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Tu or Você

Tu and você, what is the difference?


In Portuguese, there are two very common ways to refer to "you (singular)": tu and você

Both words mean you, but only "tu" is truly a second person pronoun according to grammar.
(Você is a treatment pronoun that uses third person conjugations)

Is one more formal than the other?

That will depend a lot on what region we are talking about. Some people see "tu" as an informal
thing, others don't.

With time, several regions of Brazil chose "você" as the standard way of saying you. Other
regions, however, kept "tu" as the most common form.

Examples of places that use "tu" very often are Portugal, Portuguese speaking countries in Asia
and Africa and the south of Brazil.

Conjugations
The verb conjugations for each one are different. While "tu" uses true second person
conjugations (the ones you see in tables), "você" uses third person conjugations (the ones for
"ele/ela"):

Conjugations andar correr abrir

Tu andas corres abres

Você anda corre abre

In speech, it is very common to see people using "tu" with "você conjugations", but that is not
grammatically correct.

Plural second person (obsolete)


Alternatively to "vocês", there is "vós", which is the plural you. But this form is quite obsolete and
very rare. You can find it in old books. 122 3 180

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7/1/2021 Duolingo - The world's best way to learn Portuguese

If you're curious, its conjugations are:


Tu or Você

Vós andais, correis, abris (regular conjugations)

Vós sois = you are

Vós ledes = you read

https://www.duolingo.com/skill/pt/Tu-or-Você/tips-and-notes 2/2

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