Possessives in Brazilian Portuguese

In Brazilian Portuguese, possessives act as adjectives or pronouns. A key rule is that they must agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) with the noun they modify, not with the owner.

1. The Basic Possessive Forms

• Meu / Minha / Meus / Minhas (my / mine)
• Seu / Sua / Seus / Suas (your / yours / his / her / its / their)
• Nosso / Nossa / Nossos / Nossas (our / ours)

2. The "Seu" Rule and Using "Dele / Dela"

While traditional grammar allows seu/sua(s) to mean 'his', 'her', or 'their', spoken Brazilian Portuguese restricts its use almost exclusively to 'your' to avoid embarrassing misunderstandings.

To say 'his', 'her', or 'their', Brazilians usually use dele, dela, deles, and delas (literally meaning 'of him/her/them'). These are always placed after the noun.

• O Carlos me trouxe no carro dele. (Carlos brought me in his car.)

To explicitly clarify 'your' in ambiguous third-person phrasing, or when addressing multiple people, you can use de você and de vocês:

• Gente, posso ir no carro de vocês? (Guys, can I go in your car?)

If you are speaking formally, you use do senhor (for a man) or da senhora (for a woman).

3. Expressing "Our"

The first-person plural nosso/nossa is frequently paired with a gente (the informal way to say "we").

• A gente vai vender o nosso carro. (We are going to sell our car.)

Alternatively, you can use the possessive form da gente (literally 'of us'), placed after the noun:

• Ele pagou o jantar da gente. (He paid for our dinner.)

4. Definite Articles Before Possessives

Possessives can be preceded by definite articles (o, a, os, as). The usage depends on their function:

• As Adjectives (Before a noun): The article is technically optional. However, it is almost always included in everyday speech, and commonly omitted in formal writing.
  • Everyday speech: o nome da minha rua (the name of my street)
  • Formal writing: Ela falou de suas viagens à África. (She spoke of her trips to Africa.)
• As Pronouns (Replacing a noun): The article is mandatory.
  • As casas deles são diferentes das nossas. (Their houses are different from ours.)

5. Possessives After the Noun

Possessives can be placed after the noun to mean 'of mine', 'of yours', 'of hers', etc.

• um amigo meu (a friend of mine)
• alguns pertences dela (some belongings of hers)

With specific nouns like foto (photo), lembrança (memory), or notícia (news), placing the possessive after the noun translates to 'of me/you/us'.

• Aguardo notícias suas. (I await news of you. / I await your news.)
• Pode tirar uma foto nossa? (Can you take a picture of us?)