In Portuguese there are several situations where we need to use the word “de“. It’s very common for people who are trying to learn Portuguese to have doubts about when and how to use this word.
In this article you will learn 3 ways to use the word “de” in Brazilian Portuguese.
Example: A casa de Maria é branca (Mary’s house is White)
In Portuguese we don’t use the ‘s (apostrophe s) to say that something belongs to someone. We use “de, do or da”. So instead of saying “Maria’s casa” you should say ” a casa de Maria”.
It is also correct to say ” a casa da Maria”.
See other examples:
A mulher de Paulo. / Paul’s wife.
O irmão de Sara. / Sarah’s brother.
O carro de André / Andre’s car
A praia de Copacabana / Copacabana beach
Attention: the word “de” has no plural. We don’t say “des“. But the words “da” and “do” yes!
So if I wanted to talk about the wives of two men named “Paul”. I would say: “as mulheres dos Paulos”.
If I were referring to the brothers of two women named Sarah I would say: “os irmãos das Saras”. Do you understand? See some more examples:
Brincadeira de criança -> brincadeira das crianças / Child’s play -> children’s play
Carinho de avó -> carinho das avós / Affection of grandmother -> affection of grandmothers
2. De = from
We also use the word “de” to talk about the origin of someone or something. See the examples:
a)
– De onde você é? / Where you are from?
– Eu sou de Cuiabá, e você? / I’m from Cuiabá, and you?
– Eu sou de Recife./ I’m from Recife.
Attention:
To talk about the origin of someone or something, we often need to use “da” or “do”. For example, eu sou do Rio de Janeiro. It would be wrong for me to say “Eu sou de Rio de Janeiro”.
If you want to learn more about when to use De/Do or Da in Portuguese click here to access the the special lesson I created about the subject: “DE-DO-DA”. You can also learn more in the lesson “Nationality”, that is in my free mine course: apresentação pessoal.
In it you will have access to video lessons, Flaschcards, exercises and you will be able to download PDFs with lesson summaries. Click here now and check it out!
B)
– De onde é isso? / Where is this from?
– Isso foi feito na China./ This was made in China.
c)
– De onde sai o trem? / Where does the train leave?
– Ele sai da Central do Brasil. / He leaves Central do Brasil.
We can use “de” meaning “by”, for example, to talk about means of transport. See the dialog:
– Sua viagem é semana que vem?
-sim.
– E você vai de que?
– Eu vou de carro.
– Mas é um pouco longe. Não é melhor ir de avião?
– Não tem problema, eu gosto de dirigir. Mas se estiver muito cansado, talvez eu vá de ônibus.
– Is your trip next week?
-yea.
– And what are you going for?
– I go by car.
– But it’s a little far. Isn’t it better to go by plane?
– No problem, I like to drive. But if I’m really tired, maybe I’ll take the bus.
There are other ways to use “de” in Portuguese. Learn more about it and download the PDF to study here.
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