VI. PRONOUNS
Reading edition
PERSONALS
(See Exercise XV, page 135)
65. There are the usual three personal pronouns, but in Portuguese the third person is generally used in place of the second in direct address, with the exceptions noted below. Strictly speaking there is no declension in Portuguese; the personal pronouns, however, retain, in all persons, so many traces of their Latin declensions that they have the appearance of being declined, and are so given by some grammarians. The objective forms vary according as they are used with or without prepositions.
Subject Forms Objective Forms
WITHOUT PREPOSITIONS WITH PREPOSITIONS
1st per. eu I me mim or me, migo me
nós we nos nós, nosco us
2d per. tu thou te ti or te, tigo thee
vós you, ye vos vós, vosco ye
3d per. elle, ella he, she, it o, a, lo, la,[32] lhe elle, ella him, her, it
elles, ellas they os, as, los, las,[32] lhes elles, ellas them
(reflexive) se si or se, sigo themselves
a. Lhe, lhes, to him, to her, to it, to them are always indirect or dative forms.
b. O, a, lo, la, os, as, los, and las are always direct objective or accusative forms.
c. Those used with prepositions admit of any preposition, except that when the preposition is com, with, the forms migo, tigo, nosco, vosco, and sigo only are used, as commigo, with me, comtigo, with thee, etc.
d. Elle, ella, etc., with the preposition de, of, are contracted to delle, della, etc.; with em, in, they are contracted to nelle, nella, etc.
66. Use of the Third Person.—In address, the third person is commonly used except to close friends, relatives, children, and domestics when tu may be employed. Persons may be addressed, according to circumstances, as Vossa Excellencia, Your Excellency, Vossa Senhoria, Your lordship, Vossa mercê, Your mercy, your grace, Você, a common abbreviation of Vossa mercê, but one to be used only in cases of extreme familiarity, or as Senhor, Mr., and Senhora, madam, or Mrs.
a. Until one becomes familiar with the use of these terms the safest rule is to use Senhor and Senhora.
b. In writing, these words are abbreviated as indicated at § 147.
c. Ordinarily eu, I, is not used as in English, but is sometimes placed before or even after the verb for the sake of emphasis or clearness. The same is true of tu, thou, elle, he, ella, she, nos, we. Para ti sonhava eu sonhos de gloria, for thee I dreamed dreams of glory.
d. Vos, you, is only used in very formal discourses, and as a vocative in prayers, etc. It is not used colloquially as in English. (See § 66.) Tu, thou, is also used as a vocative.
Reflexive Personal Pronouns
67. Reflexive.—The reflexive forms of the personal pronouns are:
me, a mim me, to me
te, a ti thee, to thee
se, a si himself, to himself
nos, a nós us, to us
vos, a vós you, to you
se, a si themselves, to themselves
Third Person
Singular and Plural
Direct object se himself, herself, itself, themselves.
Indirect object si, se to himself, herself, itself, or themselves
comsigo with himself, herself, itself, themselves
68. Duplication.—Duplication is common in classic Portuguese. By its use attention is redirected to an idea. Que me importa a mim a gloria? In what does glory concern me? or what is glory to me? Aconteceu-me a mim, it happened to ME.
Such expressions do not admit of literal translations into English.
69. Syntax of the Personal Pronouns.[33]—The personal pronouns are used both as direct and indirect objects:
Direct: elle me reprehendeu, he reprehended me.
Indirect: elle me deu o livro, he gave me the book.
70. The same thing occurs with the other pronouns, except that in the third person the indirect object is expressed by lhe, while the direct is o, a, os, and as.
Direct: reprehendeu-o, he reprehended him.
Indirect: deu-lhe o livro, he gave him (or her) the book.
71. The direct object is used after transitive verbs, the indirect after intransitives: vi-o, I saw him, obedeci-lhe, I obeyed him (or her).
72. The pronouns me, te, se, lhe, nos, vos, and o are called proclitic, mesoclitic, or enclitic according as they precede, are inserted within, or follow the verb.
a. They precede the verb (are proclitic):
1. In negative sentences: não me fale; não o creio.
2. In phrases depending upon que, o qual, quem, cujo: quem o chamou; a mulher que se ama.
3. In certain popular expressions: Deus me livre; o diabo te leve.
4. When used with the conjunctions que, porque, and pois que, the rule has many exceptions.
b. They are inserted in the verb between the stem and termination (are mesoclitic) in the future indicative and conditional: dir-lhe-ei, I will tell him, instead of direi-lhe; dir-se-ia, instead of diria-se, it would be said.
c. They always follow the verb (are enclitic) at the beginning of a phrase: resta-me agradecer-lhe; diga-me; faça-me o favor.
d. In the mesoclitics and enclitics the pronoun is separated from the verb by a hyphen or hyphens.
e. The enclitics do not affect the position of the accents of the verbs.
