu você? (sees you).
• Front the preposition: Com quem? De quem? Para quem? Em quem? — never strand it at the end. The preposition is whatever the Portuguese verb requires.