How to Say "His" in Portuguese

dele

/ˈde.li/

In Portuguese, 'his' is expressed as dele.

dele is an attributive possessive used to indicate that something belongs to him.

Meaning: attributive: belonging to him (det)

What does it mean word for word?

The word dele is a contraction of the preposition de (of) and the pronoun ele (he), literally meaning 'of him'.

Unlike English, the word dele does not change based on the gender of the object owned, only the gender of the owner.

To say 'hers', use the feminine contraction dela.

/ˈde.li/. It has 2 syllables, with the stress on the 1st syllable.

The word dele is used as a way to avoid the 'possessive ambiguity' found in the Portuguese word seu, which can refer to a third person or the person being spoken to.
Using dele instead of the simpler possessive seu is often necessary to avoid confusion. In many regions, seu can be ambiguous and might be mistaken for 'your'.
If you are talking about 'his' in a way that refers to a non-human entity, such as a dog or a boat, you still use dele if that entity is grammatically masculine, even if the entity is not a 'him'.

A casa é dele.
It's his house.
This sentence shows how to use dele to indicate ownership of a house.
Tatoeba #7105724 by iart61, translation #8170474 by lucasmg123
Sei o nome dele.
I know his name.
This sentence uses dele to show possession of a name.
Tatoeba #5116780 by Ricardo14, translation #487170 by adjusting
Isso não é dele.
It's not his.
This sentence demonstrates the negation of ownership using dele.
Tatoeba #8059203 by MacGyver, translation #6954854 by Eccles17
o seu livro
His book
o seu carro
His car
a casa dele
His house
a mochila do cara
His backpack
a camiseta dele mesmo
His very own t-shirt
Eu vi o carro dele na garagem.
I saw his car in the garage
A casa é dele mesmo, comprou no ano passado.
The house is his own, he bought it last year
O livro do rapaz está na estante.
The guy's book is on the shelf
1972 more sentences on Tatoeba

Camila and Felipe are talking about a coworker's bag.

Sources

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