Demonstratives & place adverbs

What it is

Demonstratives point things out: this shirt, that building. Portuguese has three sets of them, but everyday Brazilian speech really uses two:

• esse, essa, isso for anything near you or near the person you’re talking to. They translate both this and that (by you).
• aquele, aquela, aquilo for anything away from both of you: that (over there).

The third set, este, esta, isto, is the textbook this. You’ll read it on signs and in articles (nesta página, este produto), but in conversation Brazilians say essa semana, esse ano, isso aqui.

Each set has its own place words: aqui (here) and aí (there, by you) go with esse; ali (over there) and lá (there, far away) go with aquele.

How to form it

• The first four columns agree with the noun: essa mesa, esses livros, aquela praia. When the noun is obvious, they stand alone: Quero essa. (I want this one.)
• isso and aquilo never change and never sit before a noun. Use them for something you can’t or don’t name, or for an idea: O que é isso? Isso é verdade.
• Spelling: esse, essa, isso have a double s, because a single s between vowels sounds like z.

• cá (here) survives mostly in set phrases: Vem cá! (Come here!), pra cá (over here).
• Brazilians often add the place word to make the distance clear: esse aqui (this one here), essa aí (that one by you), aquele lá (that one over there).

These contractions are obligatory: naquele prédio, never em aquele prédio. The place words join de too: daqui (from here), daí, dali. In writing, a + aquele = àquele (Vou àquele restaurante); in speech, pra aquele restaurante is more common.

When to use it

• Quanto custa essa camiseta aqui?How much is this T-shirt here?near me: esse + aqui
• Que livro é esse aí?What book is that (you’ve got)?near you: esse + aí
• Quem é aquele cara lá?Who’s that guy over there?far from both: aquele + lá
• O que é isso?What’s this? / What’s that?an unknown thing: isso
• Eu não acredito nisso.I don’t believe in that.an idea: em + isso
• A praia é longe daqui?Is the beach far from here?de + aqui

Two set phrases: Isso! on its own means Exactly! / That’s right!, and É isso aí! means That’s it! In casual stories aí also means then: A gente janta e aí vai pro cinema. And E aí? is how friends say Hey, what’s up?

Contrasts and traps

• Isso livro ✗ → esse livro. Before a noun, use the form that agrees.
• Aquele mulher ✗ → aquela mulher. Agreement is with the noun.
• Em aquele prédio ✗ → naquele prédio; de isso ✗ → disso.
• este isn’t wrong, just bookish in conversation. Use it when you write; say esse when you talk.
• aí or ali? aí is next to the person you’re talking to (O que é isso aí?); ali is over there, where you can both see it (É ali, do lado da escada).
• esse is not only that. With aqui it means this: esse aqui = this one here.

If you speak Spanish

Spanish has three degrees, este, ese and aquel; spoken Brazilian merges este and ese into esse and keeps aquele for aquel. Both esto and eso are isso, and aquello is aquilo. Watch the spelling (esse, aqueles, not ese or aquellos), the contractions Spanish doesn’t make (en ese → nesse, de eso → disso), and the gender of the Portuguese noun: o leite is masculine, so esse leite.