Who is speaking in Portuguese: eu, você, ele, ela and a gente
Leo and Ana are arranging a group photo with Bruno and Lia. Choose the word by the person’s role: eu for the speaker, você for the listener, ele or ela for another person, and a gente for a group including the speaker.
Start with names
Eu me chamo Leo. and Eu me chamo Ana. mean “My name is Leo” and “My name is Ana”. Eu me chamo… is the naming expression from Introductions. Eu points to the person speaking: Leo in the first example, Ana in the second. Listen and say either name; no verb table is needed.
Eu me chamo Leo.
Eu me chamo Ana.
Speaker, listener, another person
Eu means “I”; você addresses one person, “you”. Ele means “he” and ela means “she” when talking about another person here. The words change with the speaker: when Leo speaks to Ana, eu is Leo and você is Ana; when Ana replies, eu is Ana and você is Leo. Ele is Bruno and ela is Lia in our scene. They are being talked about, rather than addressed. Listen to each word. These are ways to identify people; this lesson does not require putting a pronoun in every Portuguese sentence.
Leo and Ana decide who is in the photo
A is Leo and B is Ana. Ana first points to Leo: he checks Eu? (“Me?”), and she confirms Você! (“You!”). Leo then points to Bruno with Ele? (“Him?”); Ana confirms Ele! Finally Ana points to Lia with Ela? (“Her?”); Leo confirms Ela! The gestures supply the context, so a single word makes a natural question or answer. English uses me/him/her in these short turns; Portuguese keeps eu/ele/ela. Read the speaker labels and listen, then swap roles.
A gente includes the speaker
Now Ana indicates herself and Leo together. Leo points to both of them and checks A gente? (“Us?”). A gente is a very common conversational way to mean “we”: the speaker plus at least one other person. Here it means Leo and Ana; in another context the group can include other people, and the listener is not necessarily included. It does not mean “people in general” here. Learn the two written words together; this lesson introduces their group meaning, and verb forms with a gente come later.
A gente?
A map to recognise, not memorise
Read this map for recognition only; these forms are not part of the speaking task. Nós also means “we”, including the speaker. Vocês addresses two or more people, unlike singular você. Eles refers to a masculine or mixed group being discussed; elas to a feminine group. Tu addresses one person and is common in some Brazilian regions; its use and verb forms vary by region. Vós is rare in everyday Brazilian conversation, appearing especially in religious or older literary language. There is no new verb chart here, and this table has no audio.
| Forms to recognise |
|---|
| nós |
| vocês |
| eles / elas |
| tu |
| vós |
Your turn: point and choose
Before checking the examples, take Leo’s role. Ana points to you: ask “Me?”; reply as Ana, “You!” Next, point to Bruno and ask “Him?”, then to Lia and ask “Her?” Finally include yourself and Ana and ask “Us?” The five examples give those answers in order, with words that have all appeared above. Listen, then swap roles: eu moves to the new speaker, você to the person addressed; ele/ela name another person, while a gente includes whoever is speaking.