73. When two pronouns come before a verb, the subject precedes: mandou que tu lhe entregasse o livro, he directed that you should give him the book.
74. Se and si refer to the subject: Pedro falou de si, Pedro spoke of himself. Você quer tudo para si, you want everything for yourself. Leve a espingarda comsigo, take the gun with you. (For the use of the reflexive pronoun with verbs see § 126.)
75. Comparison.—After terms of comparison the nominative pronoun is used: mais serio que eu, more serious than I.
POSSESSIVES
(See Exercise XVI, page 136)
76. The possessive pronouns are inflected like adjectives and agree in gender and number with the object possessed. They all take a in the feminine and s in the plural.
Possessive Pronouns
Singular Plural
MASCULINE FEMININE MASCULINE FEMININE ENGLISH
meu minha meus minhas my, mine
teu tua teus tuas thy, thine
seu sua seus suas his, her, hers
its, their
theirs
nosso nossa nossos nossas our, ours
vosso vossa vossos vossas your, yours
77. Inasmuch as the third person is used in direct address, seu, sua, seus, and suas are generally used in place of vosso, etc., for your and yours: a casa é sua, the house is yours.
78. Possession is also expressed by the use of a preposition as a casa é d’elle, the house is his; a casa é d’elles, the house is theirs.
79. The place of the possessive is before the noun as in English: meu cavallo, my horse.
80. In certain cases the possessive placed after the noun is equivalent to the personal pronoun with de: noticias tuas (de ti), news of (about) you. Important distinctions of this kind are illustrated by the example: saudades tuas means saudades for you, while tuas saudades means the saudades you have for some one else.
81. Possessives are not used with parts of the body as in English: cortou-me o braço, he cut my arm, is used instead of cortou meu braço. In some cases the possessives are omitted as in English, as: venho de casa is used instead of venho de minha casa, I come from home; vou para casa, I am going home.
82. At the same time the bold use of the possessive is occasionally emphatic: estou na minha casa, I am in my own house; deixa-me com a minha dôr, leave me with my grief.
83. The possessive seu, sua, seus, suas, his, her or your, is used also idiomatically and colloquially to express uncertain value or quantity: tem seus vinte annos, he (or she) is about twenty years old.
The possessives may be replaced by various forms of the personal pronouns, and sometimes such expressions are considered more elegant.
(For the use of the article before possessives see § 16.)
DEMONSTRATIVES
(See Exercise XVII, page 137)
84. The demonstrative pronouns may be used either with or without their nouns. When used with them they precede the nouns, agreeing with them in gender and number.
Singular Plural
MASCULINE FEMININE MASCULINE FEMININE ENGLISH
este esta estes estas this
esse essa esses essas these
aquelle aquella aquelles aquellas that, those
85. Isso, isto, and aquillo are neutral forms of the demonstratives used to refer to a preceding idea, expression, or subject, and may be regarded as equivalents of essa cousa or essas cousas, esta cousa, aquella cousa. They have neither feminine nor plural forms, nor are they used to refer to persons or animals.
86. The difference between este and esse in their various forms is that the first is used to refer to that which is near the speaker, while the second refers to that which is near the person addressed.
87. The forms o, a, os, as, are identical with the definite articles in forms, sounds, and origins. They are used as the equivalents of aquelle, aquella, aquelles, aquellas when followed by a determining expression: a provincia de Minho é a que tem mais vegetação entre as de Portugal. Literally, the province of Minho is that which has most vegetation among those of Portugal.
88. When these forms are preceded by the preposition a they combine with it forming ao, aos, á, and ás as do the definite articles. Preceded by em they similarly form no, na, nos, nas, and preceded by per they form pelo, pela, pelos, and pelas.
DETERMINATIVES
89. The determinatives have gender and number except tal which has no gender distinction:
Singular Plural
MASCULINE FEMININE MASCULINE FEMININE ENGLISH
outro outra outros outras other
mesmo mesma mesmos mesmas same, self
tanto tanta tantos tantas so many, as many
tal tal taes taes such
Outrem is an invariable form meaning outra pessoa or outras pessoas.
90. The demonstrative pronouns este, esse, aquelle, etc., with outro form est’outro, ess’outro, aquell’outro with the corresponding feminine and plural forms.
91. Um e outro (literally one and other), means both.
92. Mesmo means same and self as here illustrated: a mesma cousa, the same thing; o mesmo homem, the same man. It is used in connection with the personal pronouns to mean self: eu mesmo, I myself, ella mesma, she herself; elles mesmos, they themselves, etc.
It is also used in such expressions as é mesmo, that is true, it is just so.
