"Impersonal" in Portuguese is less a single construction than a strategy — a family of devices for talking about events, states or opinions without naming a specific subject. English relies mostly on vague "one," "they," "people" or the passive. Portuguese has a richer toolbox, and native speakers switch between these tools constantly depending on register, focus and how much the speaker wants to be held responsible for the claim. This page surveys the full inventory at B2 level, with notes on register and a systematic comparison with Spanish.
What counts as impersonal
Two overlapping notions get labelled "impersonal":
- Syntactically impersonal — the verb has no logical subject at all. The verb is locked in the third person singular. Weather verbs and existential haver are the classic cases.
- Semantically impersonal — there is a subject slot, but it is not filled by a specific referent. This is what the se constructions and third person plural tricks do.
Keep these categories in mind: the grammar is different even when the translation into English is the same generic "you."
1. Haver as existential — há, havia, houve
The workhorse of existential meaning in European Portuguese is haver, used only in the third person singular regardless of the number of things that exist. This is one of the cleanest points of divergence between European and Brazilian Portuguese, where ter takes over colloquially.
| Tense | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Present | há | there is / there are |
| Imperfect | havia | there was / there were (background) |
| Preterite | houve | there was / there were (completed) |
| Future | haverá | there will be |
| Conditional | haveria | there would be |
| Present subjunctive | haja | (that) there be |
| Imperfect subjunctive | houvesse | (that) there were |
Há muita gente à espera do autocarro.
There are a lot of people waiting for the bus.
Ontem houve um acidente grave na A1.
Yesterday there was a serious accident on the A1 motorway.
The key point for English and Spanish speakers: há never pluralises. "There are five chairs" is há cinco cadeiras, not hão cinco cadeiras. The verb is locked. See haver as existential for the full story and the colloquial pressure from tem coming up from Brazil.
2. Haver for elapsed time — há três anos
A second impersonal use of há marks time elapsed since a past event. English uses "ago"; Portuguese puts há in front.
Estudo português há dois anos.
I've been studying Portuguese for two years.
Conheci-o há muito tempo, quando ainda morava em Lisboa.
I met him a long time ago, when I still lived in Lisbon.
In this use, há + time can be followed by que + clause for "it has been X since…":
Há três semanas que não o vejo.
I haven't seen him in three weeks.
3. Weather verbs — chover, nevar, trovejar
Weather verbs are the cleanest case of syntactic impersonality: they never take a subject. Always third person singular. This is shared with Spanish, French and Italian.
| Verb | Meaning | Example form |
|---|---|---|
| chover | to rain | chove, choveu, vai chover |
| nevar | to snow | neva, nevou |
| trovejar | to thunder | troveja, trovejou |
| relampejar | to lighten (flash) | relampeja, relampejou |
| ventar | to be windy | venta, ventava |
| anoitecer | to get dark | anoitece, anoiteceu |
| amanhecer | to dawn | amanhece, amanheceu |
Choveu a noite toda — olha como está a rua.
It rained all night — look at the state of the street.
No Gerês, no inverno, neva quase todos os anos.
In the Gerês, in winter, it snows almost every year.
Ainda não anoiteceu, mas já está escuro.
It hasn't gotten dark yet, but it's already dim.
A common European Portuguese idiom uses fazer for overall weather conditions where English uses "to be":
Faz muito frio em Bragança no inverno.
It's very cold in Bragança in winter.
Hoje faz um sol espectacular.
Today the sun is glorious.
Here fazer is equally impersonal — locked in the third person singular.
4. Ser + adjective + que / infinitive — é preciso, é bom, é fácil
A huge class of impersonal expressions uses ser + adjective/noun followed by either que + subjunctive clause or a bare infinitive. This construction lets you evaluate an action without specifying who does it.
| Expression | Meaning | Followed by |
|---|---|---|
| é preciso | it's necessary | que + subj. / infinitive |
| é bom | it's good/advisable | que + subj. / infinitive |
| é importante | it's important | que + subj. / infinitive |
| é fácil | it's easy | infinitive |
| é difícil | it's hard | infinitive |
| é proibido | it's forbidden | infinitive |
| é pena | it's a pity | que + subj. |
| é possível | it's possible | que + subj. / infinitive |
| é normal | it's normal | que + subj. |
| convém | it's advisable | que + subj. / infinitive |
É preciso reservar mesa — este sítio enche sempre.
You have to book a table — this place always fills up.
É pena que não tenhas vindo à festa.
It's a pity you didn't come to the party.
É proibido fumar dentro do edifício.
Smoking is prohibited inside the building.
Notice the pattern: é + adjective without an explicit subject = impersonal evaluation. If you want to specify who the evaluation applies to, use the personal infinitive (one of Portuguese's unique features):
É importante tu falares com ela antes do jantar.
It's important that you speak to her before dinner.
É melhor saírem agora, senão chegam tarde.
