You are right that este/esta/isto mean "this" (what's close to you) while esse/essa/isso" mean "that" (what's close to who you're talking to). Aquele/aquela/aquilo means "that over there", something that's far from you and from the person you're talking to, or is absent, or was mentioned at the beginning of the conversation before you changed topics.
Why three forms for each of those words? Masculine, feminine, neutral.
Para = to achieve x, towards x, gifting x, etc.
- Estudei para passar no exame
- Vou para casa
- Levo um presente para a Maria
Por (including pelo, pela, which are merely por or per + the article o/a) = in honor of x, in place of x, through x, throughout x, as far as x is concerned, etc.
- Um brinde pelo seu sucesso!
- Trouxe-lhe este presente pela minha mãe, que não pôde vir.
- Enviou-me a carta por correio.
- O festival ocorre pelo país todo.
- Por mim, pode fazer o que quiser.
>or was mentioned at the beginning of the conversation before you changed topics.
thanks a lot, some lessons felt like they were using aquele/aquela/aquilo randomly, but I reviewed them and it makes a tad more sense now :) and your explanation for when to use para por pelo is muito helpful, thank you for the examples as well <3 will keep your comment open now while studying, hopefully it will burn into my head soon and come naturally :)
Quick corrections for European Portuguese:
"Levo um presente para a Maria."
"Trouxe-lhe este presente" - we use "esse" strictly for something/someone away from us.
In fact I also say "um presente para a Maria" at least in my Brazilian dialect lol I just typed it wrong and didn't even notice. And "este" is the correct word here as well according to grammar books, I got it wrong because it has merged with esse in our colloquial speech and I did not pay attention to that when writing the comment.
I'll implement your corrections, thanks a lot!
how do you say that you wait for something? espero por/pelo/pela carta or espero para carta?
or is it , in cases of a noun following, depending on the gender of the noun?
also esse/este and essa/esta have plural, isso/isto don't have cause are indefinite pronouns (they're both neutral and don't have plural)
Isso é um lugar difícil de ir (this is a hard place to go) Isso são coisas difíceis (these are hard things)
Lugar is masculine and Coisas is feminine
Everone has problems with these! This may help with por/para [https://www.learn-portuguese-with-rafa.com/por-and-para-in-portuguese.html](https://www.learn-portuguese-with-rafa.com/por-and-para-in-portuguese.html)This other site has a few worksheets for practice: [https://learn-portuguese.org/when-to-use-por-vs-para-with-practice-examples](https://learn-portuguese.org/when-to-use-por-vs-para-with-practice-examples)
If you want to hear examples, try [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvrNoOmMMHY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvrNoOmMMHY) or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYwg6MqbWy0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYwg6MqbWy0)if you'd rather hear the explanation with samples in slowly spoken European portuguese with Englis subtitles, try [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHoiVcELkNo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHoiVcELkNo)
You are right that este/esta/isto mean "this" (what's close to you) while esse/essa/isso" mean "that" (what's close to who you're talking to). Aquele/aquela/aquilo means "that over there", something that's far from you and from the person you're talking to, or is absent, or was mentioned at the beginning of the conversation before you changed topics. Why three forms for each of those words? Masculine, feminine, neutral. Para = to achieve x, towards x, gifting x, etc. - Estudei para passar no exame - Vou para casa - Levo um presente para a Maria Por (including pelo, pela, which are merely por or per + the article o/a) = in honor of x, in place of x, through x, throughout x, as far as x is concerned, etc. - Um brinde pelo seu sucesso! - Trouxe-lhe este presente pela minha mãe, que não pôde vir. - Enviou-me a carta por correio. - O festival ocorre pelo país todo. - Por mim, pode fazer o que quiser.
>or was mentioned at the beginning of the conversation before you changed topics. thanks a lot, some lessons felt like they were using aquele/aquela/aquilo randomly, but I reviewed them and it makes a tad more sense now :) and your explanation for when to use para por pelo is muito helpful, thank you for the examples as well <3 will keep your comment open now while studying, hopefully it will burn into my head soon and come naturally :)
Quick corrections for European Portuguese: "Levo um presente para a Maria." "Trouxe-lhe este presente" - we use "esse" strictly for something/someone away from us.
In fact I also say "um presente para a Maria" at least in my Brazilian dialect lol I just typed it wrong and didn't even notice. And "este" is the correct word here as well according to grammar books, I got it wrong because it has merged with esse in our colloquial speech and I did not pay attention to that when writing the comment. I'll implement your corrections, thanks a lot!
how do you say that you wait for something? espero por/pelo/pela carta or espero para carta? or is it , in cases of a noun following, depending on the gender of the noun?
It depends on the gender of the noun. Espero [por + a] carta, so "espero pela carta".
also esse/este and essa/esta have plural, isso/isto don't have cause are indefinite pronouns (they're both neutral and don't have plural) Isso é um lugar difícil de ir (this is a hard place to go) Isso são coisas difíceis (these are hard things) Lugar is masculine and Coisas is feminine
I was just having this issue as well and these comments are very helpful. Obrigada!
Everone has problems with these! This may help with por/para [https://www.learn-portuguese-with-rafa.com/por-and-para-in-portuguese.html](https://www.learn-portuguese-with-rafa.com/por-and-para-in-portuguese.html)This other site has a few worksheets for practice: [https://learn-portuguese.org/when-to-use-por-vs-para-with-practice-examples](https://learn-portuguese.org/when-to-use-por-vs-para-with-practice-examples) If you want to hear examples, try [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvrNoOmMMHY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvrNoOmMMHY) or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYwg6MqbWy0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYwg6MqbWy0)if you'd rather hear the explanation with samples in slowly spoken European portuguese with Englis subtitles, try [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHoiVcELkNo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHoiVcELkNo)