Pronomes combinados e colocação clítica
Lessons 13–14 introduced direct (me, te, o, a, nos, vos, os, as) and indirect (me, te, lhe, nos, vos, lhes) pronouns. Today: what happens when BOTH show up in the same sentence. The indirect pronoun fuses with the direct, producing a single combined form: mo, ma, to, ta, lho, lha, no-lo, no-la, etc. These forms are everyday in formal European Portuguese and almost extinct in spoken Brazilian. We'll also nail down the placement rules — enclisis, proclisis, and what triggers the swap.
How the combinations form
The indirect goes first, then fuses with the direct. me + o = mo. me + a = ma. me + os = mos. me + as = mas. te + o = to. te + a = ta. lhe + o = lho. lhe + a = lha. lhe + os = lhos. lhe + as = lhas. nos + o = no-lo (with hyphen — the s of nos drops and the l- appears). nos + a = no-la. vos + o = vo-lo. lhes + o = lho (same as singular lhe + o).
What they replace
Dei o livro à Ana → Dei-lho = I gave it to her. The lhe stands in for 'à Ana'; the o stands in for 'o livro'. Compraste-me as flores → Compraste-mas = you bought them for me. Vou enviar a carta ao João → Vou enviar-lha / Vou enviá-la ao João — both work, but only the first uses the combined form. Compressed and elegant in writing; in speech, mainly heard in formal Portugal.
Placement: enclitic by default (PT)
Same rules as a single pronoun, lessons 13–14. In a plain affirmative European Portuguese sentence, the pronoun (or combined pronoun) hooks onto the back of the verb with a hyphen. Disse-mo = he/she told it to me. Compramos-vo-lo = we buy it for you all. Dou-tos amanhã = I'll give them to you tomorrow. The hyphen is mandatory in writing.
Triggers that pull the pronoun forward
The same triggers from lesson 13 pull the combined form to BEFORE the verb. Negação: Não mo deu = he/she didn't give it to me. Subordinadores que, se, porque: Sei que mo deu = I know he gave it to me; se mo deres = if you give it to me. Palavras interrogativas: Quando mo dás? = When are you giving it to me? Adverbs like já, sempre, também, ainda, nunca: Já mo disse. Remove the trigger and the combined pronoun springs back behind the verb.
Mesoclisis — the rare middle position
When the verb is in the futuro do presente or condicional AND no other trigger is present, the pronoun lodges INSIDE the verb form, between the stem and the ending. Dar-lho-ei = I will give it to him (futuro). Dar-lho-ia = I would give it to him (condicional). Yes, two hyphens. This is formal-written-Portugal territory only — you'll never need to produce it, but recognize it when you see it. With any trigger, mesoclisis disappears: Não lho darei is fine; *Não dar-lho-ei is wrong.
Brazilian register: the combined forms are nearly extinct
In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, mo, lho, no-lo etc. are NOT used. Brazilians fall back to longer phrasings: Dei o livro para ele instead of Dei-lho. Trouxe isso para mim instead of Trouxe-mo. Even formal Brazilian writing tends to avoid the combinations. We'll teach them so you can read PT novels and formal documents, but in speech and Brazilian writing you'll almost always see the unfused version. lhe itself is also rare in spoken BR — replaced by para ele / para ela / para você.
