Brazilian Portuguese reflexive pronouns: What are they and how to use them?

The Brazilian Portuguese reflexive pronouns me, te, se, nos, and vos are used when the subject and the object are the same. For example:

In Brazilian Portuguese, the most common reflexive pronoun is se, because it can be used with most subject pronouns, as an equivalent to “yourself,” “yourselves,” “himself,” “herself,” “itself,” or “themselves.”

In this post, we’ll review the various reflexive pronouns in Brazilian Portuguese, as well as when and how to use them.

Officially, reflexive pronouns in Brazilian Portuguese follow the verb and are attached to it via a hyphen. For example:

However, in informal Brazilian Portuguese (written and spoken) many speakers prefer to place this pronoun before the verb, without the hyphen, as in:

This makes placement of reflexive pronouns the same as the placement of unstressed direct and indirect object pronouns.

Reflexive pronouns can also be used after prepositions, but in this case they have a special form, called a “stressed form.”

For complete details, check out this chart of the placement rules for Brazilian Portuguese reflexive pronouns.

The Brazilian Portuguese reflexive pronouns are me, te, se, nos, and vos . These are the equivalents of the English pronouns that end in “-self / -selves.”

Now, let’s take a closer look at each of these reflexive pronouns, beginning with se.

When accompanied by a preposition — such as a (meaning to), para (meaning to), em (meaning in), de (meaning from, of), and por (meaning for) — you must use the stressed form of the reflexive pronoun instead:

For example:

• Eu olhei para mim no espelho do carro.

  Translation: I looked at myself in the car mirror.
• Pedro confia em si.

  Translation: Pedro believes in himself.
• Só você pode fazer algo por si.

  Translation: You are the only one who can do something for yourself.

In Brazilian Portuguese, reflexive verbs are verbs that must be accompanied by a reflexive pronoun. Some reflexive verbs in Brazilian Portuguese, such as apresentar-se (meaning to introduce oneself) or olhar-se (meaning to look at oneself), are also often accompanied by reflexive pronouns in English.

However, there are also many reflexive verbs in Brazilian Portuguese that do not require a reflexive pronoun in English, such as preocupar-se (meaning to worry) and divertir-se (meaning to have fun).

Just like in English, there are also some verbs in Brazilian Portuguese that can be either reflexive (when directed at the self) or non-reflexive (when directed at someone/something else). For example: arrumar(-se) (meaning to get ready) or pentear(-se) (meaning to comb):

• Eu me penteio.

  Translation: I comb myself (i.e. my own hair).
• Eu penteio o cabelo da minha filha.

  Translation: I comb my daughter’s hair.

Take a look at some more reflexive verbs in Brazilian Portuguese!

Reciprocal pronouns are used when two or more actors do something to each other. The reciprocal pronouns in Brazilian Portuguese are:

• nos → “each other” (me and someone else)

• vos → “each other” (you and someone else)

• se → “each other” (someone and someone else)

Notice that these are the same as the reflexive pronouns nos, vos, and se. They also follow the same grammatical rules, even though they have a slightly different meaning:

The fact that the reciprocal and reflexive uses of nos, vos, and se are identical may cause ambiguity. For instance, see the two options for translating the following sentence:

To avoid uncertainty, you can add the following Brazilian Portuguese expressions after nos, vos, and se, depending on your meaning.

• reflexive + a + reflexive pronoun + mesmos/as

  reflexive pronoun

  Paulo e Roberto convenceram-se a si mesmos.

  Translation: Paulo and Roberto convinced themselves.

• reciprocal + um ao outro / uns aos outros / entre si (one another)

  reciprocal pronoun

  Paulo e Roberto convenceram-se um ao outro.

  Translation: Paulo and Roberto convinced each other.

• reciprocal + reciprocamente (meaning reciprocally) / mutuamente (meaning mutually)

  reciprocal pronoun

  Paulo e Roberto convenceram-se reciprocamente.

  Translation: Paulo and Roberto reciprocally convinced each other.

In this post, we’ve reviewed the reflexive pronouns in Brazilian Portuguese.

• Reflexive pronouns

  • me (meaning myself)

  • te (meaning yourself)

  • nos (meaning ourselves)

  • vos (meaning yourselves)

  • se (meaning yourself, himself, herself, itself, yourselves, themselves)

• Stressed reflexive pronouns (after prepositions)

  • mim (meaning myself)

  • ti (meaning yourself)

  • nós (meaning ourselves)

  • vós (meaning yourselves)

  • si (meaning yourself, himself, herself, itself, yourselves, themselves)

As we learned, some verbs in Brazilian Portuguese are always reflexive, while others can have both a reflexive and non-reflexive form.

Feeling confident? Now it is time to practice using reflexive pronouns in Brazilian Portuguese with these activities.