Tu vs Você: Address Forms in Portugal
European Portuguese uses tu for informal address and o senhor / a senhora for formal address. Você occupies a contested middle ground in EP and its social meaning varies by region.
PortuStories Editorial
European Portuguese Grammar Guide
In Portugal, tu is the default informal second-person pronoun used with friends, family, peers, and children. It conjugates with the tu forms of all verbs.
Tu vens amanhã?
Are you coming tomorrow?
Informal tu.
For formal address, EP uses o senhor / a senhora with third-person verb agreement rather than você. In EP, você can feel neutral in some regions but cold or even rude between equals in others.
🇵🇹 European Portuguese
O senhor pode ajudar-me? (formal EP)
🇧🇷 Brazilian Portuguese
Você pode me ajudar? (neutral formal in BP)
EP formal address prefers "o senhor/a senhora". Você is less naturally polite in EP.
A senhora quer mais alguma coisa?
Would you like anything else?
Formal EP address to a woman.
When in doubt with strangers, use o senhor / a senhora. Among young people and in casual settings, tu is nearly universal in Portugal.
Vocês (plural) is the standard second-person plural in EP. Vós exists but is now only used in liturgical or highly formal contexts.
From a PortuStories Story
O empregado perguntou: "O senhor deseja pagar com cartão ou em dinheiro?"
The waiter asked: "Would you like to pay by card or in cash?"