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What are the Possessive Pronouns? – Rules and Differences
Possessive Pronouns are used both in the English and the Brazilian Portuguese language, but some slight differences make the Brazilian Portuguese possessive pronouns easier than the ones from the English language. That happens because, in English, there are Possessive Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives, however, in the Brazilian Portuguese language, there are only the Possessive Pronouns and they are used in every situation that is required to say that something belongs to someone.
Possessive Pronouns
In the English language, possessive adjectives are used to indicate who something belongs to and they are put together with a noun, while possessive pronouns replace the noun. Yet, Brazilian Portuguese possessive pronouns are used with the noun or replacing it. Also, they have a masculine and a feminine version, and some have a plural version, depending on the gender of the object they are referring to. It may sound confusing, but don’t worry, we’re gonna help you out! First, check the table below:
| ENGLISH | PORTUGUESE |
| my / mine | meu(s), minha(s) |
| your / yours | seu(s), sua(s) |
| his / his | dele* |
| her / hers | dela* |
| its | disso, daquilo |
| our / ours | nosso(s), nossa(s) |
| theirs | deles, delas |
Now that you know Portuguese possessive pronouns, you might even recognize some from your experience while learning the language. But if you don’t and are confused about these things, we could say that possessive pronouns indicate ownership between two terms – they reveal something belongs to someone. For example, if I say Essa bolsa é minha, the word “minha” (mine) indicates that the purse is mine, or, as a literal translation, this purse belongs to me.
Meu(s), minha(s)
These pronouns (meu, minha, meus, minhas) refer to something that belongs to me.
When the item we refer to is masculine, we must use meu (singular) or meus (plural), and when it is feminine, we must use minha (singular) or minhas (plural).
Examples:
– Esse livro é meu. (This book is mine)
– Esses livros são meus. (These books are mine)
– Essa bolsa é minha. (This purse is mine)
– Essas bolsas são minhas. (These purses are mine)
Something important about meu(s) and minha(s) is that we can change the order of the phrase just as in English when we say:
– This book is mine.
– This is my book.
We can say in Portuguese:
– Esse livro é meu.
– Esse é meu* livro.
*In this phrase order, add the definite article before the possessive pronoun to sound more natural: Essa é o meu livro. Although in English, this does not make any difference, in Portuguese it is important and makes a huge difference in naturality and language flow.
Seu(s), sua(s)
These pronouns (seu, sua, seus, suas) refer to something that belongs to you.
When the item we refer to is masculine, we must use seu (singular) or seus (plural), and when it is feminine, we must use sua (singular) or suas (plural).
Examples:
– Esse livro é seu. (This book is yours)
– Esses livros são seus. (These books are yours)
– Essa bolsa é sua. (This purse is yours)
– Essas bolsas são suas. (These purses are yours)
And just as meu(s) and minha(s), seu(s) and sua(s) allow us to change the order of the phrase as in English:
– This purse is yours.
– This is your purse.
We can say in Portuguese:
– Essa bolsa é sua.
– Esse é sua* bolsa.
*In this phrase order, add the definite article before the possessive pronoun to sound more natural: Essa é a sua bolsa. Although in English, this does not make any difference, in Portuguese it is important and makes a huge difference in naturality and language flow.
Nosso(s), nossa(s)
These pronouns (nosso, nossos, nossa, nossas) refer to something that belongs to us.
When the item we refer to is masculine, we must use nosso (singular) or nossos (plural), and when it is feminine, we must use nossa (singular) or nossas (plural).
Examples:
– Esse carro é nosso. (This car is ours)
– Esses carros são nossos. (These cars are ours)
– Essa casa é nossa. (This house is ours)
– Essas casas são nossas. (These houses are ours)
And, of course, nosso(s) and nossa(s) also allow us to change the order of the phrase as in English:
– This house is ours.
– This is our house.
We can say in Portuguese:
– Essa casa é nossa.
– Esse é nossa* casa.
*In this phrase order, add the definite article before the possessive pronoun to sound more natural: Essa é a nossa casa. Although in English, this does not make any difference, in Portuguese it is important and makes a huge difference in naturality and language flow.
Dele(s), dela(s)
Now, dele(s) and dela(s) work a little bit differently from the others. First of all, what you have to know is that when we refer to something that belongs to him/her or them, we can also use the same pronouns used to refer to something that belongs to you: seu(s) and sua(s). But this can be very confusing since it can cause ambiguity.
For example, in the phrase:
Rafael perguntou à Joana se ela estava em seu trabalho
(Rafael asked Joana if she was at his/her workplace)
The possessive pronoun seu does not allow us to know if the workplace is Rafael’s or Joana’s, and that is why Brazilians tend to use dele(s) and dela(s) a lot more!
Dele (his) means de + ele (of + him) and dela (hers) means de + ela (of + her), but we always use the contracted forms dele and dela (singular), deles and delas (plural).
Also, another important rule about these contracted forms is that, unlike possessive pronouns, the contractions dele, dela, deles, and delas agree with the person who owns and not with what is owned, as in:
– Esse carro é dele. (This car is his)
– Esse carro é dela. (This car is hers)
– Esse carro é deles. (This car is theirs)
– Esse carro é delas. (This car is theirs)
Also, is not possible to change the order of the phrase as we did with the possessive pronouns presented above. To say “Esse é dele carro” to try to say “This is his car” is wrong and does not make sense in Portuguese – keep that in mind!
This rule applies when you use de + another noun as well, such as a person’s name, for example, to say something belongs to them, as in:
– Esse carro é de Rafael. (This is Rafael’s car)
– Esse carro é de Rafael e Joana. (This is Rafael and Joana’s car)
You cannot try to change the other as in English like:
– Esse é de Rafael carro.
Do not change the order of the phrase when using dele(s) and dela(s) contraction! Remember that you are allowed to do it only with the possessive pronouns above (meu(s), minhas(s), seu(s), sua(s), nosso(s), nossa(s)).
More examples
1. Esse livro é meu.
This book is mine.
2. Essas são minhas filhas.
These are my daughters.
3. Essas roupas são suas.
These clothes are yours.
4. Essa é a sua casa?
Is this your house?
5. Este homem é o nosso filho.
This man is our son.
6. Aquela não é a nossa casa.
That is not our house.
7. Este telefone é deles.
This phone is theirs.
8. Essas fotos são dela.
These photos are hers.
What about “disso” and “daquilo”?
To say something belongs to something in Portuguese, we usually use de + the noun, or disso and daquilo, but since these contractions have other specific rules and examples, we will explain them in our next post!
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