PARA MIM versus PARA EU

By James Hall / / (2) Beginning Portuguese
para mim vs para eu in Portuguese

My mom still gets mad when I get "I" and "me" mixed up. It's the one thing she can still correct me on consistently 😓. Te same thing started happening with Portuguese. Not that my mom knows a word of Portuguese, but I was never sure wether to say para mim or, para eu. And what about using me rather that mim? Is it para mim ou para me?

Me talk pretty one day.

The correct explanation involves the subject and the object of the action in the sentence. But hey: let's avoid the grammar talk and just talk about the way to use it until we all get the hang of it.

When is PARA MIM needed?

Only when you've got the para mim (for me) at the end of the sentence. Like this:

Thiago fez esse bolo para mim. ➜ Thiago made this cake for me.
Comprei esse carro para mim. ➜ I bought this car for me.
Você pode ler o livro para mim? ➜ Can you read the book for me?

When is PARA EU needed

Now let's turn these around so that there's a verb afterwards:

Thiago fez esse bolo para eu comer. ➜ Thiago made this cake for me to eat.
Comprei esse carro para eu dirigir. ➜ I bought this car for me to drive.
Você pode ler o livro para eu entender? ➜ Can you read the book so I can understand?
✻ Use PARA MIM if at the end of the sentence OR there's no verb afterward.

Can you use ME rather than MIM?

Sure! BUT you have to lose the "para" too. Like this:

Quem está me chamando?

Let's try to use ME in our 3 examples rather than MIM:

Thiago me fez esse bolo. ➜ Thiago made this cake for me.
Eu me comprei esse. ➜ I bought this car for myself.
Você pode me ler o livro? ➜ Can you read the book for me?

Tudo é possível 👧🏻 👧🏼 👧🏿.

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portuguese object pronouns

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