It's better that you (plural) leave now, otherwise you'll be late.
See impersonal expressions with the subjunctive for when que + subjunctive is required.
5. Passive se — vende-se, fala-se, procuram-se
The passive se (se apassivante) is one of the most frequent impersonal patterns in written and spoken European Portuguese. It is formed with the clitic se attached to a transitive verb; the logical object becomes the grammatical subject, and the verb agrees with it in number.
Vende-se a casa do lado.
The house next door is for sale.
Vendem-se duas casas nesta rua.
Two houses on this street are for sale.
Fala-se português em nove países.
Portuguese is spoken in nine countries.
Procuram-se empregados para o verão.
Staff wanted for the summer. (literally: are sought)
Notice that vende-se / vendem-se agree with casa / casas. This is the distinctive European behaviour: the verb pluralises to agree with the logical object. In Brazilian Portuguese, singular agreement (vende-se duas casas) is now widely accepted in speech, but in Portugal pluralisation is standard in careful speech and writing.
6. Impersonal se — vive-se bem aqui
When se attaches to an intransitive verb (or a transitive verb with no object expressed), it becomes truly impersonal: the verb is locked in the third person singular and there is no logical subject at all. The meaning is "one," "people in general," "you" in the generic sense.
Vive-se bem em Lisboa — o clima e a comida ajudam.
Life is good in Lisbon — the weather and the food help.
Aqui come-se muito bem e paga-se pouco.
Here you eat very well and pay little.
Antigamente dormia-se cedo e acordava-se com os galos.
In the old days, people went to bed early and woke up with the roosters.
Naquele bairro não se entra à noite — é perigoso.
You don't go into that neighbourhood at night — it's dangerous.
The boundary between passive se and impersonal se can be subtle. Rule of thumb: if there's a logical object that could be the subject of agreement, it's passive se (vendem-se casas). If the verb is intransitive or there's no object in sight, it's impersonal se (vive-se bem).
7. Third person plural for unspecified agent — dizem que…
Portuguese uses the bare third person plural (no pronoun) to mean "people say," "they say," "somebody." The agent is vague on purpose — sometimes because the speaker doesn't know who did it, sometimes because naming the agent is irrelevant. This is one of the highest-frequency impersonal devices in spoken Portuguese.
Roubaram-me a carteira no metro.
Somebody stole my wallet on the metro. (literally: they stole the wallet from me)
Estão a construir um prédio enorme ali atrás.
They're building a huge apartment block behind there.
Tocaram à porta — vai ver quem é.
Someone rang the doorbell — go see who it is.
The English equivalents are "they," "someone," "somebody" or a passive ("my wallet was stolen"). This construction sits happily alongside the passive se: Roubaram-me a carteira and A carteira foi-me roubada both work, but the third person plural is far more common in everyday speech.
8. Dá para + infinitive — it's possible to
The verb dar in the third person singular followed by para + infinitive is a remarkably frequent European Portuguese pattern meaning "it's possible to," "you can," "it works to." It is colloquial, extremely useful, and has no direct counterpart in Spanish.
Dá para comer bem aqui por dez euros.
You can eat well here for ten euros.
Não dá para falar com ela agora — está numa reunião.
You can't talk to her right now — she's in a meeting.
Achas que dá para chegar ao Porto antes das seis?
Do you think we can get to Porto before six?
The construction is impersonal: dá stays locked in the third person singular. In more formal registers you'll see é possível + infinitive instead.
Closely related is dar-se bem / mal, which is personal (it conjugates for the subject) but carries an impersonal flavour of "things go well for X":
Ela dá-se bem com toda a gente — é o feitio.
She gets on well with everyone — it's her nature.
9. A gente — colloquial "we / one"
A gente (literally "the people") is a singular noun phrase that in everyday speech stands in for nós ("we") and — more loosely — for generic "one/people." The verb agrees with a gente as third person singular, even though the meaning is plural.
A gente depois combina, está bem?
We'll sort it out later, okay?
A gente nunca sabe o que pode acontecer.
You never know what can happen.
A gente tem de chegar cedo, se não, não há lugar.
We have to arrive early, otherwise there won't be any space.
Register: a gente is firmly informal. In writing and in formal speech, use nós for "we" and uma pessoa or passive se for generic "one."
10. Uma pessoa — "one"
A more formal alternative to a gente as a generic "one" is uma pessoa (literally "a person"). It also takes third person singular agreement and is common in reflective or philosophical speech.
Uma pessoa nunca está preparada para uma notícia destas.
One is never prepared for news like this.
Quando uma pessoa está cansada, tudo parece pior.
When you're tired, everything seems worse.
Sequence of tenses in impersonal clauses
Because most of these constructions have a third person singular main verb, the sequence of tenses in subordinate clauses follows normal rules. A past main verb pulls the subordinate verb back:
É possível que ela já tenha chegado.
It's possible she has already arrived.
Era possível que ela já tivesse chegado.
