Ele vai ver-nos amanhã.

He is going to see us tomorrow.

Breakdown of Ele vai ver-nos amanhã.

• ir: to go
• ele: he
• amanhã: tomorrow
• ver: to see
• nos: ourselves

Questions & Answers about Ele vai ver-nos amanhã.

What does vai ver literally mean, and how is it expressing the future?

Vai is the 3rd person singular of ir (ele vai = he goes), and ver is the infinitive to see.

Literally, ele vai ver is he goes to see, but in Portuguese this structure ir (present) + infinitive is the most common way to talk about the future, very much like English “is going to + verb”.

So Ele vai ver-nos amanhã corresponds to “He is going to see us tomorrow / He will see us tomorrow.”

Why use vai ver instead of a simple future like verá?

Both are grammatically correct, but they differ in style and frequency:

• Ele vai ver-nos amanhã. – Natural, everyday spoken Portuguese in Portugal; this periphrastic future is by far the most common.
• Ele verá-nos amanhã. or Ele ver-nos-á amanhã. – Grammatically correct, but sound more formal, written, or literary.

In normal conversation in Portugal, people strongly prefer ir + infinitive (vai ver) rather than the synthetic future (verá).

Why is nos attached to ver with a hyphen (ver-nos)?

In European Portuguese, unstressed object pronouns (like me, te, nos, vos) usually attach after the verb in affirmative sentences with no special trigger (like negation). This is called enclisis, and the pronoun attaches with a hyphen:

• Ele vê-nos. – He sees us.
• Quero ver-te. – I want to see you.

With ir + infinitive, the pronoun normally sticks to the main infinitive, not to ir:

• Ele vai ver-nos amanhã.
• Vou ajudar-te.

So ver-nos (with a hyphen) is the standard European usage here; writing ver nos (without a hyphen) is incorrect.

Could I also say Ele vai-nos ver amanhã or Ele nos vai ver amanhã?

For European Portuguese:

• Ele vai ver-nos amanhã. – Most natural and recommended.
• Ele vai-nos ver amanhã. – Possible and accepted, but less common in everyday speech; more often seen in careful or formal writing.
• Ele nos vai ver amanhã. – Feels strongly influenced by Brazilian Portuguese; not the preferred pattern in standard European Portuguese.

Also note the hyphens:

• vai ver-nos (pronoun on the infinitive)
• vai-nos ver (pronoun on vai)

In both cases with pronoun after a verb, European standard orthography requires the hyphen.

Why not write Ele vai nos ver amanhã (without any hyphens)?

That spelling reflects Brazilian Portuguese conventions:

• In Brazil, it is common and standard to place the pronoun before the main verb and write it separately: Ele vai nos ver amanhã.

In Portugal, when the pronoun comes after a verb, it must be joined to that verb with a hyphen:

• Ele vai ver-nos amanhã.
• Ele vai-nos ver amanhã.

So in European Portuguese, Ele vai nos ver amanhã (no hyphen) is considered incorrect in formal writing.

What exactly is nos here? Is it the same as nós?

They are related but not the same:

• nós = stressed subject pronoun: we
  
  • Nós vamos. – We are going.
• nos = unstressed object pronoun: us
  
  • Ele vai ver-nos. – He is going to see us.

In Ele vai ver-nos amanhã, nos is a direct object pronoun meaning us.

Pronunciation in European Portuguese also differs:

• nós ≈ nosh (with an open “o”)
• nos ≈ nuʃ (more like “noosh” but shorter)

Is nos a direct or an indirect object here? Why isn’t there a preposition like a nós?

With ver (to see), the person you see is a direct object, so you do not use a preposition:

• ver alguém – to see someone
• ver-nos – to see us

Therefore, nos here is a direct object pronoun.

You might see a nós only for emphasis or contrast:

• Ele vai ver a nós, não a eles. – He’s going to see us, not them.

But the normal, neutral form is simply ver-nos.

Can I omit Ele and just say Vai ver-nos amanhã?

