De is the hardest-working preposition in Portuguese. Its core meaning is of or from, but in practice it does the job of an English apostrophe-s, a source marker, a material descriptor, a partitive, a topic introducer, and the obligatory link between dozens of common verbs and their complements. If you master only one Portuguese preposition, make it de. This page walks through every major use, then covers the obligatory contractions that every sentence with de depends on.
Origin: where someone or something is from
The most basic use of de is to mark origin — where a person, thing, or movement comes from. After ser it gives nationality or hometown; after verbs of motion like vir (to come) or chegar (to arrive), it names the point of departure.
Sou de Lisboa, mas vivo no Porto há cinco anos.
I'm from Lisbon, but I've been living in Porto for five years.
Este vinho vem do Douro e aquele queijo é da Serra da Estrela.
This wine comes from the Douro and that cheese is from Serra da Estrela.
Acabei de chegar de Paris.
I just got back from Paris.
Notice that when the place of origin is a country or region that takes an article (Portugal does not, but o Brasil, os Estados Unidos, a Alemanha do), the preposition contracts with the article: venho de Portugal but venho do Brasil, venho da Alemanha. Learn each country along with its article.
Possession
Portuguese has no apostrophe-s. To say that something belongs to someone, you reverse the word order and link the two nouns with de: [thing] de [owner].
O carro do João está avariado.
João's car is broken down.
A casa dos meus pais fica em Sintra.
My parents' house is in Sintra.
O anel da minha avó perdeu-se na viagem.
My grandmother's ring got lost on the trip.
Two things are worth pointing out. First, European Portuguese obligatorily contracts de with the definite article that accompanies the owner's name. You cannot say o carro de o João; it must be o carro do João. Personal names in Portugal are routinely preceded by a definite article (o João, a Maria), so this contraction is a near-constant feature of the language. Spanish is more flexible here — el carro de Juan leaves the preposition uncontracted — but Portuguese is strict.
Second, when the owner is a pronoun, Portuguese contracts de with the third-person pronouns ele, ela, eles, elas:
| de + pronoun | Contracted form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| de + ele | dele | his |
| de + ela | dela | hers |
| de + eles | deles | theirs (m.) |
| de + elas | delas | theirs (f.) |
Este casaco é dele, aquele é dela.
This coat is his, that one is hers.
A opinião deles conta tanto como a nossa.
Their opinion counts as much as ours.
These contractions are especially common because Portuguese often uses dele / dela instead of the potentially ambiguous seu / sua. O carro seu could mean his, hers, yours, or theirs; o carro dele is unambiguously his.
Asking who owns something
The equivalent of whose is de quem (singular owner) or de quem são for plural possession:
De quem é este telemóvel?
Whose phone is this?
De quem são estas chaves que estão em cima da mesa?
Whose keys are these on the table?
The answer uses the same pattern: É do Pedro. (It's Pedro's.) There is no way to frame the question without de — which is why getting used to this preposition early is so important.
Material: what something is made of
De links a noun to the material it is made from. The pattern is [object] de [material] with no article.
Comprei uma mesa de madeira para a sala.
I bought a wooden table for the living room.
Levo um casaco de lã porque está frio.
I'm wearing a wool coat because it's cold.
Note the absence of an article after de in these expressions. You say mesa de madeira, not mesa da madeira — the material is generic, not a specific batch of wood. The same logic governs copo de vinho (wine glass) versus copo do vinho (the glass of the specific wine we were talking about).
Partitives and containers
When you want to describe a portion of something or the contents of a container, de is again the link. Like with materials, the default is to use de without an article.
Queria um copo de água, se faz favor.
I'd like a glass of water, please.
Ela pediu uma taça de vinho tinto e um prato de queijos.
She ordered a glass of red wine and a plate of cheeses.
Comi metade do bolo de chocolate.
I ate half of the chocolate cake.
In metade do bolo, de does contract with the article — because we are talking about a specific cake, not cake in general. Compare um bocado de bolo (a piece of cake — any cake) with um bocado do bolo que trouxeste (a piece of the cake you brought).
Topic and subject matter
Use de to say what a book, film, course, or conversation is about.
É um livro de história muito interessante.
It's a really interesting history book.
Estávamos a ver um filme de terror quando tu ligaste.
We were watching a horror film when you called.
Temos aula de português às terças e às quintas.
We have Portuguese class on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
In all three cases, de introduces the topic or subject area: history, horror, Portuguese. The compound preposition acerca de or sobre works for more detailed "about" constructions (um livro sobre a guerra civil — a book about the civil war), but for genre or subject area, bare de is the norm.
Time expressions
De shows up in several recurring time expressions, where it often translates as in or at.
| Portuguese | English |
|---|---|
| de manhã | in the morning |
| de tarde | in the afternoon |
| de noite | at night |
| de madrugada | in the small hours / at dawn |
| das dez às onze | from ten to eleven |
| de segunda a sexta | from Monday to Friday |
Trabalho das nove às seis, de segunda a sexta.
I work from nine to six, Monday to Friday.
Prefiro estudar de manhã, quando a cabeça está mais fresca.
I prefer to study in the morning, when my head is fresher.
