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Friday, January 6, 2012

Ce, cê, ocê, ces, cês ou 6

Oi gente. Again, I come to talk about pronouns.

You already know that most Brazilians say você, but what you may not know is that this word is already an abbreviation of the phrase "vossa mercê", that could be translated into something like sir in an old fashioned way.

Like every other language, Brazilian Portuguese is continuously changing and in the 18th century, this is how people would refer to you  formally. Time has passed and Vossa Mercê turned into Vosmecê, that led to Você.

With Internet talk and text messages você has turned into vccê or ce and vocês, into vcscês, ces, or even 6 (the pronunciation is very similar: "seis"). It's not only written, but also spoken.
In a few parts of the country you can hear ocê, but if you're in the coastal area this is not common.
Furthermore, there's a character from a comic book, very famous in Brazil, called Chico Bento (see the picture) that speaks like that.

Cês tão com fome?
Ce vai na praia hoje?
Ele disse que cê queria.
Ce pode ir com a gente.
6 vão?

Até a próxima.