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Portuguese made easy - indirect pronouns

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What you need to know about indirect pronouns (how to say "to me, to you, to him, to her, to it, to us , to you, to them" etc)

 

1) Use indirect pronouns (see chart below) when you want to say "to him / to her / to them" etc

2) indirect pronouns are very common after the following verbs:

English

Portuguese

Give

Write

Send

show

Ask

Say / tell

Telephone / call / ring

lend

Dar

Escrever

Enviar / mandar

Mostrar

Perguntar / pedir

Dizer / contar

Telefonar

emprestar

 (Notice that in english we often leave out the "to": I gave the book to him; I gave him the book!) 

 

3) Study (and memorize!) the following tables:

 

Singular

English

Indirect object pronoun 

Portuguese

Indirect object pronoun 

 Alternative

(to) me 

-me 

para mim 

(to) you (familiar) 

-te

 para ti

 (to) you (formal)

 -lhe 

 para si

(to) him

 -lhe

 para ele

 (to) her

 -lhe

 para ela

  (to) it*

 -

 -

*Because all words in Portuguese are either masculine or feminine there is no specific word for "it". Use "him" or "her" instead.

Plural

English

Portuguese

Alternative 

(to) us

-nos

 para nós

(to) you (more than 1   person)

-vos

 para vós

(to) them (masculine)*

-lhes

 para eles

(to) them (feminine)

-lhes

 para elas

 

 

1) Word Order

Pronouns normally come after the verb - just like in English. Always use a hyphen.

Eu escrevi-lhes uma carta. (I wrote them a letter / I wrote a letter to them)

Eles mandaram-me um e-mail. (They sent me an e-mail / They sent an e-mail to me)

 

 Pronouns come before the verb however

1) in negative sentences
Eu não lhes escrevi uma carta (I didn't send them a letter)

Eles não me mandaram um e-mail (They didn't send me an e-mail)


2) when there is a question word (eg who, when, how, which, what etc)

Quando lhe deu o livro?  (When did you give the book?) 


3) after certain adverbs

Eu já lhe perguntei  (I already asked him)

 

 

 

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