quem
Portuguese, pronoun
quem is spelled Q-U-E-M (4 letters) and appears 1,349 times per million words in written Portuguese, the 70th most frequent Portuguese word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Quem is a Portuguese pronoun meaning “who; whom (which person?)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a diaeresis, qüem is a different word: “pre-reform spelling (used until 1990 in Brazil and 1945 in Portugal)…”. With an accent, quém is a different word: “quack (imitative of the sound of a duck)”. The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “pronome que se refere a uma ou mais pessoas”.
What does quem mean in English?
pronoun
- 1
who; whom (which person?)
Quem viu o novo filme?
- 2
who; whom; that (the person who[m] or that)
Foi ele quem me falou de você.
- 3
those who; people who; anyone who; who(m)ever
Não me lembro do nome de quem me ligou.
interjection
- 1
alternative spelling of quém
interjection
- 1
pre-reform spelling (used until 1990 in Brazil and 1945 in Portugal) of quem; may still occur as a sporadic misspelling
noun
- 1
quack (imitative of the sound of a duck)
interjection
- 1
quack (imitative of the sound of a duck)
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
pronoun: 1. pronome que se refere a uma ou mais pessoas
The definition in the Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), in Portuguese.
Source: Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of quem
- kem alternative Internet
- qm alternative Internet
- queim alternative Brazil pronunciation-spelling
- quẽ alternative abbreviation obsolete
- quem alternative
- qüem alternative
Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to quem
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is quem in Portuguese?
quem appears 1,349 times per million words in written Portuguese.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).