Mesoclisis & formal enclisis (recognition)

What it is

In Brazilian Portuguese the object pronoun normally goes before the verb: Ele se mudou, Eu te ligo amanhã. Formal written Portuguese has two other positions you need to read fluently at C1:

• Mesoclisis (mesóclise): the pronoun sits inside a future or conditional verb, between the infinitive and the ending: realizar-se-á (= se realizará), dir-se-ia (= se diria).
• Formal enclisis (ênclise): the pronoun follows the verb with a hyphen, above all at the start of a sentence: Trata-se de…, Sabe-se que…, Diga-se de passagem…

The goal here is recognition: undo the form instantly and read on. You will rarely need to produce it.

How it is built

The future and the conditional were born as infinitive + haver (realizar + hei → realizarei). Mesoclisis simply keeps the pronoun between the two old pieces:

To read any form, remove the pronoun and glue the ending back on: dir-lhe-ei → direi + lhe → lhe direi ("I will tell him/her").

With o, a, os, as

After an -r, the pronouns o/a/os/as change shape: the -r drops, the pronoun becomes lo/la/los/las, and a stressed a, e or o takes an accent. The same rule applies to the plain infinitive (convidá-lo, "to invite him"), which formal Brazilian writing uses all the time.

When you meet it

• Legal and administrative texts: contracts, public notices (editais), statutes: Considerar-se-á aprovado o candidato que…
• Older literature and press archives: nineteenth- and early twentieth-century prose uses it freely.
• Ceremonial speeches and very formal academic prose.
• Fixed formal openings with enclisis: Trata-se de, Sabe-se que, Diga-se de passagem, Faça-se. In formal writing a sentence never begins with an unstressed pronoun.

In everyday speech and ordinary emails mesoclisis sounds pompous; Brazilians use it as a joke for exaggerated formality.

How Brazilians avoid it

Even careful writers usually prefer one of these:

1. Put something before the verb and use proclisis. A subject, não, que, já and other "attractors" pull the pronoun forward: A assembleia se realizará no dia 5. / Não se realizará a reunião.
2. Use ir + infinitive: A assembleia vai se realizar no dia 5.
3. Use the passive with ser: A assembleia será realizada no dia 5.

Contrasts and traps

• Never after the ending: realizará-se and diria-se are wrong in every register. The pronoun goes before the verb or inside it.
• Attractors win: once não, que, quem, nunca or talvez precede the verb, the pronoun goes before it: Não se fará, never não far-se-á.
• Two hyphens: realizar-se-á. One hyphen or none is a spelling error.
• Present or future? fala-se ("one speaks") is present; falar-se-á ("one will speak") is future.
• Accents in -lo forms: convidá-lo, vendê-lo, pô-lo, but parti-lo (no accent on i).

Reading it in context

Take a sentence from a public notice: O resultado divulgar-se-á no site, e os candidatos aprovados far-se-ão representar por um procurador, se assim o desejarem. Undo each form: divulgar-se-á → se divulgará ("will be published"); far-se-ão representar → se farão representar ("will be represented"). Then look at o desejarem: the conjunction se is an attractor, so the pronoun goes before the verb.

If you speak Spanish

Modern Spanish has no mesoclisis, although Old Spanish did the same thing (dezir vos he, "I will tell you"). Watch two habits: Spanish glues pronouns to infinitives unchanged (invitarlo), while Portuguese drops the -r, adds a hyphen and often an accent (convidá-lo, not convidarlo or convidar-lo). And the good news: se realizará, the order you already use in Spanish, is exactly the one Brazilians prefer. When in doubt, write that.