Portuguese Grammar

Portuguese subject pronouns identify who performs an action: eu “I,” tu/você “you,” ele/ela “he/she,” nós “we,” and vocês/eles/elas in the plural. The choice between tu and você varies greatly by region, but the verb must match the grammatical person: tu falas, você fala. Portuguese can also omit a pronoun when the verb or context makes the subject clear.

Every Portuguese noun is grammatically masculine or feminine. The ending often helps: nouns in -o are usually masculine and nouns in -a are usually feminine, but frequent exceptions such as o dia, o problema, a mão, and a foto must be learned with their articles. Gender controls nearby words, so learn o livro and a casa, not just livro and casa.

Most Portuguese nouns form the plural with -s: livro → livros and cidade → cidades. Words ending in -r or -z normally add -es, while several common endings change: homem → homens, animal → animais, and coração → corações. The ending -ão has three possible plurals, so its plural is best learned with each new word.

Portuguese has four basic words for the: o, a, os, as. Choose the form that matches the noun's grammatical gender (its masculine or feminine category) and number (singular or plural): o livro, a casa, os livros, as casas. Portuguese also uses these articles in some places where English uses no article, so translating “the” word for word is not always reliable.

Portuguese has four indefinite articles: um and uma usually mean “a” or “an,” while uns and umas usually mean “some.” Choose the form that matches the noun’s grammatical gender and number: um livro, uma casa, uns livros, umas casas. Unlike English, Portuguese normally omits the article before an unmodified profession after ser: Sou médico (“I’m a doctor”).

Portuguese has two common verbs corresponding to English “to be.” Use ser for identity, origin, profession, defining characteristics, and clock time: Sou médico, Ela é de Lisboa, São três horas. Its present-tense forms are irregular: sou, és, é, somos, sois, são.

Portuguese estar means “to be” when talking about location, a current state or feeling, and the result of a change: Estou em casa (“I am at home”), A sopa está fria (“The soup is cold”). Its present-tense forms are estou, estás, está, estamos, estais, estão. English uses one verb, “be,” where Portuguese normally chooses between estar and ser.

Portuguese divides English to be between two verbs. Use ser mainly to identify or classify someone or something and to state origin, profession, time, defining qualities, and event details; use estar mainly for conditions, feelings, results, and the location of people or things. “Permanent versus temporary” is a useful first clue, but what something is versus how or where it is is usually a safer guide.

Portuguese ter usually means “to have.” Its present-tense forms are irregular: tenho, tens, tem, temos, tendes, têm. Use it for possession (Tenho um carro), age (Tenho trinta anos), necessity (Temos de ir), and many states that English expresses with “be,” such as ter fome (“to be hungry”).

To form the present tense of a regular Portuguese verb ending in -ar, remove -ar and add -o, -as, -a, -amos, -ais, or -am: falar becomes falo, falas, fala, falamos, falais, falam. In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, você uses the same form as ele/ela, while vocês uses the same form as eles/elas.

To conjugate a regular Portuguese verb ending in -er in the present tense, remove -er and add -o, -es, -e, -emos, -eis, -em: comer becomes como, comes, come, comemos, comeis, comem. The ending changes according to who performs the action.

To form the present tense of a regular Portuguese verb ending in -ir, remove -ir and add -o, -es, -e, -imos, -is, -em: partir becomes parto, partes, parte, partimos, partis, partem. In everyday speech, você uses the same form as ele/ela, while vocês uses the same form as eles/elas.

Portuguese ir means “to go,” but its present-tense forms are highly irregular: vou, vais, vai, vamos, ides, vão. Use it for movement—Vou ao trabalho (“I’m going to work”)—and before an infinitive (the basic verb form) to talk about a plan or likely future event: Vou comer (“I’m going to eat”).

Portuguese fazer covers both English “do” and “make”: Faço o jantar can mean “I make dinner,” while Faço exercício means “I exercise.” Its present tense is irregular, especially faço, and its third-person form faz also appears in weather expressions such as Faz frio (“It is cold”).

Poder usually means “can,” “may,” or “to be able to.” In the present tense it is irregular: posso, podes, pode, podemos, podeis, podem. It is normally followed directly by an infinitive (the basic verb form): Posso entrar? means “Can I come in?”

Querer means “to want.” In the present tense it is irregular: quero, queres, quer, queremos, quereis, querem. Put a noun after it for the thing someone wants (Quero um café) or an infinitive—the basic “to” form of a verb—after it for an action (Quero sair).

Portuguese reflexive verbs pair a verb with me, te, se, nos, vos, or se: Levanto-me às sete means “I get up at seven.” The pronoun matches the person doing the action. In European Portuguese it normally follows the verb in a simple affirmative statement, while Brazilian Portuguese commonly puts it before the verb: chamo-me and me chamo both mean “my name is.”

Use há for both “there is” and “there are”: Há um problema and Há muitos problemas. It never becomes plural in this existential use. Há also introduces an amount of past time: Cheguei há uma hora (“I arrived an hour ago”) and Moro aqui há dois anos (“I have lived here for two years”).

Put não directly before the verb to make a basic Portuguese sentence negative: Entendo becomes Não entendo (“I don’t understand”). When a word such as nada, ninguém or nunca comes after the verb, Portuguese normally keeps não: Não vi ninguém (“I didn’t see anyone”). If the negative word comes before the verb, it can normally negate the sentence by itself: Ninguém veio (“Nobody came”).

Portuguese adjectives normally agree with the noun they describe in gender and number: um rapaz alto, uma rapariga alta, rapazes altos, raparigas altas. Adjectives ending in -o usually have four forms, while many ending in -e or a consonant use one form for both genders and change only in the plural: uma cidade grande, cidades grandes.

Most Portuguese adjectives come after the noun: uma casa branca (“a white house”), um livro interessante (“an interesting book”). Some frequent adjectives also come before it, often to express the speaker’s judgment or a less literal meaning: um grande homem is “a great man,” whereas um homem grande is “a big man.” As a beginner, use noun + adjective as your safe default and learn common position-dependent expressions as pairs.

Portuguese possessives agree with the thing possessed, not with its owner: o meu livro means “my book,” but a minha casa means “my house.” They change for masculine, feminine, singular, and plural. European Portuguese normally uses an article before them (o meu livro), while Brazilian Portuguese often allows either o meu livro or meu livro.

Portuguese demonstratives point out people and things while showing distance: este/esta means “this” near the speaker, esse/essa means “that” near the listener, and aquele/aquela means “that over there,” far from both. They agree with the noun in gender and number: este livro, esta casa, estes livros, estas casas.

Portuguese most often uses em for a location, a or para for movement toward a destination, and de for movement from a place. These short words frequently combine with an article: em + o = no, a + a = à, and de + a = da. Longer expressions such as debaixo de, em frente de, and atrás de give a more exact position.

Portuguese normally joins de, em, a, and por to a following definite article: de + o = do, em + a = na, a + o = ao, and por + a = pela. These are standard grammatical forms, not informal abbreviations. Match the ending to the noun: no mercado, na escola, nos mercados, nas escolas.

Portuguese question words include quem “who,” o que/que “what,” onde “where,” quando “when,” como “how,” and por que “why.” Portuguese normally needs no equivalent of English do or does: Onde moras? literally follows the pattern “Where you-live?” Yes/no questions can keep statement word order and rely on question intonation: Moras aqui? “Do you live here?”

Use quanto, quanta, quantos, and quantas to ask “how much?” or “how many?” The form agrees with the noun: quanto tempo, quanta água, quantos livros, quantas pessoas. Use qual for one choice or identity and quais for more than one: Qual preferes? and Quais são os teus?

Portuguese cardinal numbers tell you how many: zero, um, dois, três and so on. From 21 onward, tens and units are normally joined with e (“and”): vinte e um (21), trinta e dois (32). Before a noun, 1 and 2 can agree with its gender—um livro, uma mesa, dois livros, duas mesas—and exactly 100 is cem, not cento.

Portuguese ordinal numbers show position in a sequence: primeiro “first,” segundo “second,” terceiro “third,” and so on. They behave like adjectives, so their endings agree with the gender and number of the noun: o primeiro dia, a primeira vez, os primeiros dias. In abbreviations, Portuguese marks that ending too: 1.º for masculine and 1.ª for feminine.

Ask Que horas são? for the current time and answer with singular É uma hora but plural São duas horas. Minutes are joined with e (três e meia), weekdays often appear with an article inside na/no, and dates normally use a cardinal number followed by de plus the month: 15 de agosto.

