Complete Pronoun Reference Table

This page is the master reference for the entire European Portuguese pronoun system. It is not a tutorial — each pronoun type has its own dedicated page that explains usage, placement, and edge cases in depth. This page is the single-screen, tabular answer to "which pronouns exist, and what do they look like?" Use it as a lookup when writing or reading Portuguese and you need to check a form quickly, and as a study aid when you want to see the whole system in one place.

Every table below links to the dedicated page where that category is explained in full. If you need to know how to use a form (placement, triggers, register), click through to the specific page.

1. Personal pronouns — the master table

This is the core of the system. It shows the same nine persons in every case.

Full details:

• Subject Pronouns
• Direct Object
• Indirect Object
• Reflexive Pronouns
• Pronouns After Prepositions
• Comigo, Contigo

Quick illustrations

2. Emphatic prepositional pronouns

Used to add stress or contrast to the clitic. Same forms as the prepositional pronouns, but specifically with a for emphasis.

Full details: Emphatic Prepositional Pronouns

3. Combined object pronouns (DO + IO → fused forms)

European Portuguese fuses the indirect and direct object clitics when they occur together. This is nearly absent from Brazilian Portuguese.

Full details: Combined Pronouns

4. Possessive pronouns/determiners

Portuguese possessives change for both the owner (my, your, his...) and the thing owned (masc./fem., sing./pl.).

Ambiguity note: seu / sua can mean "his, her, your (formal), or their." European Portuguese often prefers dele, dela, deles, delas for 3rd person to avoid confusion.

Full details:

• Possessive Pronouns
• Possessive with Articles
• Seu/Sua Ambiguity

5. Demonstrative pronouns — gendered

Three-way distance system (close to speaker / close to listener / far from both), each with m./f., sing./pl. forms.

6. Demonstrative pronouns — neuter (invariable)

Used when the referent is abstract, unknown, or unidentified.

Full details:

• Demonstrative Pronouns
• Demonstrative Contractions
• Isto, Isso, Aquilo

7. Interrogative pronouns

Full details:

• Interrogative Quem
• Que vs Qual
• Quanto

8. Relative pronouns

Full details:

• Relative Que
• Relative Quem
• Relative O Qual
• Relative Cujo
• Relative Onde

9. Indefinite pronouns

Words that refer to unspecified people, things, or quantities.

Existential (some / any)

Negative (no / nothing / nobody)

Universal (all / every)

Others

Full details:

• Indefinite Pronouns Overview
• Algum/Nenhum

10. The impersonal se

A special use of the reflexive se to create impersonal constructions.

Full details: Reflexive Pronouns

11. Clitic placement — the headline rule

The biggest thing that distinguishes European from Brazilian Portuguese. In EP:

Full details:

• Clitic Placement Overview
• Ênclise
• Próclise
• Mesóclise

12. Clitic allomorphs (o/a → lo/la, no/na)

The 3rd-person direct object clitics o, a, os, as change shape depending on the preceding sound:

Full details: Direct Object Contractions

13. Tu vs Você vs O Senhor — register at a glance

Full details:

• Tu vs Você
• Você vs O Senhor

Quick cheat sheet: one clitic at a time

Here are the ten most common clitics, in their canonical forms, with minimal examples:

Key orthographic points

• The hyphen is obligatory in ênclise and mesóclise: chamo-me, dar-te-ei. Never write chamome.
• The 1pl subject nós has an accent; the 1pl clitic nos does not.
• Vós has an accent; vos does not.
• Portuguese mim has no accent; Spanish mí does. Do not transfer the accent.
• Connosco (EP) has two n's; Brazilian conosco has one.

Comparison with English

English has one set of subject pronouns, one set of object pronouns, and one set of possessives. It has no clitics, no reflexive paradigm separate from the object pronouns (uses myself, yourself), no fused combined forms, and no distinction between direct and indirect object. The entire Portuguese pronoun system is several times larger and more articulated. Once you see the full map in this table, the investment in learning it becomes visible — and the payoff is that every distinction carries real communicative weight.

Comparison with Spanish

Spanish is Portuguese's closest cousin. Where Spanish has:

• me, te, se, lo/la, le, nos, os, los/las, les → Portuguese has the same slots, different forms
• mí, ti, sí → mim, ti, si
• conmigo, contigo, consigo → comigo, contigo, consigo
• mi, tu, su (possessives) → meu/minha, teu/tua, seu/sua
• este, ese, aquel → este, esse, aquele

Main differences:

1. Portuguese has four distance levels in demonstratives (this/that-near-you/that-over-there) like Spanish, but the neuter forms (isto, isso, aquilo) are more grammatically distinct.
2. Portuguese has combined fused pronouns (mo, to, lho) that Spanish lacks.
3. Portuguese personal infinitive means subject pronouns (eu, tu) appear in contexts where Spanish uses the bare infinitive.
4. Spanish usted has no close Portuguese equivalent in grammar — Portuguese uses você (3sg verb) or o senhor / a senhora.

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Using subject pronouns after prepositions

Mistake 2: Confusing DO and IO (especially for English speakers)

English merges direct and indirect objects ("I saw him" / "I gave him the book" — same him). Portuguese distinguishes them strictly.

Mistake 3: Forgetting the allomorph rule (o/a → lo/la)

Mistake 4: Wrong clitic placement in negative sentences

Mistake 5: Using seu ambiguously without disambiguation

Prefer dele / dela / deles / delas when ambiguity would arise.

Mistake 6: Saying conosco instead of connosco in European Portuguese

Key Takeaways

• Portuguese distinguishes pronouns by person, number, case, gender (in some categories), and reflexivity.
• Personal pronouns have six cases: subject, DO, IO, reflexive, prepositional, fused-with-com.
• The clitic system (me, te, o, a, lhe, se, nos, vos, os, as, lhes) is the heart of daily Portuguese — learn its placement before obsessing over demonstratives or relatives.
• Demonstratives have a three-way distance distinction (este/esse/aquele) with gendered and neuter variants.
• Possessives agree with the thing owned, not the owner (unlike English).
• Relatives and interrogatives share many forms (que, quem, qual, quanto, onde) — context disambiguates.
• The placement rules (ênclise, próclise, mesóclise) are the biggest source of difficulty; master them early and everything else falls into place.

Bookmark this page. When you are reading Portuguese and a pronoun form looks unfamiliar, come back here, find it in a table, follow the link, and drill the usage on the dedicated page. This is the reference that underlies every other pronoun page in this guide.