Subject Pronouns in Portuguese

In Brief

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.

Overview

A subject is the person or thing that performs an action or is described by the verb. In A Marta trabalha (“Marta works”), a Marta is the subject. A subject pronoun is a short word that can stand in its place: Ela trabalha (“She works”). Learning these pronouns at A1 gives you the framework for every Portuguese verb table.

The main difficulty for an English-speaking learner is not memorizing eu or nós. It is choosing among several Portuguese equivalents of English “you” and matching each one to the right verb form. English uses “you” for one person or several, formally or informally; Portuguese distinguishes number, familiarity, politeness, and region.

Portuguese also allows a null subject—an understood subject that is not spoken or written. For example, Somos estudantes already means “We are students,” because somos points to nós. European Portuguese omits subject pronouns very freely. Brazilian Portuguese omits them too, but generally uses explicit pronouns more often, especially where verb forms do not uniquely identify the subject.

How It Works

The core pronoun set

Person	Singular	Plural	Basic meaning
First person	eu	nós	I; we
Second person	tu	vós	informal singular you; plural you
Third person	ele, ela, você	eles, elas, vocês	he, she, singular you; they, plural you

“First person” means the speaker (I/we), “second person” means the person addressed (you), and “third person” means anyone or anything else (he/she/they). This grammatical grouping matters because você means “you” but takes a third-person verb form.

Pronouns and verb agreement

Agreement means that the verb changes to match its subject. Compare the present tense of falar (“to speak”):

Subject	Form of falar	Example	English
eu	falo	Eu falo português.	I speak Portuguese.
tu	falas	Tu falas português.	You speak Portuguese.
ele / ela / você	fala	Você fala português.	You speak Portuguese.
nós	falamos	Nós falamos português.	We speak Portuguese.
vós	falais	Vós falais português.	You speak Portuguese.
eles / elas / vocês	falam	Vocês falam português.	You speak Portuguese.

The beginner rule is simple:

• tu + second-person singular: tu falas, tu és, tu tens
• você + third-person singular: você fala, você é, você tem
• vocês + third-person plural: vocês falam, vocês são, vocês têm

Do not combine standard você with a tu verb ending. Meaning and grammatical person are not always the same thing.

Singular “you”: tu, você, and polite forms

Tu

Tu is informal singular “you.” It is the normal everyday form in Portugal among relatives, friends, children, and many peers. It is also used in several regions of Brazil, though local patterns differ.

In standard Portuguese, tu takes the second-person singular form: tu falas, tu comes, tu partes. In parts of Brazil, everyday speech often uses tu with a third-person form, such as tu fala. This is a real regional pattern, but beginners should first learn the standard pairing tu falas.

Você

Você addresses one person but grammatically behaves like ele/ela: você fala, not você falas. It is the most common everyday singular “you” in much of Brazil. Depending on the Brazilian region and situation, it can sound neutral, friendly, or somewhat less intimate than tu.

In Portugal, você is not a universal neutral equivalent of English “you.” It may sound distant, marked, or blunt in some relationships. Speakers often omit the pronoun while using a third-person verb, or use a name or title instead: A Ana quer café? (“Would Ana/you like coffee?”), O senhor precisa de ajuda? (“Do you need help, sir?”).

O senhor and a senhora

O senhor and a senhora are respectful ways to address a man or woman. Although these expressions literally contain nouns, they function as polite forms of address and take third-person singular verbs:

• O senhor deseja alguma coisa? — “Would you like anything, sir?”
• A senhora é a doutora Lima? — “Are you Dr Lima, ma’am?”

They are especially useful in service encounters, formal settings, or when respectful distance is appropriate. Politeness norms differ by country, region, age, and relationship, so listen to how local speakers address one another.

Plural “you”: vocês and vós

Vocês is the normal plural “you” in contemporary speech in both Brazil and Portugal. It takes a third-person plural verb: vocês falam, vocês são, vocês têm.

Vós takes its own second-person plural form: vós falais, vós sois, vós tendes. It survives in some regional speech, religious language, historical texts, solemn writing, and fixed contexts, but most beginners will rarely need to produce it. Recognize it; use vocês in ordinary conversation unless your local variety calls for something else.

Gender in the third person

Use ele for a masculine singular referent and ela for a feminine singular referent. In the plural, eles refers to an all-male group or, in traditional standard usage, a mixed-gender group; elas refers to an all-female group.