Yes. Portuguese is a pro‑drop language, meaning subject pronouns are often omitted when context makes them clear:

• (Ele) vai ver-nos amanhã. – Both are correct.

You keep Ele if you want to emphasize he (as opposed to someone else), but in many contexts native speakers would simply say:

• Vai ver-nos amanhã.

Where else can amanhã go in the sentence? Does the meaning change?

Amanhã (tomorrow) is quite flexible in position. Common options are:

• Ele vai ver-nos amanhã. – Neutral; tomorrow is simply when the action happens.
• Amanhã ele vai ver-nos. – Slight emphasis on “tomorrow”.
• Ele amanhã vai ver-nos. – Also possible, but a bit less neutral-sounding; often used in speech.

All of these mean essentially the same thing; the differences are mainly in rhythm and emphasis, not in basic meaning.

How would this be said in Brazilian Portuguese?

Typical Brazilian Portuguese versions would be:

• Ele vai nos ver amanhã. – Very common standard form.
• Ele vai ver a gente amanhã. – Very common in informal speech; a gente often replaces nós / nos.

The European Portuguese version:

• Ele vai ver-nos amanhã.

sounds formal or bookish in Brazil, because Brazilians rarely attach nos after the infinitive with a hyphen in everyday use.

How do you pronounce Ele vai ver-nos amanhã in European Portuguese?

Approximate pronunciation (EP):

• Ele – roughly EL-ɨ (second vowel like a very reduced “uh”)
• vai – like English vie (one syllable)
• ver-nos – roughly VEHR-nuʃ
  The r in ver is tapped (like a soft r in Spanish pero) and links smoothly to nos, which sounds like nuʃ.
• amanhã – roughly ɐ-mɐ-NYÃ
  The last syllable -nhã is stressed and nasal, something like nya said through the nose.

Said naturally, it flows together as roughly:

EL-ɨ vai VEHR-nuʃ ɐ-mɐ-NYÃ

Why does amanhã have ã with a tilde?

In Portuguese, the tilde (~) over a or o (ã, õ) marks a nasal vowel:

• ã is a nasal a sound.

So in amanhã:

• The last syllable -nhã is both stressed and nasal.
• You don’t pronounce a separate m or n after it; the vowel itself is nasal.

Other common words with ã in European Portuguese are irmã (sister), manhã (morning), maçã (apple).

Why use ver here? Does ver mean “visit” as well as “see”?

In this context, ver alguém often means to see someone in the sense of meet / get together, just like in English:

• Ele vai ver-nos amanhã. – He is going to see us (meet us) tomorrow.

Some nuances:

• ver – see, both literally (with your eyes) and in the sense of meet:
  • Quero ver-te hoje. – I want to see/meet you today.
• visitar – visit, usually when you go to someone’s house, hospital, city, etc.:
  • Ele vai visitar-nos amanhã. – He is going to visit us tomorrow.
• olhar – look (at).
• assistir a (in PT-PT) – to watch (a show, film, game):
  • Vamos assistir ao jogo. – We’re going to watch the match.

So ver-nos is perfectly natural for see us / meet us.

How would the sentence change with other object pronouns (me, you, him, her, them)?

Keeping the same structure Ele vai + [verb+pronoun] + amanhã, you get:

• me (me):
  Ele vai ver-me amanhã. – He is going to see me tomorrow.
• te (you, singular informal):
  Ele vai ver-te amanhã.
• nos (us):
  Ele vai ver-nos amanhã.
• vos (you, plural – quite formal/rare in Portugal):
  Ele vai ver-vos amanhã.
• o / a / os / as (him, her, them) – after a verb ending in -r, it changes to -lo / -la / -los / -las and the -r drops:
  • Ele vai vê-lo amanhã. – He is going to see him / it (masc.) tomorrow.
  • Ele vai vê-la amanhã. – … see her / it (fem.).
  • Ele vai vê-los amanhã. – … see them (masc.).
  • Ele vai vê-las amanhã. – … see them (fem.).

Notice that ver + o becomes vê-lo (the verb changes spelling slightly when the -r drops).