Brazilian Portuguese

Brazilian Portuguese is a form of the Portuguese language used mostly in Brazil. It is spoken by most of the 180 million inhabitants of Brazil. Standard Brazilian Portuguese is strongly influenced by the dialects of the many Brazilian regions. It is also spoken through immigrants and their descendants in Canada, United States, Portugal, and Japan — where it is spoken by Japanese-Brazilian migrants.

Grammar

Spoken Brazilian usage differs considerably from European usage in many aspects. The European usage is still taught as "correct" in schools, however, and may appear in written texts.

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The use of the gerund instead of the infinitive

In BP people say, estou falando (I'm Speaking), estou escrevendo (I'm writing), vou rindo (i'm going laughing), etc. There are exceptions in verbs where the infinitive can not be used in EP. The EP norm is to say "estou a falar", "estou a escrever" and "vou rindo" ("vou a rir" is much used in the North of Portugal). Both variations are well understood in both countries. The Brazilian form is also used in the southern regions of Portugal, and is considered fully correct in certain situations. The infinitive is used in Brazil in other situations, such as "voltamos a apresentar" (we are back presenting). The gerund is always used in all varieties in situations such as "vamos indo" (we are going).

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Use of tenses

The simple future (e.g. 'falarei' "I will speak") is rare in spoken BP, except with some verbs with monosyllabic infinitives such as 'ser' "to be" or 'ter' "to have". The periphrastic construction 'vou falar', using the verb 'ir' "to go", is used instead. The conditional (e.g. 'falaria' "I would speak") is also rare, normally replaced by the imperfect -- although, interestingly, the conditional perfect (e.g. 'teria falado' "I would have spoken") is still used.

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Use of reflexives

There is a tendency in BP to avoid the use of reflexive constructions. Verbs that traditionally were reflexive often drop the pronoun, e.g. 'eu lembro' "I remember" instead of 'eu me lembro' or 'eu deito' "I go to sleep" instead of 'eu me deito'. The use of the passive is much more common in BP than in other Romance languages, where a reflexive is usually preferred.

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object pronouns

Brazilians consistently place the object pronoun before the verb (proclitic position) -- "Ele me viu"), while in Portugal it often comes after the verb (enclitic position) -- "Ele viu-me"), although it may also come before the verb in certain constructions.

Related Topics:
Proclitic - Enclitic

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In spoken BP, the third-person object pronouns 'o', 'a', 'os' and 'as', common in EP, are virtually nonexistent -- they are simply left out, or replaced by stressed subject pronouns (e.g. 'ele' "he" or 'isso' "that") if emphasis is required. For similar reasons, the EP combinations of direct and indirect object pronoun (e.g. 'me' + 'o' becomes 'mo', and 'te' + 'os' becomes 'tos') do not exist in BP.

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The formal EP use of pronouns in mesoclitic position, that is in the middle of the verb, in the simple future and conditional forms is completely absent in BP, except in archaic texts such as the Bible.

Related Topics:
Mesoclitic - Bible

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Use of subject pronouns (pronomes de tratamento)

Tu and Você

In most dialects of BP, 'você' (formal "you" in EP) replaces 'tu' (informal "you" in EP). (Thus, there is no formal/informal distinction such as exists in most European languages.) The object pronoun, however, is still 'te' {{IPA|}}, and other forms such as 'teu' (possessive), 'ti' (post-prepositional) and 'contigo' ("with you") may still remain in some regions of Brazil, especially when 'tu' is still used. Hence, the combination of object 'te' with subject 'você', for example, 'eu te disse para você ir' "I told you so that you would go". The imperative forms, however, look like the EP second-person forms, although it is probably more correct to simply say that the third-person singular indicative is also used as the imperative. (Proof of this is that irregular second-person EP imperative forms such as 'sê' "be" are not used.)

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Standard BP tends to use the EP third-person possessive 'seu' to mean "your", and uses 'dele', 'dela', 'deles', and 'delas' (literally "of him/her/them", and placed after the noun) as third-person possessive forms. The forms 'ti' and 'contigo' are replaced with 'você' and 'com você'. Either 'você' (following the verb) or 'te' (preceding the verb) can be used as object pronoun: Hence a speaker may end up saying "I love you" in two ways: "Eu amo você" and/or "eu te amo".

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In the South (Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, parts of Paraná

Related Topics:
Rio Grande do Sul - Santa Catarina - Paraná

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) and the city of Santos, the distinction between semi-formal "você" and familiar "tu" is still maintained; object and possessive pronouns pattern likewise. In Rio de Janeiro (especially among older speakers), parts of the Northeast (interior of some northeastern states and some speakers from the coast) and the North, both "tu" and "você" (and associated object and possessive pronouns) are used, with no difference. Most Brazilians who use "tu", use it with the 3rd person verb: "tu falou isso" ("You said it"). "Tu" accompanied by the 2nd-person verb can still be found in Maranhão (Northeast of Brazil).

Related Topics:
Santos - Rio de Janeiro

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O senhor

The formal term 'o senhor' is often used as a second-person pronoun in Portugal. In Brazil, this is not very common, although it still sometimes happens in very formal situations such as shopkeepers addressing customers -- similar to when the terms "sir" or "ma'am" are used in English. The EP custom of using a title or first name as a pronoun is not used in Brazil.

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The imperative

BP speakers, as already stated, use third-person singular indicative forms as familiar imperatives. These forms are identical for the most part with the familiar imperative in EP, although the combination of such forms with "você" will not occur in EP:

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• "Cala a boca, você é o próximo!" (Shut up, you're next; occurs only in BP).
• "Corra, você tem apenas até amanhã." (Hurry up, you have only until tomorrow; occurs both in EP and BP).

Moreover, BP speakers rarely use the subjunctive for the Negative Imperative; instead they will employ the Imperative inflexion. This never occurs in EP, except for some jocular contexts or when scolding or giving incisive orders to a child. Examples:

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"Não faz nada, eu te ajudo!" (Do not do anything, I'll help you; occurs mainly in spoken BP).

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"Não faças nada, eu ajudo-te!" (same meaning; occurs mainly in EP. Compare also the collocation of the pronoun "te").

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