Personal pronouns replace names of people or things to avoid repetition and indicate who does or receives an action. In Portuguese, the main forms are subject, object, and reflexive. The context determines which form to choose in each sentence. This distinction is central to building clear sentences.

Subject pronouns indicate who performs the action and usually appear before the verb. In Portuguese, the subject may be omitted if the verb already indicates the person, but the pronoun is used for clarity or emphasis. These are the basic subject forms in singular and plural.

Direct object pronouns replace the complement that receives the action of the verb without a preposition. In Portuguese, they appear as unstressed and can be placed before or after the verb, depending on the sentence order. In Brazilian Portuguese, speakers often use a subject pronoun instead, but the traditional form keeps the pronouns below.

Indirect object pronouns replace the complement of a verb that requires a preposition, such as a or para. In Portuguese, many of these pronouns coincide with those of direct object, but the interpretation depends on the presence of the preposition in the sentence. For third person, traditional forms with a are used, and for first and second person, me, te and nos are used.

Reflexive pronouns indicate that the subject and the object are the same person, or the action falls back on the doer. In Portuguese, the main reflexives are me, te, se, nos and se, chosen by the subject. Many verbs use se to form reflexive or pronominal meanings.

The position of the pronoun can be before the verb (proclisis) or after the verb (enclisis), depending on words such as not, already, that and who. In spoken Brazilian Portuguese, proclisis is very frequent, especially with negative and subordinate phrases. The choice of position affects the naturalness of the sentence.

You and Thou are forms of address for the second person singular, but they pair with different verb forms. You typically use third-person conjugation, while thou uses second-person conjugation. The choice depends on region and formality.

The main choices are: I, you, you, he, she, we, you all, they, they as subjects; me, you, him, her, us, them as direct objects; me, you, him, us, them as indirect objects; and me, you, se, us as reflexives. Memorizing this chart helps identify who performs the action and to whom. Consistent use of these pronouns makes sentences more precise.