Forms of address: você, tu, o senhor, a senhora

Address forms shape politeness from the first line of a conversation. Choosing the wrong one does not always break communication, but it can make the tone feel off immediately.

1. Você is a common default

Brazilian Portuguese has more than one way to say "you", and the choice signals how close, casual or respectful the relationship is. Você is widespread, but the most appropriate form depends on context.

• Você is especially common in São Paulo, Minas Gerais and much of the Centre-West. In Rio de Janeiro, both você and tu occur, depending on the community and situation.

• Você takes the third-person verb: Você fala português. (You speak Portuguese.)

• Vocês is the common plural form: Vocês querem café? (Do you all want coffee?) More formal address also uses os senhores/as senhoras, with third-person plural verbs.

2. Tu is alive, but regional

Tu occurs in parts of the South, North and Northeast, as well as Rio de Janeiro. Many colloquial varieties use the third-person verb form; the rate of standard agreement varies by community and context.

Common Pitfalls

• Switching between você and o senhor/a senhora can change the degree of formality.

• Tu falas, tu és and other standard second-person forms occur in speech in different communities of the North, Northeast and South.

• Você, quanto custa? can sound abrupt when getting someone's attention. You can begin with com licença or use moço/moça in an informal situation.

• Moço/moça are informal address terms; senhor/senhora can express formal respect at any adult age.

• Seu Carlos is a common first-name construction. Follow the person's usual name and form of address.

• With strangers, customers and older people, consider the context and the person's preferences when choosing você or o senhor/a senhora.

Cê — você gets even shorter in everyday speech

Você comes from the address form Vossa Mercê. In spoken Brazilian Portuguese it can shorten further to cê, often in subject position: Cê tá bem? instead of Você está bem? Studies debate its grammatical status: some analyses propose a clitic, others a weak pronoun. This is not a single settled analysis.

Sources: Priberam — você, Petersen (2008), cê, ocê and você.

Tu and regional agreement

In Rio Grande do Sul and parts of Santa Catarina, tu is common in speech, but agreement varies by community and context. Colloquial tu fala and tu é coexist with standard tu falas and tu és. Second-person agreement also occurs in communities of the North and Northeast; it is not confined to the far South.