Portuguese frequency adverbs say how often something happens: sempre “always,” muitas vezes “often,” às vezes “sometimes,” raramente “rarely,” and nunca “never.” Time adverbs say when or put events in order: hoje, amanhã, ontem, agora, primeiro, depois, and então. As a safe starting point, put a time adverb at the beginning or end of the sentence and a frequency adverb close to the verb: Hoje trabalho; Vou sempre ao café.

Portuguese place adverbs answer where? or in which direction? Use aqui or cá for “here,” aí for “there near you,” and ali or lá for “there” farther away. Words such as perto, longe, dentro, fora, em cima and em baixo describe relative position; add de when you name the reference point: perto da estação, dentro de casa.

Before a noun, muito and pouco normally match that noun in gender and number: muita água, muitos livros, poucas pessoas. When they modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, they do not change: trabalho muito, muito cansada, muito bem.

Portuguese direct object pronouns replace the person or thing directly affected by an action: Vejo a Marta becomes Vejo-a (“I see her”). The basic forms are me, te, o, a, nos, vos, os, as. In an ordinary affirmative sentence, European Portuguese usually places them after the verb (Chamo-te amanhã), while Brazilian Portuguese commonly places them before it (Te chamo amanhã).

Portuguese uses me, te, lhe, nos, vos and lhes to replace the person who receives something or benefits from an action: Dou o livro à Ana becomes Dou-lhe o livro (“I give her the book”). These short pronouns do not distinguish gender: lhe can mean “to him,” “to her” or formal “to you.” Their position varies, especially between European and Brazilian Portuguese.

Portuguese gostar means “to like” and normally requires de before the thing or activity liked: Gosto de café (“I like coffee”) and Gosto de cozinhar (“I like cooking”). It is an ordinary verb: the person who likes something is the subject (the person the sentence is about), so eu gosto, tu gostas, and eles gostam have different endings.

Use e for addition, ou for alternatives, mas for contrast, and porque for a reason. Então commonly introduces a result or the next step, while porém and portanto are more typical of careful speech and writing: Está tarde, então vou para casa means “It is late, so I am going home.”

Use the Portuguese pretérito perfeito simples for an action presented as completed in the past: Ontem comi pizza means “Yesterday I ate pizza.” With regular verbs, remove -ar, -er, or -ir from the infinitive and add the appropriate past ending: falar → falei, comer → comi, partir → parti. English may translate this tense with either a simple past or, in some contexts, a present perfect.

Several very common Portuguese verbs have irregular forms in the pretérito perfeito simples, the tense used for completed past events. Instead of applying the regular endings mechanically, learn forms such as fui (I went/I was), tive (I had), fiz (I did/made), disse (I said), and pude (I managed to/could on one occasion). These forms normally describe an action or state as a completed whole.

The Portuguese pretérito imperfeito presents a past action or situation as a habit, an ongoing process, or background rather than as a completed event: Morávamos em Lisboa means “We used to live in Lisbon.” Regular -ar verbs use endings built on -ava, while -er and -ir verbs use endings built on -ia. English often translates it with “used to,” “would,” or “was/were doing,” but the context—not a single English phrase—determines the Portuguese tense.

Portuguese commonly talks about the future with the present tense of ir (“to go”) followed directly by an infinitive (the basic verb form, such as comer or sair): Vou comer means “I’m going to eat.” Use this pattern for intentions, plans, predictions based on the present situation, and events that are about to happen. There is no preposition between ir and the infinitive.

To describe an action in progress, Brazilian Portuguese normally uses estar + gerund: Estou comendo (“I’m eating”). European Portuguese usually uses estar a + infinitive: Estou a comer. Conjugate estar for the person and leave the second verb in its non-personal form.

Use mais ... (do) que for “more ... than,” menos ... (do) que for “less ... than,” and tão ... como/quanto for “as ... as.” With nouns, use tanto/tanta/tantos/tantas ... como/quanto. Four very common comparative forms are irregular: melhor (better), pior (worse), maior (bigger/older), and menor (smaller/younger).

Portuguese uses the imperative mood (imperativo) for commands, requests, instructions, invitations and warnings. For a simple beginner rule, affirmative tu commands usually use the present-tense form without final -s (falas → fala!), while você and vocês use subjunctive forms (fale! falem!). Negative commands use não + subjunctive: não fales, não fale, não falem.

