Portuguese Indefinite Pronouns

A good grasp of Portuguese pronouns is a key step toward building fluent, natural sentences and today we’re focusing on indefinite pronouns.

Simply put, pronouns replace nouns to avoid repetition, making sentences more concise and clearer. Indefinite pronouns, in particular, refer to people or things in a nonspecific way.

They’re called “indefinite” because they don’t specify a particular person or object. Instead, they remain vague and general, pointing to something or someone undefined.

These pronouns are essential in everyday communication, helping speakers make generalizations, talk about unknown individuals, or refer to non-specific items.

Let’s explore the usage, types, and examples of Portuguese indefinite pronouns to get you comfortable with them! Read on.

Pronouns vs Determiners

In this article, I am only referring to the concept of pronouns (to keep it simple), even though there are situations where the correct term would be determiners.

Take the following sentence:

Hoje encontrei outra (moeda) na rua.
Today I found another (coin) in the street.

Depending on the situation, I might leave the noun “moeda” (coin) out of the sentence, for example, when the person listening knows the context.

In that situation, “outra” is a pronoun (pronouns replace nouns altogether). However, if “moeda” stays in the sentence, “outra” is no longer a pronoun but a determiner (determiners qualify/describe nouns).

With this technicality out of the way, let’s now look at different kinds of Portuguese indefinite pronouns.

Types of Portuguese Indefinite Pronouns

Portuguese indefinite pronouns can refer to people or things and can be categorized into two main groups: variable and invariable indefinite pronouns.

Variable Indefinite Pronouns

Variable pronouns agree in number and gender with the noun they refer to. Here’s a table with common variable indefinite pronouns.

	Sing. Masc.	Sing. Fem.	Plu. Masc.	Plu. Fem.
some	algum	alguma	alguns	algumas
none not a single	nenhum	nenhuma	nehuns	nenhumas
all every every one	todo	toda	todos	todas
many much a lot	muito	muita	muitos	muitas
few little	pouco	pouca	poucos	poucas
so many so much	tanto	tanta	tantos	tantas
several	–	–	vários	vários
other another	outro	outra	outros	outras

Here are a few examples:

Alguns alunos não vieram à aula.
Some students didn’t show up for class.

Não encontrei nenhum problems.
I didn’t find any problems.

Toda a gente estava bem disposta.
Everyone was in a good mood.

Havia muitas pessoas no mercado hoje de manhã.
There were a lot of people at the market this morning.

Nós comemos pouca carne.
We eat very little meat.

Este fim de semana vimos vários filmes.
This weekend we watched several movies.

Isso é outro assunto.
That’s another matter.

Invariable Indefinite Pronouns

Not agreeing in number and gender, invariable pronouns never change their form.

*specific for people*	alguém someone, somebody	ninguém no one, nobody
*specific for things*	tudo everything	nada nothing	algo something

Está alguém a bater à porta.
Someone’s knocking at the door.

Fui à festa de anos do Rui mas não conhecia ninguém.
I went to Rui’s birthday party but I didn’t know anyone.

Trouxeste tudo o que te pedi?
Did you bring everything I asked for?

Não tens nada a ver com este assunto.
You have nothing to do with this.

Tenho algo para ti.
I’ve got something for you.

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