Você é Paulo.

to be

Breakdown of Você é Paulo.

• você: you
• Paulo: Paulo

Questions & Answers about Você é Paulo.

Why do we use você instead of tu in this sentence?

In Brazilian Portuguese, você is the most common way to address someone as you in both formal and informal contexts. While tu also means you, its usage is region-specific (e.g., in parts of Rio de Janeiro or the south of Brazil), and often comes with slightly different verb conjugations (like tu és, instead of você é). Typically, if you’re learning Portuguese for Brazil, você is the safer choice for everyday speech.

Why is é used here instead of está?

In Portuguese, ser (which conjugates to é in the third person) generally describes permanent or lasting attributes, such as identity. Você é Paulo states who you are (your name), which is considered a permanent characteristic. On the other hand, estar refers to temporary states or locations, such as Estou em casa (I am at home).

Why does você take the same verb form as ele/ela?

In modern Brazilian Portuguese, você is grammatically treated as a third-person pronoun. Historically it derived from an expression that literally meant Your Grace (in Portuguese, Vossa Mercê). Over time, it evolved into você. Because of that, the verb form é is actually the third-person singular form of ser.

Is it necessary to say você every time?

Portuguese often allows dropping the subject pronoun when the context is clear. However, in many regions of Brazil, people commonly say você at the start of a sentence for clarity. It’s not always mandatory, but if you drop it, you could just say É Paulo to mean You are Paulo—the meaning is understood from context, though it might sound incomplete unless you already set the context in conversation.

Does the accent in você or é change their pronunciation significantly?

Yes. In você, the accent indicates the stressed vowel is ê, so it’s pronounced ‘vo-SEH’. Without the accent, it would incorrectly shift the stress to the o, leading to a different pronunciation. In é, the accent shows that the vowel is open and stressed in just one syllable, pronounced like ‘eh’. These accents help with correct pronunciation and also differentiate words from others in writing (for example, e without an accent simply means and).