FROM SPANISH TO PORTUGUESE

Nominals

Object Pronouns

1. Placement

Your most formidable task in mastering the object pronouns will be learning where to put them. In Spanish, the arrangement of verb and object pronouns (direct, indirect, and reflexive) is a rather complex affair. In Portuguese it may seem even more so, largely because of interference from Spanish. Let us check on some specific cases.

A. Object pronouns with a conjugated verb form

Spanish	Portuguese
1. Ana se sienta.	Ana se senta. Ana senta-se.
2. Ella me conoce.	Ela me conhece. Ela conhece-me.
3. Pablo le dio un dólar.	Paulo lhe deu um dólar. Paulo deu-lhe um dólar.

In utterances like those above, in which a noun or personal pronoun precedes the conjugated verb, Spanish must put the object pronoun before the conjugated verb form. Portuguese may put it before or after, with a preference, in Brazilian Portuguese, for putting it before.

Now, notice these examples:

Spanish	Portuguese
4. Me levanté temprano.	Levantei-me cedo.
5. Me conoce bien.	Conhece-me bem.
6. Le dio un dólar.	Deu-lhe um dólar.

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