The de... a... pattern (from... to...) is extremely productive: you use it for hours, days, months, and even abstract ranges (de A a Z, de zero a cem). Both ends of the range contract with their articles in standard ways.
Cause
De can introduce the cause of an emotion or physical reaction, usually after verbs describing feelings or involuntary actions.
Estou a tremer de frio — podes fechar a janela?
I'm shivering with cold — can you close the window?
Morreu de velhice aos noventa e oito anos.
He died of old age at ninety-eight.
Ela chorou de felicidade quando recebeu as notícias.
She cried with happiness when she got the news.
Manner
Some fixed expressions use de to describe how something is done — a kind of frozen adverbial.
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
| de cor | by heart, from memory |
| de pé | standing up |
| de joelhos | on one's knees |
| de pijama | in pyjamas |
| de braços cruzados | with one's arms crossed |
| de propósito | on purpose |
| de repente | suddenly |
Sei o poema de cor, aprendi-o na escola primária.
I know the poem by heart, I learned it in primary school.
Estás de pijama às três da tarde?
You're in your pyjamas at three in the afternoon?
Verbs that require de
A large family of Portuguese verbs takes de before their complement. This is pure grammar — there is no English pattern to help you predict which verbs do this, so you must memorize them. The most important are listed below, with examples.
| Verb + de | Meaning |
|---|---|
| gostar de | to like |
| precisar de | to need |
| lembrar-se de | to remember |
| esquecer-se de | to forget |
| aproveitar-se de | to take advantage of |
| desistir de | to give up on |
| depender de | to depend on |
| acabar de | to have just (done) |
| parar de | to stop (doing) |
| tratar de | to deal with |
| falar de | to talk about |
| rir-se de | to laugh at |
Gosto muito de chocolate, mas preciso de comer menos.
I like chocolate a lot, but I need to eat less of it.
Esqueci-me de te dizer que a Ana telefonou.
I forgot to tell you that Ana called.
Acabei de chegar e já estou com fome.
I just arrived and I'm already hungry.
The verb acabar de deserves special attention: acabar de + infinitive means to have just done something. This is the standard European Portuguese way to express the recent past, and it is one of the most useful patterns you can learn early.
The complete contraction inventory
Because de contracts obligatorily with so many words, you need the full chart in one place.
| de + … | Contracted form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| o / a / os / as | do / da / dos / das | o carro do Pedro |
| um / uma / uns / umas | dum / duma / duns / dumas (optional) | a casa dum amigo |
| este / esta / estes / estas | deste / desta / destes / destas | gosto desta cor |
| esse / essa / esses / essas | desse / dessa / desses / dessas | falei desse livro |
| aquele / aquela / aqueles / aquelas | daquele / daquela / daqueles / daquelas | lembro-me daquele dia |
| ele / ela / eles / elas | dele / dela / deles / delas | a mãe deles |
| aqui / aí / ali | daqui / daí / dali | sai daqui! |
| isto / isso / aquilo | disto / disso / daquilo | gostei disso |
Não me lembro daquilo que disseste ontem.
I don't remember what you said yesterday.
A decisão depende disto: se tivermos tempo ou não.
The decision depends on this: whether we have time or not.
The forms with um / uma (dum, duma) are accepted in writing but optional; you will see both de um amigo and dum amigo in good prose. The forms with este, esse, aquele, ele, and the neuter pronouns isto, isso, aquilo are always contracted — no exceptions.
Common mistakes
❌ Gosto muito música brasileira.
Incorrect — gostar obligatorily takes de.
✅ Gosto muito de música brasileira.
I really like Brazilian music.
❌ O livro de o João está na estante.
Incorrect — de + o must contract to do.
✅ O livro do João está na estante.
João's book is on the shelf.
❌ Precisaste ajuda ontem?
Incorrect — precisar takes de, even before a noun.
✅ Precisaste de ajuda ontem?
Did you need help yesterday?
❌ Não me lembro de aquele dia.
Incorrect — de + aquele must contract to daquele.
✅ Não me lembro daquele dia.
I don't remember that day.
❌ Acabei chegar do trabalho.
Incorrect — acabar de + infinitive requires the preposition.
✅ Acabei de chegar do trabalho.
I just got home from work.
Key takeaways
- De expresses origin, possession, material, partitive quantity, topic, time, cause, and manner.
- Contraction with definite articles (do, da, dos, das) is obligatory in European Portuguese.
- Contraction with demonstratives and with ele/ela/eles/elas is also obligatory.
- Many common verbs (gostar, precisar, lembrar-se, esquecer-se, acabar) require de before their complement — this is pure memorization.
- Acabar de + infinitive is the European Portuguese way to say to have just done something.
Once de feels natural, the next step is the preposition em, which covers location and time.
Related Topics
- Portuguese Prepositions OverviewA1 — Introduction to Portuguese prepositions and their uses, including the obligatory contractions that set European Portuguese apart.
- The Preposition emA1 — Uses of the preposition em — static location, time, and state — and why Portuguese uses de (not em) for transport.
- The Preposition aA1 — Uses of the preposition a — direction, indirect objects, time, manner, and the crucial PT-PT até ao construction.
- The Preposition paraA1 — Uses of the preposition para — purpose, destination, recipient, deadline, comparison, and the para vs. por distinction.