I, you, she, he, it, we, they. These are all subject pronouns and you are about to learn what they look like in European Portuguese and a few particular aspects concerning their usage.
6 Persons, 5 Verb Forms
Portuguese verb conjugations comprise 5 verb forms: 3 singular and 2 plural (the 2- and 3-person plural share the same verb form). Take the verb comer (eat) as an example:
| SINGULAR | |||
| 1-person | 2-person | 3-person | |
| PRONOUN | Eu | Tu | Ele, Ela |
| V. FORM | como | comes | come |
| PLURAL | |||
| 1-person | 2-person | 3-person | |
| PRONOUN | Nós | Vocês | Eles, Elas |
| V. FORM | comemos | comem | comem |
It hasn’t always been like that though. Only a couple of generations ago, the 2-person plural had a slightly different pronoun coupled with its own verb form:
| PLURAL | |||
| 1-person | 2-person | 3-person | |
| PRONOUN | Nós | Vós | Eles, Elas |
| V. FORM | comemos | comeis | comem |
Even though vós comeis sounds extremely dated (no one says it these days), a few Portuguese textbooks still teach verb conjugation the old way. So, be mindful of that.
Subject Pronouns: Who Cares?
In practice, we tend to leave subject pronouns out and just say the verb form:
a)
Eu gosto de bacalhau.
I like codfish.
b)
Gosto de bacalhau.
I like codfish.
While a and b above mean the same thing, b is more common.
Addressing People: Formal vs Informal
Another relevant aspect for those learning Portuguese (as spoken in Portugal) is the formal and informal ways of addressing people.
Indeed, in Portugal, people often address each other in the 3-person (formal register) unless they are talking to friends or relatives:
| 2-person (informal) | 3-person (formal) |
| Tu | Você |
| comes | come |
| e.g. Comes aqui? Are you eating here? | e.g. Come aqui? Are you eating here? |
Although textbooks tend to refer você as the formal pronoun (I’m also guilty of that as you see in the table above), the truth is that we don’t use it that often.
Most commonly we don’t use any pronoun at all! Remember, we tend to leave those out and just say the verb form; that’s also the case when we address people formally as illustrated in the example above.
When we do otherwise, we usually say something other than você. Here are a couple of possibilities:
a)
A senhora come aqui?
(b)
A Isabel come aqui?
(Addressing someone by their name.)
Both the examples above sound very formal (more so than just saying the verb in the 3-person).
Portuguese Is Itless
In English, there’s the pronoun it to refer to things or objects.
a)
This orange tastes so good!
b)
It tastes so good!
Portuguese on the other hand is itless: there’s no it-equivalent to be found!
So, how do we replace “the orange” when there’s no it? Well, we skip it altogether and just say the verb (in this case saber) in the 3-person:
a)
Esta laranja sabe tão bem!
b)
Sabe tão bem!
Another example:
a)
Esta casa custa uma fortuna.
This house costs a fortune.
b)
Custa uma fortuna.
It costs a fortune.
