In European Portuguese, an object pronoun like me, te or o normally comes after the verb and joins it with a hyphen. A good example is chamo-me Ana, meaning my name is Ana. This is the opposite of Brazilian Portuguese, which puts the pronoun before the verb, as in me chamo Ana.
Object pronouns are small words like me, te and o that stand in for a person or a thing. In the Portuguese spoken in Portugal, their usual position is the opposite of what many learners meet first. That catches out people who started with Brazilian material.
The default rule is simple to state. In a neutral, positive sentence, the object pronoun comes after the verb and attaches to it with a hyphen. Grammar books call this enclisis, and it is the pattern you hear across Portugal every day.
The complication is that a small set of common words flips this around and pulls the pronoun back in front of the verb. Once you know the default and the words that break it, most sentences fall into place.
Key takeaways
- In the Portuguese spoken in Portugal the object pronoun usually follows the verb and joins with a hyphen, as in dá-me o livro, meaning give me the book.
- Brazilian Portuguese does the opposite and places the pronoun before the verb, so me dá o livro is the Brazilian version of the same sentence.
- Trigger words pull the pronoun in front of the verb in Portugal too, including não, já, que and question words, as in não te vejo.
- The simple future and conditional can split the verb and put the pronoun inside it, as in dar-te-ei, but this form is mostly formal and written.
Where does the pronoun go in European Portuguese?
In European Portuguese, the object pronoun follows the verb in a plain positive sentence and joins it with a hyphen. Chamo-me Ana means my name is Ana, dá-me o livro means give me the book, and vejo-te amanhã means I see you tomorrow.
One spelling rule comes with this position. When the verb ends in r, s or z and the pronoun is o or a, that ending drops and the pronoun becomes lo or la. So comprar plus o becomes comprá-lo, meaning to buy it.
The object pronouns you need
Portuguese has one small set of object pronouns, and they are the same words whether they sit before or after the verb. The only thing that changes is their position, not their spelling.
| Pronoun | English |
|---|---|
| me | me, to me |
| te | you, to you |
| o, a | him, her, it |
| lhe | to him, to her |
| nos | us, to us |
| os, as | them |
| lhes | to them |
When does the pronoun jump in front of the verb?
Even in Portugal, some words force the pronoun ahead of the verb. This front position is called proclisis. The trigger always sits to the left of the verb, and it is usually a negative, an adverb, a question word or a conjunction.
| Trigger | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| Negation (não, nunca) | não te vejo | I do not see you |
| Adverb (já, também) | já te disse | I already told you |
| Question word (quem) | quem te viu? | who saw you? |
| Conjunction (que, se) | sei que te viu | I know he saw you |
The pattern is easy to test. Take a neutral sentence like vejo-te, meaning I see you. Add não and it becomes não te vejo. Add a question word and you get quem te viu, meaning who saw you.
How does Brazil place the pronoun differently?
Brazilian Portuguese turns the Portugal default on its head. In Brazil, the pronoun normally sits before the verb in both speech and writing, so the enclitic chamo-me of Portugal becomes me chamo in Brazil. This single habit is one of the quickest ways to hear which variety someone speaks.
| Portugal | Brazil | English |
|---|---|---|
| chamo-me Ana | me chamo Ana | my name is Ana |
| dá-me o livro | me dá o livro | give me the book |
| vejo-te amanhã | te vejo amanhã | I see you tomorrow |
| ele chamou-me | ele me chamou | he called me |
None of these Brazilian versions are wrong Portuguese. They are simply the Brazilian norm, and in Portugal they sound foreign. For the fuller picture of how the two varieties differ, see how different is European Portuguese from Brazilian Portuguese?
What is mesoclisis, the pronoun inside the verb?
Portugal has one more pattern that Brazil has all but dropped: the pronoun can go inside the verb. In the simple future and the conditional, the pronoun slots between the verb stem and its ending. Dar-te-ei means I will give you, and dir-lhe-ia means I would tell him.
Mesoclisis is mostly formal and written, so you do not need to produce it to sound natural. In everyday speech, people avoid it by rephrasing, for example vou dar-te, meaning I am going to give you, which puts the pronoun on the infinitive instead.
How do you make pronoun placement automatic?
The rule is short, but placement has to happen in real time while you speak. You cannot pause mid-sentence to decide whether a word like já or não has moved the pronoun. That speed only comes from speaking, hearing the correct form and trying again.
This is where Fluentus fits. Fluentus teaches European Portuguese only, and its AI tutor holds spoken conversations with you 24 hours a day in a real human voice. The tutor corrects your pronoun placement as you speak, so enclisis and the trigger words become a reflex. It runs courses from A1 to B2 with smart flashcards built from your own conversations, on iOS and Android. For another grammar pair that trips learners up, see por vs para in European Portuguese.
In one sentence: in Portuguese from Portugal the object pronoun normally follows the verb, as in chamo-me, unless a word like não, já or que pulls it in front.
Frequently asked questions
Where do object pronouns go in Portuguese from Portugal?
In Portuguese from Portugal, the object pronoun normally comes after the verb and joins it with a hyphen, as in dá-me o livro, meaning give me the book. This pattern is called enclisis. Certain trigger words, such as não or já, pull the pronoun in front of the verb instead.
Why does Brazilian Portuguese put the pronoun first?
Brazilian Portuguese uses proclisis, which means the pronoun sits before the verb, as its default in both speech and writing. So me chamo Ana is natural in Brazil, while Portugal says chamo-me Ana. The position of the pronoun is one of the clearest spoken differences between the two varieties.
What words move the pronoun in front of the verb in Portuguese from Portugal?
In Portuguese from Portugal, several kinds of word pull the pronoun in front of the verb. These include negatives like não and nunca, adverbs like já and também, question words like quem and porque, and conjunctions like que and se. So the neutral vejo-te becomes não te vejo once não is added.
What is mesoclisis in the Portuguese spoken in Portugal?
Mesoclisis is a form where the pronoun goes inside the verb, between the stem and the ending, in the simple future and the conditional. Dar-te-ei means I will give you. It is mostly formal and written, and in everyday speech people rephrase to avoid it.