A1 (Beginner)Lesson 2: Personal Pronouns & Basic Prepositions
A gente is the default spoken Brazilian way to say "we". It means the same as nós in many contexts, but it takes third-person singular verbs.
"a gente" = informal "we"
Use a singular verb
"nós" is more careful or formal
"a gente" is extremely common in Brazil
a gente + 3rd person singular verb
Sign up to save your progress, practice exercises and unlock all grammar content.
A gente is the default spoken Brazilian way to say "we". It means the same as nós in many contexts, but it takes third-person singular verbs.
Without "a gente", everyday Brazilian Portuguese sounds stiffer than real conversation. This pattern appears constantly in speech, messaging, interviews, and casual writing.
a gente + 3rd person singular verb
| Step | Rule |
|---|---|
| Rule 1 | "A gente" is the most common spoken Brazilian subject for "we". |
| Rule 2 | Use third-person singular verbs: "a gente vai", "a gente mora", "a gente gosta". |
| Rule 3 | Use "nós" more often in careful writing, presentations, and some regional speech. |
| Rule 4 | Subject pronouns can still be dropped later in the sentence: "Quando a gente chega, conversa". |
| Portuguese | Meaning |
|---|---|
| A gente fala português. | We speak Portuguese. |
| A gente é brasileiro. | We're Brazilian. |
| A gente mora aqui. | We live here. |
| A gente vai depois. | We're going later. |
| Hoje a gente não trabalha. | We're not working today. |
| A gente gosta do Brasil. | We like Brazil. |
Keep "nós" in formal writing, public speeches, and when you want a more careful tone.
Avoid mixing "a gente" with plural verbs in neutral writing.
Sociolinguistic studies of Brazilian speech consistently show that under-25 speakers use a gente far more often than nós in casual conversation, and the share keeps rising every decade. Researchers attribute the spread to type frequency (it works with almost any verb) plus the simpler third-person-singular agreement; only a handful of high-frequency expressions like nós dois still resist the change.
A 2024 peer-reviewed study tracked a gente spreading from Brazilian Portuguese into the bilingual Portuguese–Spanish dialects spoken in northern Uruguay, where younger speakers now adopt it the same way Brazilians do. Even across the border it follows the same grammatical path: third-person-singular verbs and noun-like agreement.
Get full access to grammar lessons, exercises, vocabulary and personalized review with a free Falando account.