93. Mesmissimo is an augmentative form of mesmo meaning precisely or exactly the same; é a mesmissima cousa, it is precisely the same thing.
Um tal means such a one. Que tal? how is this? what do you think of this? Tal qual means just so. É tal qual, it is just so, it is just as you say; não ha tal, it is not true, it is no such thing; não ha tal lugar, there is no such place.
94. Fulano de tal is a name used for any fictitious person; it is often equivalent to the English John Doe or to Mr. What’s-his-name. Fuão, Beltrano, and Sicrano are similarly used.
INTERROGATIVES
(See Exercise XVIII, page 138)
95. The interrogatives are:
que? o que? what?
quem? who?
qual? which?
que homens? what men?
quem é? who is it?
qual d’elles? which of them?
It is not considered elegant nowadays to begin an interrogation with o que. Que tem? what have you? (Not o que tem?)
RELATIVES
(See Exercise XIX, page 139)
96. Of the relative pronouns quem refers to persons only; the other forms refer to either persons or things. They are
que, who, what, that (no gender)
quem, who, whom
qual, pl. quaes, which
cujo,f. cuja, pl. cujos, cujas, whose
97. O que, o qual, a qual, os quaes, and as quaes, literally, the which, mean what or that. These latter forms are used when the antecedent needs to be made clear or prominent. A gloria de Deus a qual não se póde escurecer, the glory of God which cannot, etc. O livro que está lendo, the book you are reading; but o livro da bibliotheca o qual está lendo, the book of the library (the) which you are reading.
98. Where quem would follow sem, o qual is used instead for the sake of euphony: sem o qual não deve, without which you should not.
99. Cujo is equivalent to do qual, and is followed immediately by the object possessed: O soldado cujo cavallo foi morto, the soldier whose horse was killed.
a. Cujo without antecedent and the object possessed is a classic but archaic form of expression: cujo é esta casa? whose house is this? Instead one would now say: de quem é esta casa? Literally, of whom is this house?
INDEFINITE
(See Exercise XX, page 140)
100. The indefinite pronouns may be classified as nouns or adjectives.
a. The nouns are:
al (invariable), something else, the rest. (But little used.) alguem (invariable), some one algo, something, anything nada (invariable), nothing nenhum (f. nenhuma, pl. nenhuns), neither ninguem (invariable), no one qualquer, pl. quaes-quer, either, whichever quemquer, anybody tudo (invariable), all uns, f. umas, some
b. Algo when used as a pronoun refers to things and means alguma cousa. It is sometimes used as an adverb meaning algum tanto: elle está algo doente, he is somewhat ill.
c. Tudo is a neutral form of todo. When followed by que it requires the definite article: tudo o que elle disse.
d. Nenhum may be used with an affirmative sense, and is equivalent to qualquer in the expression mais que nenhum, more than any one.
e. A negative is strengthened by doubling the negation: não sei nada, I know nothing; não diz nada, he says nothing.
f. The adjectives are:
algum (f. alguma, pl. alguns, algumas), some, no cada (um, uma); cada qual (sing. only), each, every certo (f. certa, pl. certos, -as), certain muito (f. -a, pl. muitos, -as), many outro (f. outra, pl. outros, -as), other pouco (f. -a, pl. poucos, -as), few, little *quanto (f. -a, pl. quantos, -as), how much, how many, as much as *tanto (f. -a, pl. tantos, -as), so much todo (f. -a, pl. todos, -as), all, every
g. *Quanto is used in correlation with tanto to mean as much as. Faço tanto quanto qualquer outro, I do as much as any one else. Quanto pagou? how much did you pay? Quantas vezes foi la? how often did you go there? Quanto antes, as soon as possible.
h. Todo with the article means the whole; without the article it means every; toda cidade, every city; toda a cidade, all of the city. It is sometimes used as an adverb but retains its gender for the sake of euphony: ella está toda molhada.
i. Em quanto means while. Espera em quanto eu tiro uma vista, wait while I take a view.
j. Cada qual and cada um have approximately the same meaning. Cada qual stands next to the verb, however, cada um does not: cada um dos soldados andava or cada qual andava, each (of the soldiers) walked.
101. When a proposition has a negative sense either algum may be placed after, or nenhum before the noun:
or homem algum poderá saber no man shall know
nenhum homem poderá saber
The first sentence is more emphatic than the second.
102. Certain idiomatic expressions have meanings analogous to those of the indefinite pronouns:
seja quem for be who it may
seja qual for
fosse quem fosse whoever it might be
quem quer que fosse
quem quer que seja whoever it may be
o que quer que é
a. De and de que are often used in the sense of something; tenho de que comer e de beber, I have something to eat and to drink.
b. The expression não ha de que used in reply to obrigado, muito obrigado, etc., is equivalent to the English not at all or the French pas de quoi.