Skip main navigation

How are personal pronouns combined?

Ser is the most frequently used verb in Portuguese. If you can easily retrieve its conjugation, it will be a great step forward
Personal Pronouns And Verb Ser

Below is a list of personal pronouns:

pronoun translation good to know
Eu I
Tu You ‘You person’. More informal in Portugal. Less common in Brazil.
Você You ‘You person’. More formal in Portugal. Common in Brazil.
Ele – Ela He – She There is no ‘it’. Things will either be masculine or feminine.
Nós We
Vós You This is very rare. Ignore it when you see it on verb conjugation dictionaries.
Vocês You ‘You people’. This has replaced vós in modern Portuguese.
Eles – Elas They Eles: masculine. Elas: feminine. Eles is also used when a group has different genders.

Listen to the pronouns on the table above: Listen

Conjugate verb ser

This is how to conjugate verb ser (to be):

Ser = to be, e.g. I am…, you are.., she is…, they are… etc.

pronoun ser
Eu sou
Tu és
Você é
Ele – Ela é
Nós somos
Vocês são
Eles – Elas são

Listen to the combinations of pronoun + ser on the table above:

BrazilListen PortugalListen

Note that some combinations are unique. Example: és can only go with tu. This means you have the option to just say és and the listener will know you mean tu és. However, for example, é can go not only with você, but also with ele, and ela. Therefore, it is often clearer to say você é instead of only é. This rationale works for all verbs.

Differing pronouns

Considering that the same verb conjugation may go with different pronouns — e.g. vocês são, eles são — every time we display a table of verbs, we can use the following format:

pronoun ser
Eu sou
Tu és
Você – Ele – Ela é
Nós somos
Vocês – Eles – Elas são

 

If we assume we know the above, we can make our table even simpler:

ser
Eu sou
Tu és
Ele é
Nós somos
Elas são

 

Common verb

Ser is the most frequently used verb in Portuguese. If you can easily retrieve its conjugation, it will be a great step forward in your progress. Play with flashcards to reinforce the conjugation:

Click here to go to Quizlet.

Click here to play the match game on Quizlet.

 

This article is from the free online

Foundations of Portuguese for Global Communication

Created by
FutureLearn - Learning For Life

Reach your personal and professional goals

Unlock access to hundreds of expert online courses and degrees from top universities and educators to gain accredited qualifications and professional CV-building certificates.

Join over 18 million learners to launch, switch or build upon your career, all at your own pace, across a wide range of topic areas.

Start Learning now