What this is about
Object pronouns are the small words for "me, you, us" when someone does something TO you: he helps me, I love you, she saw us. Brazilian Portuguese has one golden placement rule and a couple of famous fused forms (comigo!). This chapter also covers how Brazil REALLY says "him/her" — which is not what old textbooks teach.
The set + the golden rule
| me | me | Ele me ajuda. |
| te | you | Eu te amo. |
| nos | us | Ela nos viu. |
him / her — the spoken-Brazilian way
Textbook Portuguese has o/a ("Eu o vi" = I saw him). Real spoken Brazil simply uses the subject pronouns after the verb:
| Eu vi ele ontem. | I saw him — what everyone says |
| Você conhece ela? | do you know her? |
| (writing: Eu o vi · Eu a conheço) | recognize in books; don't force in speech |
After prepositions — mim, você, and the fused comigo
| para mim · de mim | for/of me — eu becomes mim after prepositions |
| comigo | with me — com+mim fused into one word: Vem comigo! |
| com você · conosco (or com a gente) | with you · with us |
| Isso é para você. | this is for you |
Exceptions & details
1 · para mim vs para eu: receiving → mim (é para mim); doing → eu + verb (para eu fazer = for me to do).
2 · nos vs nós: no accent = us (object); accent = we (subject). Nós nos vemos amanhã! uses both.
3 · te vs você mixing: Brazilians freely mix (Eu te amo, você sabe) — grammars frown, the whole country does it anyway.
4 · lhe (to him/her/you) survives mostly in the Northeast and in writing.
Practise this chapter
6 pool questions plus generated ones — 20 fresh practice questions, reshuffled every visit, inside the grammar library.
Practise Object pronouns: me, te, comigo — 20 questions →This chapter is taught in Lição 10 of the course (level A2). Rumo is a complete Brazilian Portuguese course, A1 to B2; level A1 is free.