Demonstrative pronouns in Portuguese are words we use to point to or identify specific things in a sentence. They help us show whether the object we’re referring to is near or far in distance, and if it’s singular or plural.
What do they do?
In layman’s terms, these pronouns are like pointing words. Imagine you’re in a room, and you say, “This is my favourite chair.” Here, “this” is a demonstrative pronoun because it points to and identifies the specific chair close to you.
There are three sets: “this” and “these” for things close to you, “that” and “those” for things a bit farther away, and sometimes “those over there” for things even farther. So, demonstrative pronouns help us talk about objects in relation to where they are and how many of them there are.
Demonstrative Pronouns
In Portuguese, demonstrative pronouns also help indicate the proximity and number of objects, just like in English. However, Portuguese has a bit more complexity with gender and number agreement. There are two groups of Demonstrative Pronouns: Variable and Invariable. The difference is that one set agrees with gender and number and the other doesn’t. For this reason, I’ve written separate lessons for each group.