Portuguese que is the everyday relative pronoun for both people and things: a mulher que chegou (“the woman who arrived”) and o filme que vimos (“the film that we saw”). Use quem mainly for people after a preposition: o amigo com quem viajei (“the friend I travelled with”). Neither form changes for gender or number.

When a Portuguese verb has both a recipient and a thing, an indirect object pronoun comes before a direct object pronoun, and the two can contract: me + o → mo, te + a → ta, lhe + os → lhos. Thus, Dá-me o livro can become Dá-mo (“Give it to me”). These compact forms are most useful in European Portuguese and formal writing; everyday Brazilian Portuguese usually chooses a less compressed construction.

To put a Portuguese reflexive verb in the past, conjugate the verb in the preterite for a completed event or the imperfect for a habit, background, or ongoing situation, and keep the matching pronoun me, te, se, nos, vos, se. European Portuguese commonly places it after an affirmative verb—levantei-me—while Brazilian Portuguese usually places it before—me levantei. A word such as não normally draws the pronoun before the verb in both varieties: não me levantei.

Portuguese forms the simple future by adding -ei, -ás, -á, -emos, -eis, -ão to the whole infinitive: falar → falarei, comer → comerás, partir → partirão. It usually corresponds to English will, although everyday Portuguese often prefers ir + infinitive: vou falar rather than falarei. Three frequent verbs have shortened stems: fazer → far-, dizer → dir-, and trazer → trar-.

The Portuguese conditional usually corresponds to English would + verb: viajaria means “I/he/she would travel.” Form it by adding -ia, -ias, -ia, -íamos, -íeis, -iam to the infinitive, with a few important stem changes such as fazer → faria. It is especially useful for polite language, imagined results, advice, and a future viewed from a past moment.

Use the pretérito perfeito for a past event presented as complete: Saí às oito (“I left at eight”). Use the pretérito imperfeito for habits, descriptions, states, and action already in progress: Chovia quando saí (“It was raining when I left”). In a story, the imperfect often supplies the setting while the preterite advances the events.

The Portuguese present subjunctive (presente do conjuntivo in Portugal and often presente do subjuntivo in Brazil) presents an action not as a plain fact, but as wanted, doubted, felt, judged or required: Quero que venhas (“I want you to come”). Regular -ar verbs use endings with e, while -er and -ir verbs use endings with a: falar → fale; comer → coma; partir → parta.

Portuguese uses the subjunctive (conjuntivo, a set of verb forms that presents something as wished for, uncertain, required, or not yet realized) after triggers such as quero que, é possível que, embora, antes que, para que, and oxalá. With quando and similar time words, a future event normally takes the future subjunctive: Quando chegares, telefona-me (“When you arrive, call me”). English often uses an ordinary present verb where Portuguese requires a subjunctive form.

The Portuguese pluperfect (mais-que-perfeito) presents an event as already completed before another past event or past reference point: Quando cheguei, ela já tinha saído (“When I arrived, she had already left”). In everyday Portuguese, form it with the imperfect of ter plus a past participle: tinha/tinhas/tínhamos/tinham + feito, comido, saído, and so on. A one-word form such as fizera also exists, but it belongs mainly to formal and literary writing.

To identify someone or something as the most or least within a group, Portuguese uses o/a/os/as + mais/menos + adjective: o mais alto (“the tallest”), a menos cara (“the least expensive”). The common irregular forms are melhor, pior, maior, and menor. To intensify a quality without comparing it with a group, use muito + adjective or an agreeing -íssimo form: muito bonita, bonitíssima (“very/extremely beautiful”).

Use onde for a place: a cidade onde moro (“the city where I live”). Use cujo, cuja, cujos, cujas to express possession; the form agrees with the thing possessed, not with its owner: o homem cuja casa visitei. After prepositions, o qual and its agreeing forms provide a clear, often formal alternative: a razão pela qual vim.

Portuguese can form the passive with a tense of ser plus a past participle: A casa foi vendida (“The house was sold”). The participle agrees with the passive subject in gender and number, and an agent can be added with por. Portuguese also commonly uses se, especially when the agent is unimportant: Vendem-se casas (“Houses are sold/Houses for sale”).

