No noun or pronoun precedes the conjugated verb in these examples. Spanish speakers, as always, must let the object pronoun precede the verb. Most Portuguese speakers, however, avoid beginning an utterance with an object pronoun, preferring instead to place it after the verb, as shown above.
Now, here are still more examples:
| Spanish | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| 7. No se levanta. | Não se levanta. |
| 8. No me conoce. | Não me conhece. |
| 9. ¿Quién le dio un dólar? | Quem lhe deu um dólar? |
The rule in effect for these Portuguese sentences is that if anything other than a noun or personal pronoun subject precedes the verb, the object pronoun is placed before the verb. These sentences and others like them fall right into the familiar Spanish pattern, so in themselves they represent nothing strikingly new to you. (However, compare them with examples 1, 2, and 3 above, where the verb is preceded by a noun, and the object pronoun may therefore either go before that verb or follow after it.)
| Spanish | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| 1. Juan va a levantarse. | João vai levantar-se. |
| Juan se va a levantar. | João vai se levantar. |
| 2. Juan quiere llevarme al centro. | João quer levar-me ao centro. |
| Juan me quiere llevar al centro. | João quer me levar ao centro. |
| 3. Juan puede decirme eso. | João pode dizer-me isso. |
| Juan me puede decir eso. | João pode me dizer isso. |
| 4. ... para recibirnos. | ... para receber-nos. |
| ... para nos receber. |
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