These pronouns can refer to people, animals, and sometimes things already mentioned. Unlike English, Portuguese nouns have grammatical gender, so ele or ela may translate English “it” when referring back to a noun:

• Onde está o livro? Ele está aqui. — “Where is the book? It is here.”
• A chave? Ela está na mesa. — “The key? It is on the table.”

Portuguese normally has no separate everyday subject pronoun equivalent to English impersonal “it” in sentences about weather or time: Está a chover / Está chovendo means “It is raining,” with no pronoun.

When the pronoun can disappear

A pronoun may be omitted when the verb ending or context identifies the subject:

• (Eu) moro no Porto. — “I live in Porto.”
• (Nós) estamos cansados. — “We are tired.”
• A Rita chegou. Depois, foi dormir. — “Rita arrived. Then she went to sleep.”

Keep the pronoun when it prevents ambiguity, introduces or switches the subject, or creates contrast:

• Eu trabalho de manhã; ela trabalha à noite. — “I work in the morning; she works at night.”
• Ele disse que ela não vem. — “He said that she is not coming.”
• Eu não fiz isso. — “I didn’t do that.” (I, as opposed to someone else.)

English nearly always requires an explicit subject, so translating word for word can make Portuguese repetitive. On the other hand, do not mechanically delete every pronoun: natural usage depends on variety, context, clarity, and emphasis.

Examples in Context

Portuguese	English	Note
Eu sou brasileiro.	I am Brazilian.	Eu identifies the speaker.
Tu falas inglês?	Do you speak English?	Standard tu agreement; common in Portugal and some Brazilian regions.
Você fala inglês?	Do you speak English?	Common in much of Brazil; third-person singular verb.
Ela trabalha num hospital.	She works in a hospital.	Feminine third-person singular.
Ele está em casa hoje.	He is at home today.	Masculine third-person singular.
Nós somos estudantes.	We are students.	First-person plural.
Vocês têm tempo agora?	Do you have time now?	Plural “you” with third-person plural têm.
Eles moram em Lisboa.	They live in Lisbon.	Masculine or mixed group.
Elas chegaram cedo.	They arrived early.	All-female group.
Moro perto da estação.	I live near the station.	Eu is understood from moro.
Somos de Coimbra, mas eles são do Porto.	We are from Coimbra, but they are from Porto.	Omitted nós, explicit eles for contrast.
O senhor precisa de ajuda?	Do you need help, sir?	Respectful address with third-person agreement.
A senhora quer sentar-se?	Would you like to sit down, ma’am?	Respectful feminine address.
A gente vai de autocarro.	We’re going by bus.	Common conversational “we”; singular verb vai.
Está muito calor hoje.	It is very hot today.	No Portuguese subject pronoun for impersonal English “it.”

Common Mistakes

Using a second-person verb after você

• Wrong: Você falas inglês?
• Right: Você fala inglês?
• Why: Você means “you,” but it requires the same third-person singular form as ele and ela.

Using a singular verb after vocês

• Wrong: Vocês fala muito depressa.
• Right: Vocês falam muito depressa.
• Why: Vocês is plural and takes a third-person plural verb.

Treating você as the safest choice everywhere

• Potentially awkward in Portugal: Você quer pagar agora?
• Often more natural: Quer pagar agora? or O senhor / A senhora quer pagar agora?
• Why: In much of Brazil, você is ordinary everyday language. In Portugal, an explicit você can carry social overtones that English “you” does not. Follow local usage rather than applying one rule to every Portuguese-speaking setting.

Repeating pronouns because English requires them

• Overexplicit: Eu acordo às sete, eu tomo café e eu vou trabalhar.
• More natural in many contexts: Acordo às sete, tomo café e vou trabalhar.
• Why: The verb forms and continuous subject already make eu clear. Repetition is possible for emphasis, but it need not be the default.

Using eles for an all-female group

• Wrong: A Ana e a Sofia? Eles estão aqui.
• Right: A Ana e a Sofia? Elas estão aqui.
• Why: Use elas when every member of the group is feminine. Standard eles is used for masculine or mixed groups.

Making a gente plural in the verb

• Wrong: A gente vamos agora.
• Right: A gente vai agora.
• Why: A gente often means “we,” but grammatically it is singular and takes a third-person singular verb.

