Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

Portuguese (Portugal)

When we want to replace both the direct object (the thing) and the indirect object (the person) in a sentence, we combine them into a single word. At the library, this lets us say things like "I ask him for it" instead of "I ask the librarian for the book."

### Combining Third-Person Pronouns

When a third-person indirect object (**lhe** or **lhes**) meets a third-person direct object (**o**, **a**, **os**, or **as**), they merge together.

| Indirect Pronoun | Direct Pronoun | Contraction |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **lhe** / **lhes** | **o** | **lho** |
| **lhe** / **lhes** | **a** | **lha** |
| **lhe** / **lhes** | **os** | **lhos** |
| **lhe** / **lhes** | **as** | **lhas** |

Notice that the final vowel of the contraction always matches the gender and number of the **direct object** (the thing being handled). The **lh-** part covers all third-person recipients (him, her, you, or them).

{{item:981080}}

{{item:981092}}

{{item:981095}}

{{item:981098}}

### Pronoun Placement

These contractions follow the exact same placement rules as single pronouns. By default, they attach to the end of the conjugated verb with a hyphen (as seen in the examples above).

However, negative words like **não** (not) act as "magnets." They pull the pronoun block in front of the verb and remove the hyphen.

{{item:981086}}

{{item:981096}}

Third-person object contractions (lho, lha)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prefix

prep

preposition

pron

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstratives and the verb to be (isto é, o, a)

Subject pronouns and negation (eu, não)

Yes/no questions and question words (quem, o que)

Plural pronouns, articles, and verbs (somos, são, os, as)

Origin and possession (de, do, da)

Introductions (chamar-se)

Indefinite articles (um, uma, uns, umas)

The verb to be for locations (estar)

Contrasting the two verbs to be (ser vs. estar)

Preposition for locations (em, no, na)

Numbers 0 to 10 (zero, um, dois)

The verb to have (tenho, tem)

Regular -ar verbs (falar, trabalhar)

Regular -er verbs (comer, beber)

Regular -ir verbs (abrir, partir)

My, your, and our (o meu, a nossa)

His, hers, and theirs (dele, dela)

Adjective agreement and placement

Days of the week (segunda-feira)

Months of the year (janeiro)

Counting by tens to 100 (trinta, quarenta...)

Telling time (é uma, são...)

Asking about time (quando, a que horas)

The verb to go (ir)

Prepositions of direction (a, para)

Preposition a contractions (ao, à, aos, às)

Prepositions of place (ao lado de, em frente de...)

Demonstratives (este, esse, aquele)

Contractions with demonstratives (neste, desse, daquele)

Asking which and how many (qual, quanto)

Plurals ending in -ão (-ões, -ãos, -ães)

Plurals ending in consonants (-ns, -is, -es)

The verb to like (gostar de)

The verb to need (precisar de)

The verb to want (querer)

The verb can or may (poder)

Expressing obligation (ter de)

Adverbs of degree (muito, pouco)

Quantifiers (muito, pouco)

Comparatives (mais... do que, menos... do que)

Equality comparisons (tão... como)

The preposition com (comigo, contigo)

Coordinating conjunctions (e, mas, ou, porque)

The preposition por (pelo, pela)

Double negation (nunca, nada, ninguém)

Present continuous (estar a)

Near future (ir)

Past tense of regular -ar verbs

Past tense of regular -er and -ir verbs

Past tense of ser and ir (fui, foi)

Direct object pronouns (me, te, o, a, nos, os, as)

Pronoun placement with negatives and questions

Greetings and courtesy (bom dia, obrigado)

Physical states with ter (ter fome, ter frio)

Asking the way (à direita, sempre em frente)

Colours (vermelho, amarelo, cor-de-rosa)

Money and shopping (custar, a moeda)

Getting around (o motorista, a paragem de autocarro)

Weather and seasons (faz calor, o inverno)

Omitting the subject pronoun

Where things are: ficar (Onde fica...?)

Richer questions: que + noun and é que

Numbers above 100 (cento e vinte, mil)

First-person sound changes (durmo, prefiro)

Advice and ability: dever and saber

Asking why: porquê and porque

When one thing happens: quando-clauses

Here and there: aqui, aí, ali (cá e lá)

Formal and plural possessives: o seu, o vosso

Irregular presents: ver, vir, dar

Present irregulars

Reflexive verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Stem-changing reflexives

Attached object pronouns (-lo, -la, -los, -las)

Nasal attached pronouns (-no, -na, -nos, -nas)

Pronoun placement with adverbs

Past tense of fazer, dizer, and trazer

Past tense of ter, estar, poder, and saber

Past tense of querer and vir

Past tense of ver, dar, and ler

Past tense reflexive verbs (-se)

Time elapsed in the past (há)

Question	Answer
to ask for	pedir
the librarian	o bibliotecário
I ask the librarian for the book.	Peço o livro ao bibliotecário.
it to him/her/you (m)	lho
When I need the dictionary, I ask him for it.	Quando preciso do dicionário, peço-lho.
to hand in	entregar
Your book is here. I will hand it to you tomorrow.	O seu livro está aqui. Entrego-lho amanhã.
the fine	a multa
The librarian doesn't want to give the student the fine.	O bibliotecário não quer dar a multa ao aluno.
it to him/her/you (f)	lha
The student has a fine, but the librarian doesn't show it to him.	O aluno tem uma multa, mas o bibliotecário não lha mostra.
the deadline	o prazo
to renew	renovar
The deadline expires today, but I can renew the book.	O prazo termina hoje, mas posso renovar o livro.
You should renew the books when the deadline expires.	Deves renovar os livros quando o prazo termina.
The deadline expires tomorrow, and the librarian is renewing it for him.	O prazo termina amanhã, e o bibliotecário renova-lho.
The girl asks for the magazine, and I hand it to her.	A rapariga pede a revista, e entrego-lha.
I saw the fine and didn't give it to him.	Vi a multa e não lha dei.
them to him/her/you (m)	lhos
When the students need the books, the librarian lends them to them.	Quando os alunos precisam dos livros, o bibliotecário empresta-lhos.
Your brother wants the dictionaries, but I'm not giving them to him.	O teu irmão quer os dicionários, mas não lhos dou.
them to him/her/you (f)	lhas
They want the library keys, and you hand them to them.	Elas querem as chaves da biblioteca, e o senhor entrega-lhas.
You have to pay the fines, because the school is sending them to you tomorrow.	Vocês têm de pagar as multas, porque a escola lhas envia amanhã.