In short

You now have the unstressed object pronouns of Lesson 29 (me, te, o, a, lhe, nos, vos, os, as, lhes) and the reflexive se. The hard part in European Portuguese is not their forms - it is where they go, and EP is the strictest of all the Romance languages about this. There are two everyday positions (a third, mesoclisis, is Lesson 51). The default is enclisis: the pronoun sits after the verb, tied on with a hyphen - Dou-te o livro, Chamo-me Ana, Levantei-me cedo. But a specific list of words, when they come before the verb, drag the pronoun in front of it - proclisis, with no hyphen: Não te dou, Já me levantei, que te viu. Learn the default, then learn the trigger list, and you have the whole skill. And one iron rule frames everything: in European Portuguese a clause never begins with an unstressed pronoun.

The rule

Enclisis is the default

In a plain affirmative main clause with nothing special in front of the verb, the pronoun follows the verb and is joined by a hyphen:

• Vejo-te amanhã. (“I’ll see you tomorrow.”)
• Ela deu-me a chave. (“She gave me the key.”)
• Sentámo-nos à janela. (“We sat down by the window.”)
• O meu irmão chama-se Pedro. (“My brother is called Pedro.”)

This is the position you fall back to whenever no trigger is present. Because a clause cannot start with a clitic, enclisis is in fact obligatory at the head of a sentence: you must say Chamo-me Ana, never Me chamo Ana (that front position is normal in Brazil, but ungrammatical in the European standard).

Proclisis: the attractors that pull the pronoun forward

Certain words, when they precede the verb in the same clause, attract the pronoun to the front. It then sits immediately before the verb with no hyphen. The high-frequency triggers, grouped:

1. Negation - não, nunca, jamais, nada, ninguém, nem: Não te vejo. / Nunca me ligou. / Ninguém o sabe.
2. Subordinating conjunctions (a subordinate clause) - que, porque, quando, se, como, embora, para que, logo que, enquanto: Sei que te viu. / Quando me chamou… / Fico se me pedires.
3. Relative pronouns - que, quem, onde, o qual: O homem que me ajudou. / A casa onde nos conhecemos.
4. Interrogative words (wh-questions) - quem, o que, quando, onde, porque, como, quanto: Quem te disse? / Onde os puseste? / Porque se riu?
5. A short set of adverbs - já, ainda, sempre, também, só, talvez, apenas, bem, mal, lá: Já te disse. / Também o vi. / Só me resta esperar. / Talvez o faça.
6. Quantifier / indefinite subjects - todos, alguém, ninguém, tudo, poucos, muitos, ambos, cada um: Todos me viram. / Alguém te chamou.

When two clauses join, each clause is judged on its own: Ela levantou-se (enclisis, nothing in front) e não me viu (proclisis, pulled by não).

Compound tenses: the clitic rides the auxiliary

With a ter + particípio compound tense, the pronoun attaches to the auxiliary (ter), never to the participle. The participle is an unchanging block:

• Tinha-me visto. (“He had seen me.”) - not Tinha visto-me.
• With a trigger: Não me tinha visto.

With an auxiliary + infinitive or gerund - the ir + infinitivo of Lesson 11, the estar a + infinitivo of Lesson 9, or querer / poder + infinitivo - the pronoun may attach to either verb, your choice:

• Vou ligar-te. or Vou-te ligar. (“I’m going to call you.”)
• Estou a fazê-lo. or Estou-o a fazer.
• With a trigger, it goes to the front of the whole group: Não te vou ligar. / Ainda o estou a fazer.

This freedom - often called clitic climbing - is genuinely useful: when in doubt, hang the pronoun on the infinitive (vou ligar-te), which is always safe.

Other verb forms in one line

• Affirmative imperative: enclisis - Lesson 19. But a negative command has não, so proclisis - and because it is built on the present subjunctive of Lesson 33, the tu form changes shape as well: Diz-me -> Não me digas, Senta-te -> Não te sentes. Here only the position concerns you.
• Bare infinitive: normally enclisis (É melhor esperá-lo), switching to proclisis after não or another attractor (para não o perder).
• Future and conditional: their own middle position, mesoclisis (dar-te-ei, dar-te-ia) - unless a trigger is present, which cancels it and gives plain proclisis (não te darei). This is Lesson 51.

A note on the spelling of the attached pronoun

When o, a, os, as attach after a verb, the pronoun and the verb ending often reshape each other - o becomes -lo after an -r/-s/-z, and -no after a nasal (vê-lo, dão-no). That mechanical spelling change is the whole of Lesson 31; here, just know the placement, and let Lesson 31 handle the surface form.

Forms & patterns

The two positions, minimal pairs:

The main proclisis triggers at a glance:

Placement across verb forms:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Me chamo Ana. -> Chamo-me Ana. - a European clause cannot begin with an unstressed pronoun; with nothing in front, use enclisis. (Front placement here is the Brazilian norm.)
• Não vejo-te. -> Não te vejo. - negation is the commonest attractor; it forces the pronoun before the verb, with no hyphen.
• Sei que viu-me. / o homem que ajudou-me -> que me viu / que me ajudou - a conjunction or relative que opens a subordinate clause and pulls the pronoun forward.
• Onde puseste-o? -> Onde o puseste? - a wh-question word is an attractor; the pronoun goes in front of the verb.
• Tinha visto-me. -> Tinha-me visto. - in a ter + particípio compound the pronoun rides the auxiliary, never the participle.
• Também vi-o. / Já disse-te. -> Também o vi. / Já te disse. - também, já, só, ainda, sempre are on the small adverb trigger list.
• Ela deu-me e não viu-me. -> Ela deu-me e não me viu. - judge each clause separately; the second has não, so it takes proclisis.

Tips

• Two-step decision: is there an attractor before the verb in this clause? No -> enclisis (after the verb, hyphen). Yes -> proclisis (before the verb, no hyphen). Everything else is detail.
• Memorise the trigger families as one block: negation, subordination, relatives, wh-questions, the adverbs já/ainda/sempre/também/só/talvez, and quantifier subjects. If none is present, default to enclisis.
• The unbreakable European rule: a clause never starts with a clitic. Whenever the verb is the first meaningful word, enclisis is not a choice, it is required.
• In ter + particípio, attach to ter (tinha-me dito); in aux + infinitivo you may attach to either verb, so when unsure put it on the infinitive (vou dar-te) - always safe.
• Treat each clause on its own after e, mas, porque: the trigger only reaches inside its own clause.
• The reshaping of o/a into -lo/-no when it attaches after the verb is a separate, purely spelling matter - see Lesson 31; the future/conditional middle slot is Lesson 51.