Portuguese Prepositions and Contractions

In general, prepositions have an infamous reputation among language learners. Judging by all the whining and moaning I’ve heard from students throughout the years, Portuguese prepositions are definitely not the exception.

Let’s warm up by looking at a summary of the five most important prepositions in Portuguese:

In what follows, we’ll go through each one of these five prepositions in more detail. Besides delving into their usage, we’ll look into how they merge with other words (contractions), among other things. Read on.

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! Note that prepositional usage varies slightly between European and Brazilian Portuguese. This article conforms to European Portuguese. Learn more about these and other differences: European vs. Brazilian Portuguese – How Different Are They?

What’s a preposition (and why are they tricky)?

What are they for?

Prepositions are single words or groups of words that show a relationship in space, time, or logic between two or more people, places, or things. Most commonly, prepositions appear in front of a noun phrase or pronoun. 

Here’s a more prosaic definition: prepositions are lubricating agents that help articulate the different components of a sentence, thus making the latter more intelligible and easier to follow. 

Take the following example, first without and then with the prepositions in place:

(1) I go work the morning.
(2) I go to work in the morning.

While you still may be able to make out the first sentence, the second – having the preposition to to give a sense of direction and in to situate the action in time – is much more assertive, clear, and easy to follow.

Why are prepositions so elusive?

Let’s start by acknowledging that prepositions only pain those learning a second language. Native speakers couldn’t care less. They get it right without ever needing to develop a conceptual understanding of it – much like we innocently breathe in and out without ever thinking about the work performed by our lungs and diaphragm as we do it.

Here are some reasons why prepositions can baffle language learners.

Ambivalence

Prepositions are not black-and-white. As we’ll see in a moment, it is not unusual that, depending on the context, the same preposition can refer to either time, movement, place, or something else. 

Subtle nuances

Often, different prepositions are used in very similar ways. Consider for instance the following sentences: 

• I am at the station vs. I am by the station
• I am working on it vs. I am working at it 
• Let’s look at this vs. Let’s look into this 
• He came to me vs. He came at me
• This is relevant to me vs. This is relevant for me 

While there’s surely a difference in the paired sentences above, that difference can be quite subtle. Those subtleties may not be that easy to grasp by those learning a second language. 

Capricious behavior

More often than not, prepositional usage stays out of logical realms. Much to the misfortune of language learners, prepositions often behave whimsically. 

Think about it. Why do we say I am on the train, I am on the bus, I am on the plane,  but I am in the car? Or why do we look to the right but look at the sky? Portuguese prepositions are no better.

No one-to-one English-Portuguese prepositional bonding

Attention all English native speakers! There surely isn’t a one-to-one relationship between Portuguese and English prepositions. Depending on the context, the same Portuguese preposition can correspond to two or more English prepositions. And vice versa. 

Additionally, there are situations where one language calls to a preposition while the other does well without any. 

Contractions

Unlike in English, Portuguese prepositions are highly contractible and likely to merge with other words. This means that you’ve got to keep track of not only the preposition itself (in its plain form) but also of its derivatives (merged forms).

In sum, prepositions are somehow messy and demand generous doses of exposure to your target language until they become second nature to you. 

While this article is no replacement for that exposure, it can bring you conceptual clarity about preposition usage in Portuguese. In that sense, it offers you a solid foundation to build upon.

Portuguese preposition em

Em is best known for being a preposition of place. However, as we’ll see further below, we also use em to indicate time. In English, em can correspond to either in, on, or at depending on the situation. 

Before we delve into em’s usage, let’s look into its contracted forms.