A1Lesson 2: Personal Pronouns & Basic Prepositions
Portuguese prepositions em, de, para, com, and por are small words that control relationships between everything in a sentence, contracting with articles and having multiple meanings that rarely match their English equivalents directly.
Read the guide publicly, then use Falando to save progress and practice this A1 grammar point.
Free accounts can study A1 grammar in the app and keep track of exercises and review.
"Em" tells you WHERE something is or happens.
| em + | Result | Example |
|---|---|---|
| o | no | no Brasil (in Brazil) |
| a | na | na praia (at the beach) |
| os | nos | nos Estados Unidos |
| as | nas | nas férias (on vacation) |
"De" shows WHERE something comes from or WHO it belongs to.
| de + | Result | Example |
|---|---|---|
| o | do | do Brasil (from Brazil) |
| a | da | da escola (from school) |
| os | dos | dos amigos (of the friends) |
| as | das | das meninas (of the girls) |
"Para" shows WHERE you're going or WHY you're doing something.
| Formal | Informal | Example |
|---|---|---|
| para | pra | pra casa (home) |
| para o | pro | pro João (to/for João) |
| para a | pra | pra escola (to school) |
"Com" is the simplest - it almost always means "with."
NO mandatory contractions! (But there are optional formal ones)
"Por" explains WHY or HOW something happens.
| por + | Result | Example |
|---|---|---|
| o | pelo | pelo caminho (through the path) |
| a | pela | pela rua (through the street) |
| os | pelos | pelos amigos (by the friends) |
| as | pelas | pelas manhãs (in the mornings) |
Different prepositions completely change meaning:
Some expressions never change:
