Portuguese/Contents/How to say "you" in Portuguese

In English, the second person pronoun only has one person - whether talking to one person or several, whether talking to an intimate friend of someone we don't know at all, we say "you". However, as in many other languages, there are several forms of this word in Portuguese that each encompass different senses. In fact, there are EIGHT forms of the word "you" in Portuguese. They are listed below.

Tu
Vós

Você
Vocês

O senhor
A senhora
Os senhores
As senhoras

Tu and Vós

'Vós' is relatively uncommon nowadays, but 'tu' is still widely used in Portugal and in some areas of Brazil.

TU This form of "you" is very informal, and can be used only when talking to one person. That is to say, it is only used between friends, when addressing children, or in situations where a certain level of comfort has been established. It is mostly used in Portugal. In Brazil it is used in the southern states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, and in the states of North (except Rondonia and Tocantins) and Northeast (except Bahia and Sergipe). In Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo State's coast, tu can be also listen, but used in some specific social groups. Tu is conjugated with the SECOND PERSON SINGULAR conjugation (this means that when we use a verb, such as falar [to speak], to conjugate it in the present indicative you should use tu falas). In some regions of Brazil, tu is mostly used with a verb conjugated as if it was used with você in colloquial speech. For example, tu fala instead of tu falas. However, there are other regions in Brazil (such as Maranhão, Pará and Santa Catarina coast) where tu conjugated in the second person (canonic conjugation) is more frequently employed. VÓS This is the plural form of "you", or SECOND PERSON PLURAL. It is formal in Portugal and Brazil. It is hardly ever used in the spoken language; it is still occasionally used in (formal) written communication in Portugal and Brazil. It may also be encountered in literature, for example The Bible, in a similar way to some words such "Thee" and "Thou" in English. For example, Vós falais [you speak]. However, in Portugal the colloquial use of the possessive pronoun "vosso/vossos/vossa/vossas" (which matches with "vós") instead of "seu/sua/seus/suas" (which matches with "vocês") is common. For instance, the sentence "Voltem (vocês) para as vossas casas!" is common in Portugal, instead of "Voltem (vocês) para as suas casas!". The use of "vosso" is less common in Brazil, but not nonexistent.

Você and Vocês

These are the most common forms of 'you' in usage. If in doubt, they can be used in almost any situation.

VOCÊ This is a common used form of "you" and is used between employees, friends, people of the same age and social standing. Again, it can be used only when you are talking to one person. It can be both mildly formal (in Portugal) and informal (in Brazil). It is widely used in Brazil instead of tu. It uses the THIRD PERSON SINGULAR conjugation, which means we use the same form of the verb as with "he" or "she" - for instance, ele fala [he speaks] and você fala [you speak]. In Brazil, the use of "você" as informal speech is more frequent in the central areas of the country, including São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, middle-west states, in the northeast states of Bahia (specially around the capital), the northern states of Rondônia e Tocantins, and in the southern state of Paraná. As television is centered in the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, "você" is the pattern use on national television for informal situations. In some regions, like in Amazonas or Acre, the use of tu or você is interchangeable. One person can change from você to tu and vice-versa in the same speech. In Portugal, many people, when employing "você" to address formally to other people, prefer to avoid the explicit pronunciation of the word "você" and only use the conjugation in the third person since the explicit use of the word can be considered as you are treating the listener as inferior. In Brazil, the use of "tu" and "você" does not have any difference of connotation like that and both uses are considered informal, and the difference of use between them is only regional. However, in regions where "você" is the pattern, it is common to use the object pronoun "te" (with matches with "tu") instead of "o/a" or "lhe" (which matches with "você"). For instance, the sentence "Você sabe que eu te amo" (You know I love you) instead of "Você sabe que eu o amo" is the colloquial pattern in Brazil. The exception is for reflexive verbs where the pronoun "se" (which matches with "você") is frequently employed. For instance: "Você se incomoda?" and never "Você te incomoda?" Also, in the imperative mode, the conjugation in the second person is the the most common. For instance: "Fala!" (imperative mode for "tu" when it is said: "Speak!") instead of "Fale!" (imperative form for "você"). This last form is not infrequent, but considered slightly formal. The possessive pronoun "teu/tua" (which matches with "tu") is common spoken in "você" regions instead of "seu/sua" (which mathces with "você") although both uses are frequent and equally colloquial.

VOCÊS This has the same level of formality as the singular você, however, it is used when talking to a group of people. It uses the THIRD PERSON PLURAL conjugation. That means that we use the same part of the verb as with 'they'. For instance, eles bebem [they drink] and vocês bebem [you drink].

O senhor and A senhora

These are the polite forms of 'you'. They are widely used.

O SENHOR and A SENHORA This is the formal version of "you" (one person), and is used when you don't know someone, or towards someone you should show respect to, for example, a boss or a teacher. O senhor is used when talking to a male, and a senhora when talking to a female. Like você, it uses the THIRD PERSON SINGULAR conjugation. So we can have Você fala or O senhor fala. "O senhor/a senhora" is widely used in Portugal and Brazil in the situations listed above.

OS SENHORES and AS SENHORAS These two forms are, as you have probably guessed, the plural forms of o senhor and a senhora, respectively. We use them in the same situations as with o senhor and a senhora - but when we are talking to more than one person.

And what if we are talking to a group which is mixed? We use os senhores if the group is mixed. These forms, like vocês, use the THIRD PERSON PLURAL conjugation. So we can have eles comeram [they ate], vocês comeram [you ate], os senhores comeram [you ate] and as senhoras comeram [you ate]