Portuguese indirect speech reports a message without quoting the speaker's exact words. Use que before statements (Disse que estava cansada), se before yes/no questions (Perguntou se eu podia ir), and para + infinitive for many commands (Disse-me para esperar). After a past reporting verb, the reported verb often shifts to an earlier or more hypothetical tense.

Portuguese can add person endings to an infinitive: estudar (“to study”) becomes estudares (“for you to study”), estudarmos (“for us to study”), or estudarem (“for them to study”). Use this personal infinitive when the infinitive has a stated or clearly distinct subject, especially after para, antes de, depois de, sem, and impersonal expressions: É importante estudarmos (“It is important for us to study”).

Portuguese uses é preciso/necessário/importante/possível + infinitive for general statements: É preciso estudar (“One must study”). To give the action its own specific subject, use que + subjunctive: É importante que estudes (“It is important that you study”). Há que + infinitive also expresses necessity, but usually sounds more formal.

Portuguese uses se (“if”) to introduce a condition. Use the present indicative for general truths and repeatable situations, the future subjunctive for a possible future condition (se vier, “if someone comes”), and the imperfect subjunctive plus the conditional for an unreal or imagined situation (se tivesse dinheiro, viajaria, “if I had money, I would travel”).

At an advanced level, the choice is not simply “permanent” versus “temporary.” With an adjective, ser usually classifies or characterizes the subject, while estar presents its condition in a particular situation; this can change the adjective’s meaning. With a past participle, ser normally focuses on a passive action—A janela foi aberta—whereas estar focuses on the resulting state—A janela está aberta.

The Portuguese imperfect subjunctive uses forms such as falasse, pudesse, and fosse. It commonly appears when a past-tense verb introduces a wish, doubt, request, or reaction, and after se in unreal or unlikely conditions: Se pudesse, iria (“If I could, I would go”). Form it from the third-person plural of the preterite by removing -ram and adding the -sse endings.

Portuguese normally uses the future subjunctive in a dependent clause about a possible or not-yet-completed future event: Se tiver tempo, vou (“If I have time, I’ll go”) and Quando chegares, telefona-me (“When you arrive, call me”). Form it from the third-person plural of the pretérito perfeito: remove final -am from falaram, fizeram, tiveram to get falar, fizer, tiver, then add the personal endings.

The Portuguese perfect subjunctive combines the present subjunctive of ter with a past participle (the verb form used in compounds such as feito or chegado): tenha chegado, tenhas visto, tenham feito. It presents an action as already completed while placing it inside a context of doubt, hope, emotion, judgment, or another trigger that requires the subjunctive.

The Portuguese compound conditional uses the conditional of ter plus a past participle: teria feito (“would have done”), teríamos visto (“we would have seen”). It looks back at a past result that was hypothetical, unrealized, uncertain, or dependent on a condition. In a full past conditional sentence, it commonly appears in the result clause: Se tivesse sabido, teria vindo (“If I had known, I would have come”).

To imagine a past that did not happen, Portuguese normally uses se + tivesse + past participle in the condition and teria + past participle in the result: Se tivesse sabido, teria vindo (“If I had known, I would have come”). A mixed conditional can connect that unreal past to a present result: Se tivesse estudado, seria médico agora (“If I had studied, I would be a doctor now”).

The Portuguese pluperfect subjunctive is tivesse, tivesses, tivesse, tivéssemos, tivésseis, tivessem + past participle: tivesse chegado (“had arrived”). It presents an earlier action as uncertain, wished for, doubted, imagined, or contrary to fact: Se tivesse sabido, teria vindo (“If I had known, I would have come”).

Portuguese forms the future perfect (futuro composto) with the future of ter plus a past participle (a form such as terminado, “finished”): terei terminado means “I will have finished.” It presents an action as complete before a future point, but it can also express a guess about the past: Terá esquecido means “He/She must have forgotten.”

Portuguese unstressed object pronouns can appear before the verb (não o vi), after it (vi-o), or, in formal writing, inside a future or conditional form (vê-lo-ei). Certain words—especially negatives, question words, and elements that introduce subordinate clauses—attract the pronoun before the verb. Actual usage differs sharply between Brazilian and European Portuguese, so both grammar and register matter.

Portuguese usually forms an adverb in -mente by adding the ending to the feminine singular form of an adjective: lento → lenta → lentamente (“slowly”). If several such adverbs form a coordinated list, Portuguese can attach -mente only to the last one: lenta e cuidadosamente (“slowly and carefully”).

