Category: Grammar

Where a preposition is followed immediately by a pronoun, the pronoun follows a similar pattern to the indirect object pronouns listed previously. At times though, the preposition and the pronoun are contracted into a single word.

For example, ‘with us’ would be translated literally as ‘com nós’, but it is often contracted into a single word: ‘connosco’ (which is spelt with a single ‘n’ by Brazilians). Similarly, ‘from him’, which would be ‘de ele’ can be contracted to ‘dele’. These contractions are optional, and some are used more commonly than others.

So, first of all, I’ll give you another table with the regular prepositional pronouns, following which we will take a look at the most common contractions.

Prepositional Pronouns

English

Portuguese

me

mim

us

nós
a gente

you (singular)

ti
si
você
o senhor
a senhora

you (plural)

vocês

him

ele

her

ela

them

eles
elas

Contraction of Preposition ‘with’ and Prepositional Pronouns

English

Portuguese

Notes

with me

comigo

 

with us

connosco

Spelt ‘conosco’ in Brazil.

with you (singular)

contigo

consigo

‘contigo’ is informal, ‘consigo’ is formal; ‘com o senhor’ / ‘com a senhora’ / ‘com você’ are more common than ‘consigo’.

with you (plural)

convosco

 

Contraction of Preposition ‘of/from’ and Prepositional Pronouns

English

Portuguese

Notes

of/from us

da gente

More often, ‘de nós’.

of/from you (singular)

do senhor

da senhora

Alternatively ‘de você’.

of/from him

dele

 

of/from her

dela

 

of/from them

deles

delas

 

Contraction of Preposition ‘by/for’ and Prepositional Pronouns

English

Portuguese

Notes

by/for us

pela gente

‘por nós’ is more common.

by/for you (singular)

pelo senhor
pela senhora

Or ‘por você’.

Contraction of Preposition ‘in/on’ and Prepositional Pronouns

English

Portuguese

Notes

in/on us

na gente

Or ‘em nós’.

in/on you (singular)

no senhor

na senhora

Or ‘em você’.

in/on him

nele

 

in/on her

nela

 

in/on them

neles

nelas