você

See also: voce, voće, -voce, and Voce

Galician

Etymology

Contraction of vossa +‎ mercê, literally “your mercy”.

Pronunciation

• (Western Galicia) IPA^(key): /boˈs̻e/

• Hyphenation: vo‧cê

Pronoun

você m or f by sense (plural vocês)

1. second-person singular personal pronoun; you

Further reading

• “você”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2026

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• vossa mercê, vossemecê, vosmecê (archaic)
• voncê, vossuncê, vassuncê, vancê, vacê, mecê, suncê (Brazil, rustic)
• sossemecê (obsolete)
• ocê (Brazil, rustic, eye dialect)
• cê, 'cê (Brazil, informal)
• c, se, vc (Internet slang, text messaging, Brazil)

Etymology

Syncope of vosmecê, elision of vossemecê, contraction of Old Galician-Portuguese vossa mercee (literally “your mercy”) (today's mercê) from Latin vostram + mercēdem. Compare with Spanish usted (from vuestra merced (literally “your mercy”)) and Catalan vostè.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /voˈse/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /vɔˈse/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /vɔˈse/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /bɔˈse/

• (São Miguel, Azores) IPA^(key): /vɔˈsɐ/
• (Brazil, informal) IPA^(key): /se/

• Audio (Brazil (São Paulo)):

  (file)

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

  • Homophones: cê, sê
  • Homophone: ser (with -r dropping)
• Rhymes: -e
• Hyphenation: vo‧cê

Pronoun

você m or f by sense (plural vocês)

2. second-person singular personal pronoun, formal or informal in Brazil, formal or semi-formal in Portugal; you

   Synonyms: tu, o senhor, a senhora

   • 2003, J. K. Rowling, Lia Wyler, Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fênix, Rocco, page 227:

     Pensei que você tivesse dito que ela estava só mandando você escrever!

     I thought that you had said that she was just ordering you to write!

4. indefinite pronoun; you, one

   Você pode levar um cavalo até a água, mas não pode fazê-lo beber.

   You can take a horse to the water, but you can’t make it drink.

Usage notes

• In Portugal and some parts of Brazil, você represents an intermediate degree of formality between tu (familiar) and o senhor (very formal), where it is generally used in situations of little intimacy.
• In Portugal, the pronoun "você" does not carry the informal, everyday tone it has in Brazil; instead, it is a more direct or formal form that can sound distant—or even offensive—if used incorrectly.
• In most parts of Brazil (especially in the Southeast, with the exception of some cities), você has replaced tu as the informal second person singular pronoun, and tu is relegated to archaic, poetic and religious usages, much like the English thou. In Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina, Brasília and most Northeastern States, tu is used in very informal situations, though it usually uses the third-person singular conjugation of verbs, similar to many Spanish-speaking countries with voseo.
• In the Amazofonia dialect(s) of the Brazilian Amazon, spoken in cities such as Manaus and Belém, tu is the preferred and less marked second person singular pronoun and maintains its unique conjugation. Você is used as a familiar and intimate pronoun, such as with partners or children.
• Teu, te, and to a lesser extent ti and contigo, are widely used alongside você in Brazilian dialects that do not use tu.
• Its plural form vós is mostly archaic in modern Portuguese, superseded by vocês, with the exception of some Northern Portuguese dialects.
• Você and vocês, despite being second-person pronouns, always follow third-person conjugation.

Descendants

• → Ambonese Malay: ose

See also

Portuguese personal pronouns

number	person		nominative	prepositional	accusative	dative	prepositional with com	non-declining
singular	1st		eu	mim	me		comigo	—
	2nd		tu	ti	te		contigo	você o senhor m a senhora f
	3rd	m	ele		o (lo, no)	lhe	com ele	o mesmo
		f	ela		a (la, na)		com ela	a mesma
plural	1st		nós		nos		connosco (Portugal) conosco (Brazil)	a gente
	2nd		vós		vos		convosco com vós	vocês os senhores m as senhoras f
	3rd	m	eles		os (los, nos)	lhes	com eles	os mesmos
		f	elas		as (las, nas)		com elas	as mesmas
reflexive 3rd / indefinite			—	si	se		consigo	o mesmo etc. (reflexive)

Further reading

• “você”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “você”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026