The Portuguese simple pluperfect (pretérito mais-que-perfeito simples) puts an event before another point in the past: Quando chegámos, ela já partira means “When we arrived, she had already left.” It is a one-word alternative to the much more common compound form tinha partido. Expect to meet forms such as falara, dissera and vira mainly in literature, history and formal written narration, not in ordinary conversation.

Portuguese can give an infinitive its own subject and person ending: antes de sairmos means “before we leave.” At an advanced level, this construction also expresses completed action with ter + past participle (depois de termos chegado) and passive meaning with ser + past participle (por serem convidados). It often replaces a longer clause with a finite verb, but the two structures are not always stylistically or semantically identical.

When a Portuguese main verb moves from the present to the past, a dependent verb often moves with it: Quero que venhas becomes Queria que viesses. The exact form depends not only on the main verb, but also on whether the dependent event is simultaneous, earlier, or later. This is especially visible in clauses requiring the subjunctive (the verb mood used for wishes, doubt, evaluation, possibility, and other non-asserted situations).

Formal Portuguese is not simply everyday Portuguese with longer words. It uses precise connectors such as mediante, não obstante and em virtude de, conventional openings and closings, and an impersonal, carefully qualified tone. The best formal writing is clear and courteous; excessive bureaucracy can make a message less effective rather than more formal.

Portuguese nominalization (nominalização) turns an action or quality into a noun: desenvolver “to develop” becomes desenvolvimento “development,” while possível “possible” becomes possibilidade “possibility.” It is especially common in reports, academic prose, news, and administration. Endings such as -ção, -mento, -dade, and -ncia are useful clues, but each noun must be learned with its spelling, gender, and usual prepositions.

Portuguese can highlight one part of a message with é que, a cleft such as Foi a Maria que telefonou, a pseudocleft such as O que quero é paz, or a topic placed at the beginning: Esse livro, ainda não li. These structures do more than add intensity: they tell the listener which information corrects a belief, answers an implicit question, or sets the frame for what follows.

Portuguese diminutives such as -inho/-inha and -zinho/-zinha can express smallness, but they also add affection, informality, tact, or irony: um momentinho usually means “just a moment,” not “a small moment.” Augmentatives such as -ão/-ona, -aço/-aça, and -zarrão/-zarrona suggest size or intensity and may praise or criticize: um golaço is an excellent goal, whereas um problemão is a major problem. Context, tone, and region determine the intended attitude.

Brazilian Portuguese (BP) and European Portuguese (EP) are national varieties of the same language, and speakers generally understand one another. The largest everyday contrasts involve pronoun choice and placement, the progressive (estou fazendo in Brazil, estou a fazer in Portugal), vocabulary, and pronunciation. Neither variety is more correct; the useful goal is to recognize both while keeping your own output reasonably consistent.

Colloquial Portuguese is the relaxed language of conversation, messages, and informal online content. It uses regional vocabulary such as fixe and bué in Portugal or legal and cara in Brazil, alongside fillers such as tipo and reductions such as está → tá. The main C2 skill is not collecting slang: it is recognising social and regional cues and choosing language that suits the relationship and setting.

Advanced Portuguese connectors tell readers how one part of an argument relates to another. No entanto, contudo, todavia, and porém mark contrast; por conseguinte marks a logical result; com efeito confirms or supports a claim; and é de salientar que or cumpre referir que formally draw attention to a point. At C2, success depends less on memorizing translations than on choosing a connector whose logic, register, and position fit the text.

Portuguese rhetorical devices reshape ordinary grammar to create emphasis, irony, rhythm, persuasion, or restraint. At C2, the main task is not memorising forms but interpreting and controlling effects such as lítotes (understatement by negation), hipérbole (deliberate exaggeration), pergunta retórica (a question not asked to obtain information), anáfora (repetition at the beginnings of successive units), quiasmo (a crossed pattern), and expressive sentence fragments.

Portuguese administrative and legal writing often hides the individual actor and foregrounds the rule, procedure, or document. It does this through passives, se constructions, nominalizations, impersonal verbs, and fixed formulas such as para os devidos efeitos and visto o disposto em. These forms are useful mainly for reading official texts accurately; when writing, clarity should take priority over imitating bureaucracy.