Do Portuguese pronouns go before or after the verb?
This is the clearest grammatical split between the two varieties. Brazilian Portuguese puts the pronoun before the verb by default — eu te amo. European Portuguese attaches it after with a hyphen — amo-te — unless something in the sentence pulls it forward, which negatives, question words and certain adverbs all do.
Brazil puts it first, Portugal attaches it
Both are correct in their own variety. Brazilian speech consistently fronts the pronoun even at the start of a sentence, which prescriptive grammar traditionally disallows and everyone does anyway.
Eu te amo.
I love you.
Brazilian.
Amo-te.
I love you.
European.
Me diga.
Tell me.
Brazilian — sentence-initial pronoun.
Triggers pull the pronoun forward
In European Portuguese a set of words forces the pronoun before the verb: negatives, question words, and adverbs like já, ainda, também and só. After these, both varieties agree.
Não te vi.
I didn't see you.
Negative pulls it forward.
Quem te disse?
Who told you?
Já te disse.
I already told you.
Attached to a future or conditional, it goes inside
European Portuguese splits the verb and puts the pronoun in the middle — mesoclisis. It is formal and increasingly rare in speech, but it appears in writing and is startling the first time you meet it.
Dar-te-ei o livro.
I will give you the book.
Pronoun inside the future form.
Vou te dar o livro.
I'm going to give you the book.
Brazilian phrasing avoids it entirely.
Common mistakes
Amo-te. (writing Brazilian Portuguese)
Eu te amo.
Not wrong, but distinctly European. In Brazilian Portuguese it sounds literary or foreign.
Não vi-te.
Não te vi.
A negative forces the pronoun before the verb in both varieties.
Te amo. (in formal European writing)
Amo-te.
European Portuguese avoids a sentence-initial pronoun in careful writing.
Frequently asked questions
Which placement should I learn?
Match your target variety. If you are learning Brazilian Portuguese, front the pronoun and do not worry about mesoclisis at all. If you are learning European Portuguese, learn the attached form and the trigger words that override it.
Will I be understood if I use the wrong one?
Entirely. The placement marks where you learned rather than whether you are right, and speakers of both varieties read each other's usage without difficulty.
Is mesoclisis really used?
Rarely in speech, even in Portugal, and Brazilians essentially never use it. You need it for reading formal European texts and can otherwise leave it alone.