Portuguese has three positions for an unstressed object pronoun relative to its verb: before it (proclisis — me amava), after it (enclisis — amava-me), and — uniquely among the Romance languages — inside it (mesoclisis — amar-me-ia). That third option, the mesóclise, splits the verb open and tucks the pronoun between the stem and the ending. It exists only in the future and conditional tenses, and it is one of the strangest-looking constructions you will ever meet in Portuguese.
Here is the headline for any learner of Brazilian Portuguese: mesoclise is functionally dead in Brazil. No Brazilian uses it in speech, and almost none in ordinary writing. You will encounter it only in narrow, marked registers — legal documents, biblical translations, deliberate literary archaism, and mock-pompous parody. Your job is therefore recognition, not production. You need to be able to read amar-te-ei and understand "I will love you," and to register what its presence signals about the text. You should never produce it yourself in Brazilian Portuguese — doing so would sound either like a legal contract or like a joke.
How the form is built
The mesoclise arises from the historical origin of the future and conditional tenses. Those tenses were once formed from the infinitive + a reduced form of haver: amar + hei → amarei. The pronoun slots into that old seam, between the infinitive stem and the ending.
| Plain verb |
| Mesoclitic form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| amarei (I will love) | te | amar-te-ei | I will love you |
| darei (I will give) | lhe | dar-lhe-ei | I will give to him/her |
| daria (I would give) | lhe | dar-lhe-ia | I would give to him/her |
| diremos (we will say) | vos | dir-vos-emos | we will tell you |
| far-se-á (it will be done) | se | far-se-á | it shall be done |
The structure is [infinitive stem] - [pronoun] - [future/conditional ending], joined by hyphens. So amarei (amar + ei) becomes amar-te-ei, and daria (dar + ia) becomes dar-lhe-ia. Notice that irregular futures use their special stem: dizer → dir- gives dir-vos-emos, and fazer → far- gives far-se-á.
Amar-te-ei até o fim dos meus dias.
I shall love you until the end of my days. (literary/archaic)
Dar-lhe-ei uma resposta assim que possível.
I shall give him/her an answer as soon as possible. (formal/legal)
Why it disappeared from Brazil
Mesoclise survived because of a prescriptive rule inherited from European Portuguese: a clitic pronoun may not begin a sentence, so when a future/conditional verb opens a clause with nothing before it to trigger proclisis, the "correct" classical solution was to bury the pronoun inside the verb rather than place it after (amar-te-ei, not the forbidden te amarei at sentence start, and not the awkward enclitic future).
Brazilian Portuguese simply rejected the premise. In Brazil, the dominant clitic position is proclisis — the pronoun comes before the verb, freely, even at the start of a sentence. So where European prescriptivism produces amar-te-ei, Brazilians just say te amo in the present and rephrase the future entirely. In fact, BR overwhelmingly replaces the synthetic future with the periphrastic ir + infinitive, which sidesteps the whole problem:
Vou te amar para sempre.
I'm going to love you forever. (everyday BR — the real-life equivalent of amar-te-ei)
Eu te dou uma resposta amanhã.
I'll give you an answer tomorrow. (BR — present tense for near future)
Te ligo mais tarde, tá?
I'll call you later, okay? (BR — proclisis, periphrastic feel)
These three sentences cover everything mesoclise once did, using proclisis and periphrasis. This is why the mesoclise has no living function in Brazil: the language found other ways to say the same things, and those ways are now universal.
Where you will still meet it (recognition register)
Mesoclise survives in Brazil only in four marked registers. Recognizing which one you're in is the real skill:
- Legal and bureaucratic text (formal/legal). Contracts, statutes, and official notices preserve mesoclise as a marker of juridical solemnity.
O contratado comprometer-se-á a entregar a obra no prazo.
The contractor shall undertake to deliver the work on schedule. (legal)
- Ecclesiastical and biblical translation (literary/archaic). Older Bible translations and liturgical texts use it for gravity.
Far-se-á a tua vontade, assim na terra como no céu.
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (biblical/archaic)
- Deliberate literary archaism (literary). Authors invoke it to evoke an older, elevated voice.
