Olá, queridos alunos! (Hello, dear students!)
Both terms, “tu” and “você,” mean “you” in English. So, how do you know when to use one or the other?
Is there one that’s considered more formal and one more informal? And how do you conjugate the verbs with each pronoun?
Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything in this lesson.
This lesson comes with a free PDF worksheet with the summary of the lesson and exercises for you to practice. Click here to download your worksheet.
“Tu” or “você”? What’s the difference?
The terms “tu” and “você” are used all over Brazil, but with some regional differences.
But before we talk about the regional differences, it’s important to understand what the difference is between these terms in grammar.
Officially, according to standard grammar, the Portuguese language has the following personal pronouns:
Singular form:
Eu (I)
Tu (you)
Ele (he)
Ela (she)
Plural form:
Nós (we)
Vós (you)
Eles/ Elas (they)
And the pronoun “você”? Where is it?
The word “você” is a reduced form of the address pronoun “Vossa Mercê” (Your Grace), which was originally used to address the King of Portugal as well as other nobles and people of high social standing.
Over time, this pronoun became more widespread and, over the centuries, “Vossa Mercê” was shortened to “vossemecê,” then to “vosmecê,” until it reached the form “você.” Nowadays, there’s an even shorter form, used only in speech, which is simply “cê.”
Nowadays, the term “você” has exactly the same meaning as the pronoun “tu,” but the verb agreement with each of these terms is different.
The pronoun “tu” indicates the second person singular, while the pronoun “você” – since it is an address pronoun, like Your Highness and Your Excellency – must be used with verbs in the third person singular.
For example:
Tu falaste com a Maria ontem? (Did you speak to Maria yesterday?)
“Falaste” is the correct conjugation for the pronoun “tu.”
See the same example with the pronoun “você”:
Você falou com a Maria ontem? (Did you speak to Maria yesterday?)
“Falou” is the correct conjugation for the pronoun “você.”
Tu falaste – Você falou (You spoke)
Notice that we use exactly the same conjugation for the pronouns “você,” “ele,” “ela,” and “a gente”:
Você falou (You spoke)
Ela falou (She spoke)
We spoke (A gente falou)
For this reason, conjugating verbs with the pronoun “você” is much easier than with the pronoun “tu.”
Grammar Rules vs Real Language
Spoken language in Brazil, as many of you already know, is much more flexible than what we find in grammar books.
What happens in practice? Since the conjugation of the pronoun “tu” is more complicated, in colloquial speech many people use the pronoun “tu” with the verb conjugated in the third person singular.
For example:
Tu falou com a Maria? (Did you speak to Maria?)
Instead of “tu falaste.”
“Tu falou” is considered incorrect according to standard grammar, but this use is very common across almost all of Brazil in informal language.
Is one term more formal than the other?
It depends on the region. In some cities in the Northeast, people consider “tu” more informal and “você” more formal. In the Southeast region, like Rio and São Paulo, we don’t make this distinction. Both terms “tu” and “você” are considered equally informal.
In my opinion, “você” is a more neutral term and can be used in any situation, formal or informal, with just a few exceptions.
If you want to be really formal when addressing someone, you should use the terms “senhor” or “senhora.” Click here to see a lesson about this topic.
Regional Differences
You can use both terms, “tu” or “você,” anywhere in Brazil, but some regions favor one or the other.
For example, in São Paulo, I think the term “você” is more commonly used. In Porto Alegre, in Rio Grande do Sul, on the other hand, they use only “tu” with the verb in the third person:
Tu foi? Tu viu? (Did you go? Did you see?)
As I’ve already explained, this use is considered grammatically incorrect according to prescriptive grammar, but every “gaucho” speaks this way, even highly educated people, because it’s part of the local dialect.
Which word should you use?
In my courses, I prioritize teaching the pronoun “você” for two reasons:
First, because verb conjugation is much simpler, and this makes learning easier.
And second, as I already said, the term “você” is relatively neutral and can be used in almost all situations, formal or informal.
What about the pronoun “vós”?
The pronoun “vós” is the plural of the pronoun “tu,” but although it’s in grammar books, nowadays it’s not used at all in Brazil.
You’ll see this pronoun used in some older literary texts, in the Bible, and in poetry. Other than that, the pronoun “vós” is not used. It was replaced by the pronoun “vocês.” So we have “você” (singular) to address one person and “vocês” (plural) to address two or more people.
It’s important to point out that this lesson is about Portuguese as spoken in Brazil. In Portugal, the pronoun “tu” is used much more frequently, in a more standard way.
👉 This lesson comes with a free PDF worksheet with the summary of the lesson and exercises for you to practice. Click here to download your worksheet.
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