Subject Pronouns in Portuguese

Overview

Subject Pronouns (Pronomes do Sujeito) are among the very first grammar concepts you will encounter at the beginner (CEFR A1) level in Portuguese. They are the words used to refer to the person or thing performing the action of a verb: eu (I), tu (you, informal), ele/ela (he/she), você (you, formal/Brazil), nós (we), vós (you, plural/archaic), and eles/elas/vocês (they/you plural).

One of the most distinctive features of Portuguese is the difference between how subject pronouns are used in Brazil versus Portugal. In Brazilian Portuguese, você has largely replaced tu in most regions, while in European Portuguese, tu remains the standard informal pronoun. The pronoun vós is archaic in both variants but appears in literature and religious texts.

Since Portuguese is a pro-drop language, subject pronouns are frequently omitted when the verb conjugation makes the subject clear. This is a key difference from English, where subject pronouns are always required.

How It Works

Portuguese subject pronouns are organized by person and number:

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	eu (I)	nós (we)
2nd informal	tu (you)	vós (you)
2nd formal	você (you)	vocês (you)
3rd	ele/ela (he/she)	eles/elas (they)

Key rules for subject pronoun usage:

1. Pro-drop: Portuguese regularly omits the subject pronoun when the verb ending makes the subject clear. Falo português (I speak Portuguese) is perfectly natural without eu.

2. Tu vs Você: In Portugal, tu is used with friends, family, and peers, while você is more formal. In Brazil, você is the default "you" in most regions, and tu is mainly used in the south and northeast (often with você verb forms).

3. Você/Vocês conjugation: Although these mean "you," they take third-person verb forms: você fala (you speak), vocês falam (you all speak).

4. Vós: This form is virtually extinct in spoken Portuguese. You will encounter it in older literature, religious texts, and certain northern Portuguese dialects.

5. Emphasis and contrast: When the pronoun is included, it often adds emphasis or contrast: Eu falo português, mas ele fala espanhol (I speak Portuguese, but he speaks Spanish).

Examples in Context

Portuguese	English	Note
Eu sou brasileiro.	I am Brazilian.	1st person singular
Tu falas inglês?	Do you speak English?	European Portuguese
Você fala inglês?	Do you speak English?	Brazilian Portuguese
Ele mora em Lisboa.	He lives in Lisbon.	3rd person masculine
Ela trabalha num banco.	She works in a bank.	3rd person feminine
Nós estudamos português.	We study Portuguese.	1st person plural
Eles moram em Lisboa.	They live in Lisbon.	3rd person plural masc.
Elas são amigas.	They are friends.	3rd person plural fem.
Vocês querem café?	Do you (all) want coffee?	Plural "you"
Falo português.	I speak Portuguese.	Pronoun omitted (pro-drop)

Common Mistakes

Using tu with você verb forms (or vice versa)

• Wrong: Tu fala inglês?
• Right: Tu falas inglês? or Você fala inglês?
• Why: Tu requires second-person verb endings (-as, -es, -is), while você takes third-person endings (-a, -e). Mixing them is a common error, though in Brazilian Portuguese some regions informally use tu with third-person verbs.

Forgetting that Portuguese is pro-drop

• Wrong: Eu falo português e eu trabalho no Brasil. (overusing the pronoun)
• Right: Falo português e trabalho no Brasil.
• Why: Repeating the subject pronoun when the verb form already identifies the subject sounds unnatural and overly emphatic.

Confusing ele/ela with eles/elas

• Wrong: Ela moram em Lisboa. (singular pronoun with plural verb)
• Right: Elas moram em Lisboa.
• Why: The pronoun must agree in both gender and number with the people it refers to.

Using vós in conversation

• Wrong: Vós quereis café?
• Right: Vocês querem café?
• Why: Vós is archaic and not used in modern spoken Portuguese. Use vocês instead.

Usage Notes

The choice between tu and você is one of the most socially significant grammar decisions in Portuguese. In Portugal, using você with a close friend can sound distant, while using tu with a stranger or elder may seem disrespectful. In Brazil, você is the safe default in most situations.

In formal contexts in Portugal, people often avoid both tu and você by using the person's title: O senhor quer café? (Would you like coffee, sir?), A doutora pode ajudar-me? (Can you help me, doctor?).

Brazilian Portuguese also uses a gente (literally "the people") as an informal replacement for nós (we), conjugated with third-person singular verbs: A gente vai ao cinema (We're going to the cinema).

Practice Tips

1. Pay attention to which pronoun system (tu vs. você) is used in the Portuguese content you consume, and try to be consistent within one variety when speaking.
2. Practice omitting subject pronouns when the verb form already clarifies the subject — this will make your Portuguese sound much more natural.
3. When in doubt about tu/você in Portugal, observe what native speakers around you use first, then mirror their choice.

Related Concepts

• Next steps: Ser (to be) - Present — builds on subject pronouns concepts
• Next steps: Estar (to be) - Present — builds on subject pronouns concepts
• Next steps: Ter (to have) — builds on subject pronouns concepts
• Next steps: Regular -AR Verbs — builds on subject pronouns concepts
• Next steps: Regular -ER Verbs — builds on subject pronouns concepts
• Next steps: Regular -IR Verbs — builds on subject pronouns concepts
• Next steps: Direct Object Pronouns — builds on subject pronouns concepts
• Next steps: Indirect Object Pronouns — builds on subject pronouns concepts
• Next steps: Relative Pronouns: que, quem — builds on subject pronouns concepts
• Next steps: Emphatic Structures — builds on subject pronouns concepts
• Next steps: Brazilian vs European Portuguese — builds on subject pronouns concepts