Usage Notes

Brazil and Portugal do not have one shared “you” map

A useful beginner model is tu in Portugal and você in Brazil, but reality is more varied. Tu remains widespread in several parts of Brazil, sometimes with standard second-person agreement and sometimes with third-person agreement in informal speech. Brazilian speakers may also alternate between tu and você according to intimacy, region, or conversational effect.

In Portugal, tu is the usual informal singular form and vocês is common for plural address. Formal or socially distant address often uses a title, a name, o senhor/a senhora, or simply an omitted subject with a third-person verb. There is no single form that is correct for every stranger and every situation.

Explicit and omitted subjects

European Portuguese is strongly comfortable with omitted subjects because its spoken verb system usually preserves clear person distinctions. Brazilian Portuguese has moved further toward explicit subjects in ordinary speech, partly because several forms share third-person agreement: você fala, ele fala, ela fala, and a gente fala. Still, both varieties can include or omit pronouns. Treat pronoun omission as a choice shaped by clarity and discourse, not as an absolute rule.

Pronouns are not always people

Ele/ela/eles/elas may refer back to animals or grammatically gendered things. However, Portuguese often prefers simply omitting the subject or repeating/restructuring the noun where English would use “it.” Avoid inserting ele or ela into every translation of English “it.”

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master all of these patterns at A1, but they explain forms you will hear and read later.

A gente as conversational “we”

A gente literally developed from an expression meaning “the people,” but in modern conversation it very often means “we,” especially in Brazil and also in informal European Portuguese. It always takes a third-person singular verb in the standard language:

• A gente mora aqui. — “We live here.”
• A gente já terminou. — “We’ve already finished.”

Nós moramos and a gente mora can express the same basic participants, but their frequency and tone vary. Nós is indispensable in formal writing and whenever contrast is needed; a gente is highly natural in conversation.

Subject pronouns used after prepositions

After many prepositions, Portuguese uses mim and ti, not subject eu and tu: para mim, sem ti. This belongs to the broader system of stressed or prepositional pronouns. One important exception is when the pronoun is the subject of an infinitive (the basic “to do” verb form): para eu fazer means “for me to do.” Compare:

• Este presente é para mim. — “This present is for me.”
• Este relatório é para eu ler. — “This report is for me to read.”

Emphasis and contrast

Because an unexpressed subject is often possible, an explicit pronoun can carry extra weight. Stress and context determine the effect:

• Eu avisei. — “I warned you.” / “I did warn you.”
• Tu sabes, mas ele não sabe. — “You know, but he doesn’t.”

Advanced writing and speech also use pronouns in contrastive structures such as Quanto a mim... (“As for me...”) or Eu é que sei (“I’m the one who knows”). These are not exceptions to agreement; they are ways of organizing emphasis.

Inclusive language and newer forms

You may encounter nonstandard gender-neutral forms such as elu in some communities and online contexts. Their use, spelling, and agreement are not standardized, and acceptance varies widely. For general-purpose standard Portuguese, learn ele/ela/eles/elas first; recognize newer forms as a sociolinguistic development rather than part of the traditional pronoun paradigm.

Practice Tips

1. Learn pronouns with a verb, not in isolation. Say eu falo, tu falas, você fala, nós falamos, vocês falam. This builds the crucial link between the pronoun and its agreement pattern.
2. Choose a regional model for active speaking. If your main goal is Brazil, notice whether your target region favors você, tu, or both. If your goal is Portugal, practice informal tu, plural vocês, and polite third-person address. Understand the other patterns without mixing them randomly.
3. Listen for omission and emphasis. In a short clip, mark every expressed subject pronoun and every verb with an understood subject. Ask why the speaker stated the pronoun: clarity, a subject change, contrast, or simply the normal rhythm of that variety.

Related Concepts

• Next step: Ser (to be) — Present — practise identity and origin with all subject forms.
• Next step: Estar (to be) — Present — connect pronouns with location and temporary states.
• Next step: Ter (to have) — learn an essential irregular verb and the contrast between tem and têm.
• Next step: Regular -AR Verbs — apply the full subject pattern to the largest regular verb group.
• Next step: Regular -ER Verbs — extend agreement to verbs such as comer and viver.
• Next step: Regular -IR Verbs — practise the same subjects with verbs such as partir and abrir.
• Pronoun contrast: Direct Object Pronouns — distinguish who performs an action from who or what receives it.
• Pronoun contrast: Indirect Object Pronouns — learn forms meaning “to” or “for” someone.