Portuguese Prepositions

This page contains a table including the following: Portuguese/Brazilian prepositions and linking expressions. Try to memorize the way they're used because they're very important in communication, and might be very helpful to convey your most important expressions. Make sure to check out our Learn Portuguese page, which contains several lessons that might help you in your learning process.

What is a Preposition?

A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence as in the example in the table below.

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

Most prepositions would begin with the link word ‘em’ and after the preposition would follow ‘de’. These help put the preposition words into context and help the flow of sentences in Portuguese.

English Prepositions	Portuguese Prepositions

The keyboard is on the desk	O teclado está na escrivaninha
The carpet is under the table	O tapete está de baixo da mesa
The tree is in front of the building	A árvore ésta na frente do edifício
The child is hiding behind his mother	A criança esconde atrás da sua mãe

The most common prepositions are: after (depois), at (em), before (antes), between (entre), under (baixo), on (cima), in (em), out (fora), behind (atrás) … (for a longer list, see the table at the bottom of this page).

Prepositions Table in Portuguese

Here are some examples of demonstrative prepositions in the table below, note that just like in English, they're used very often in Portuguese:

Demonstrative Prepositions	Portuguese	Pronunciation

This	Este	ES-TE
That	Esse	ES-SE
These	Estes	ES-TES
Those	Essas	ES-SAS

Below are some prepositions in Portuguese or Brazilian with their pronunciation. Try to memorize the prepositions below, because they’re very important and used daily.

Vocaublary	Portuguese Prepositions	Portuguese Pronunciation

Above	Acima	A-SEE-MA
After	Depois	DEP-OYCE
Around	Circulo	SEER-CUL-O
At	Em	EN
Because of	Porque	POR-KAY
Before	Antes	AN-TES
Beside	Ao lado	OW-LA-DO
Between	Entre	ENT-RE
But	Mas	MAS
Close to	Perto	PAIR-TO
Down	Para baixo	PA-RA-BYE-SHO
During	Durante	DUR-AN-TE
For	Para	PA-RA
From	De	DE
In	Em	EN
In front of	Em frente	EN-FREN-TE
Inside	Dentro	DEN-TRO
Instead of	Em vez	EN-VEZ
Like	Como	CO-MO
Near	Perto	PAIR-TO
Next to	Ao lado	OW-LA-DO
On	Cima	SEE-MA
On top of	Em cima	EN-SEE-MA
Out	Fora	FO-RA
Outside	Fora de	FO-RA-DE
Over	Demasiado	DE-MAS-EE-A-DO
Over	A cima	A-SEE-MA
Since	Desde	DES-DAY
Than	Que	KE
To	Para	PA-RA
Under	Baixo	BYE-SHO
Until	Até	AT-AY
Up	Acima	A-SEE-MA
Without	Sim	SIN

I hope the content of this page was useful to you, and that you learned some Portuguese prepositions. Make sure to memorize them to be able to use them in your daily conversation.

Remember to visit our Learn Portuguese page, which contains several lessons that might help you in learning the Portuguese language.

Portuguese Lesson Pages

Portuguese Adjectives

Portuguese Vocabulary