Dir-lhe-ei tudo quando chegar a hora certa.
I shall tell him everything when the right time comes. (literary)
- Parodic high-formal speech (informal, jocular). Brazilians sometimes deploy mesoclise on purpose to sound mock-pompous and get a laugh — the linguistic equivalent of putting on a top hat. Recognizing the joke depends on knowing the form is archaic.
Sentar-me-ei à mesa e aguardarei meu jantar, plebeus!
I shall seat myself at the table and await my dinner, peasants! (mock-formal joke)
Brazil vs. Portugal
This is one of the clearest dividing lines between the two standards. European Portuguese retains mesoclise as a living, correct option in formal speech and writing — an educated Portuguese speaker can say dar-lhe-ei without irony. Brazilian Portuguese has lost it from all natural use. So if you hear someone produce a mesoclise with a straight face in conversation, they are almost certainly Portuguese (or reading aloud, or being deliberately funny).
| European Portuguese | Brazilian Portuguese | |
|---|---|---|
| Mesoclise in formal speech | used, correct | not used |
| Mesoclise in writing | formal writing, careful prose | legal/biblical/literary only |
| Everyday "I'll call you" | telefonar-lhe-ei / ligo-lhe | te ligo / vou te ligar |
| Default clitic position | enclisis | proclisis |
Common Mistakes
The mistakes here are different from other pages: the error isn't usually misusing mesoclise but over-using it because a textbook or a grammar drill made it look like a normal option.
❌ Encontrar-te-ei no shopping às oito. (said to a friend)
Wrong register — this sounds absurdly archaic/legalistic to a Brazilian friend.
✅ Te encontro no shopping às oito.
I'll meet you at the mall at eight. (natural BR)
❌ Dar-lhe-ei o livro amanhã. (everyday speech)
Wrong register for conversation — reads like a contract.
✅ Te dou o livro amanhã. / Vou te dar o livro amanhã.
I'll give you the book tomorrow.
❌ Amar-te-ei muito! (texting your partner)
Unintentionally comical — no one texts in mesoclise.
✅ Vou te amar muito!
I'm going to love you so much!
❌ Lavar-me-ei as mãos. (reflexive, casual)
Wrong — both the mesoclise and the construction sound bizarre.
✅ Vou lavar as mãos. / Lavo as mãos.
I'm going to wash my hands.
Key Takeaways
- Mesoclise = a clitic pronoun lodged inside a future or conditional verb: amar-te-ei (I will love you), dar-lhe-ia (I would give him/her).
- Structure: [infinitive stem] - [pronoun] - [future/conditional ending], hyphenated; only in the future indicative and conditional.
- It is essentially dead in Brazil — surviving only in legal text, biblical/liturgical translation, literary archaism, and jokey mock-formality.
- Treat it as recognition-only: read it and register that the text is formal/archaic, but never produce it in BR. Use proclisis + periphrasis instead (te amo, vou te ligar).
- European Portuguese still uses it naturally; its appearance with a straight face in speech points to a Portuguese speaker, not a Brazilian one.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Mesoclise: Effectively Extinct in BRC1 — Mesoclisis embeds a clitic inside a future or conditional verb (amar-te-ei) — a living form in formal European Portuguese but a fossil in Brazil that you should recognize and never produce.
- Clitic Placement: OverviewB1 — The three positions for clitic pronouns — proclisis, enclisis, mesoclisis — and why Brazilian speech and the prescriptive rulebook pull in opposite directions.
- Enclisis in Formal Written BRB1 — The hyphenated post-verbal clitic — Chamo-me João, viu-me, sentou-se — that you need for formal Brazilian writing and the spelling changes it triggers.
- Clitic Placement: BR vs PT-PT ComparedB1 — The single clearest grammatical marker dividing Brazilian and European Portuguese — Brazil fronts object pronouns (Me chamo), Portugal attaches them after the verb (Chamo-me).
- Proclisis as BR Default (Speech)A2 — In spoken Brazilian Portuguese the object pronoun goes before the verb almost every time — even at the start of a sentence.