It was possible that she had already arrived.
Dizem que o ministro vai demitir-se.
They say the minister is going to resign.
Disseram que o ministro ia demitir-se.
They said the minister was going to resign.
See sequence of tenses for the full mechanics.
Comparison with Spanish
Spanish speakers learning Portuguese have one big intuition to correct and several to preserve:
Preserve — the se constructions are broadly parallel. Spanish se vende casa / se venden casas matches Portuguese vende-se casa / vendem-se casas. The agreement rules are the same; the placement of the clitic differs (Portuguese prefers enclisis in main clauses, Spanish prefers proclisis). The impersonal se (se vive bien aquí ↔ vive-se bem aqui) is identical.
Correct — Spanish hay and Portuguese há look cognate, but Spanish hay comes from haber and is written and pronounced as one syllable, while Portuguese há is a clean third person singular of haver. The past in Spanish is hubo / había; in Portuguese houve / havia. Spanish learners often write ha (third person of haber as auxiliary) instead of há (existential) — these are different verbs in modern grammar even though they share etymology.
Acquire — Portuguese dá para has no tidy Spanish equivalent. Spanish would use se puede or es posible. Also, Portuguese a gente as "we" has no Spanish equivalent — Spanish la gente is strictly "people" and never displaces nosotros.
Choosing between the impersonal strategies
When you want to say something like "they're building a new metro line," Portuguese offers at least four reasonable options. Which to use?
| Strategy | Example | Register / effect |
|---|---|---|
| 3rd plural | Estão a construir uma nova linha. | Neutral, everyday speech |
| Passive se | Constrói-se uma nova linha. | Written, journalistic |
| Full passive | Está a ser construída uma nova linha. | Formal, emphatic |
| Existential | Há uma nova linha em construção. | Neutral, descriptive |
For spoken language, lean on the third person plural. For newspaper writing and official signage, lean on se. For formal administrative prose, use the full ser-passive.
Common mistakes
❌ Hão muitas pessoas no café.
Wrong: existential haver never pluralises.
✅ Há muitas pessoas no café.
Correct: há stays singular regardless of the number of items.
❌ Se vende casas.
Wrong: without clitic attachment (enclise) in an affirmative main clause, and the verb should agree.
✅ Vendem-se casas.
Correct: enclitic se, and the verb agrees with casas.
❌ É preciso que tu vais ao mercado.
Wrong: é preciso que requires the subjunctive.
✅ É preciso que tu vás ao mercado.
Correct: present subjunctive after é preciso que.
❌ Dão para comer bem aqui.
Wrong: dá para is locked in the third person singular.
✅ Dá para comer bem aqui.
Correct: always dá, never dão.
❌ A gente vamos ao cinema.
Wrong: a gente takes third person singular agreement.
✅ A gente vai ao cinema.
Correct: a gente is grammatically singular even though the meaning is we.
❌ Roubou-me a carteira no metro.
Wrong if you mean somebody unspecified stole it — this sounds like a specific known person.
✅ Roubaram-me a carteira no metro.
Correct: third person plural for an unspecified agent.
Key takeaways
- Há is the default existential — locked singular, unlike Spanish hay / había / hubo.
- Weather and dawn/dusk verbs are syntactically impersonal: always third person singular, no subject.
- É + adjective + que takes the subjunctive; é + adjective + infinitive is impersonal without a specified agent.
- Se is the written workhorse: passive se agrees with the object, impersonal se stays singular.
- Third person plural with no pronoun is the spoken workhorse — "they" as a vague agent.
- Dá para and a gente are uniquely Portuguese colloquial tools with no clean Spanish equivalents.
- Register matters enormously: match your impersonal strategy to the situation.
Related Topics
- Passive Voice and Impersonal Constructions (Overview)B1 — Portuguese expresses passive and agentless meaning through four related constructions — ser + past participle, se + verb (passive), impersonal se, and ficar + participle. This page maps out when to use each.
- Se-Passive (Passiva Pronominal)B1 — Vendem-se livros — the passive with clitic se, where the verb agrees with the logical patient. Covers the classic prescriptive rule, the colloquial tension (vende-se casas vs vendem-se casas), and why the agent cannot be expressed.
- Impersonal SeB1 — How European Portuguese uses 'se' to make generic, subjectless statements — the equivalent of English 'one does X' or 'you do X' in the impersonal sense.
- Haver as Existential ('there is / there are')A1 — How Portuguese expresses existence with há — the impersonal verb that stays singular no matter what, across every tense and mood.
- Impersonal SentencesB1 — Portuguese sentences without a specific subject — weather verbs, existentials, the se-passive and reflexive se, third-person-plural impersonals, and infinitive impersonals with é.
- Há vs Existe vs TemA2 — Three ways to express 'there is / there are' in Portuguese — há is the PT-PT default, existe is the formal option, tem is Brazilian and should be avoided in European Portuguese.