In Portuguese, differently than in English, not only the nouns have plural forms, but the adjectives do as well. Remember an adjective in Portuguese has to agree in gender (masculine or feminine) and in number (singular or plural) with the noun it refers to.

Words Ending in a Vowel (a, e, i, o, u):

As a general rule, if a word ends in a vowel (a, e, i, o, u), all you need is to add an s to it. But as in English, there are some exceptions to making the plural in Portuguese. But don’t worry too much about them; just learn the new words both in the singular and the plural.

Examples:

• Cama leve = camas leves ~ light beds
• Gibi fino    =  gibis finos     ~ thin comic books
• Urubu feio =  urubus feios ~ ugly buzzards

Words Ending in an l:

 If a word ends in either al or ul, just cut the l off and add an is to it. If the word ends in either an el or ol, cut the l off and add an is to the word as previously mentioned, but also add an accent to those vowels e and o. If the a word ends in il, just add an s to the word because the i is already there.

Examples:

• Canal   = canais ~ channels
• Azul     = azuis   ~ blue
• Anel    = anéis    ~ rings
• Lençol = lencóis ~ bed sheets
• Canil   = canis    ~ kennels  

Words ending in em:

If a word ends in em, you take off the m and add ns to the rest of the word to make it plural. If a word has an accent on the é, you carry the accent to the plural form.

Examples:

• Trem    = trens  ~ trains
• Refém = reféns ~ hostage

Words ending in r, s or z:

 If a word ends in either r, s or z, just add an es to the word to make it plural.

Examples:

• Motor = motores ~ motors
• Mês*  =  meses   ~ months
• luz     =   luzes    ~ lights

 *In this case, the singular form – mês – has an accent  because it’s a strong monosyllable word ending in s  but the accent is not carried over to the plural form.

Words ending in ão:

 A word ending in ão, can have one of the three following different endings in the plural form:, ões, ães, ãos. You’re going to notice that the majority of the nouns in this case are going to have their plural end in ões. Don’t worry about it. As you learn new words ending in ão, just memorize their plural. That’s exactly what Brazilians do.

Examples:

• Leão      =   leões    ~ lions
• Capitão = capitães ~ captains
• Irmão*   =  irmãos  ~ brothers

 *In this case, you’re really just adding an s to the word.

Just as in English, in Portuguese there some nouns that are already in the plural. This means that the word does not have a singular form just the plural.

Examples:

• Os óculos ~ eyeglasses 
• As calças  ~ pants
• As férias   ~ vacation
• As costas ~ back (part of the body)

I’m glad you’re here! If you’re just starting on your journey of Portuguese learning, be sure to check the Starter Guide.

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As we mentioned in our post about nouns, in Portuguese there are two genders which are used to represent not only people and animals, but also things. Then, when you want to use an adjective to describe a word in Portuguese, you need to take into consideration whether it’s in the masculine or feminine form and whether it’s in the plural or singular while making the necessary adjustment.

Another thing to consider is the form of to be you’re going to use. If you’re describing an intrinsic quality or characteristic – which is something that is part of the noun you’re talking about, you need to use verb Ser. If you’re describing a temporary condition or state of the noun you’re talking about, you need to use Estar.

Here are some examples of an intrinsic quality:

Examples:

• O louva-a-deus é verde.* ~ The praying mantis is green.
• João é um cabeça-dura. ~ João is stubborn.

*With some colors like verde, azul (blue), bege (beige), marrom (brown), lilás (lilac), there is only a form for both the masculine and feminine. But they will need to change to make the plural, except for lilás because it ends in s.

Example:

• Os olhos da Marina são azuis. ~ Marina’s eyes are blue.

When you’re talking about people, in the case of an intrinsic quality you can also use verb ter (to have).

Example:

• Marina tem olhos azuis. ~ Marina has blue eyes.

Here are some examples of a temporary condition or state:

Examples:

• As crianças estão doentes.  ~ The children are sick.
• O cachorro está alegre. ~ The dog is happy.

I’m glad you’re here! If you’re just starting on your journey of Portuguese learning, be sure to check out the Starter Guide.

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The Informal You

Você is the most popular way used to refer to you in Brazil. That’s the term everyone uses with their brothers and sisters and close friends. Even though você means you, it is conjugated with the verb form in the 3 ^rd person singular. Você can be used to refer to both male and female people without any spelling changes. So, if we wanted to say – You are a great teacher! – you could express yourself in the following manner taking into consideration each situation:

Examples:

• When talking to a male:  Você é um ótimo professor!
• When talking to a female:  Você é uma ótima professora!

Tu is the true you form. However, I have noticed that tu has become very unpopular with many Portuguese language courses. Most of them have totally eliminated this person from their programs and books. They say that it’s only used in Portugal, and that it’s not used at all in Brazil. Unfortunately, that isn’t true. It is used a lot in the very South of Brazil, specifically in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. It is also extensively used in the Northeast, namely in the states of Paraíba and Pernambuco.

Examples:

• When talking to a male:  Tu és um ótimo professor!
• When talking to a female:  Tu és uma ótima professora!

Note: It’s very common to hear people using tu with the grammatically incorrect verb form.  So, instead of saying tu és, they say tu é.

The Formal You

O senhor is used when speaking to a male, and a senhora when speaking to a female. And of course, that’s the way we would talk to older people, teachers, bosses, acquaintances, people we not very close to, and people you casually meet in a store, in the street, on a bus.

Examples:

• When talking to a male:  O senhor é um ótimo professor!
• When talking to a female:  A senhora é uma ótima professora!

 If you’re just starting on your journey of Portuguese learning, be sure to check out our Starter Guide.

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In Portuguese just as in English, there are two types of articles: the definite article – o, a, os, as (the) and the indefinite article um, uma, uns, umas (a, an). The reason that there are four representations of both types of articles in Portuguese it’s because there is a distinction between the masculine and feminine words. So, there are two words for the feminine – singular and plural, and two words for the masculine -singular and plural.

The Definite Article

The definite article implies that something is the one or specific thing or the ones specific things. In Portuguese the  word o corresponds to a masculine, singular noun and the word os corresponds to a masculine, plural noun. 

Examples:

• o bolo de aniversário – the birthday cake – It refers to the specific cake.
• os bolos de aniversário – the birthday cakes

The word a corresponds to a feminine, singular noun, and the word as corresponds to a feminine plural noun.

Examples:

• a bola de futebol – the soccer ball
• as bolas – the soccer balls

The Indefinite Article

The indefinite article implies that something is one or some among others of the same kind. The word um corresponds to a masculine, singular noun and the word uns corresponds to a masculine, plural noun. 

Examples:

• um bolo de aniversário – a birthday cake – It refers to any cake among other cakes.
• uns* bolos de aniversário – some birthday cakes

Note: that the word um in the plural is uns. So, you have to change the m into n and add an s to make it plural. 

The word uma corresponds to a feminine, singular noun and the word umas corresponds to a feminine, plural noun. 

Examples:  

uma bola de futebol – any ball among other soccer balls

umas bolas de futebol – some soccer balls

As you can see these words change in Portuguese because they have to match both the gender (masculine or feminine) and the number (plural or singular) of the nouns they refer to.  

So, usually if a word in Portuguese ends in an o, it’s masculine singular (bolo) , and if it ends in an a, it’s feminine singular (bola). If a word ends in os, it’s masculine plural (bolos). If it ends as, it’s feminine plural (bolas). Obviously, the s is an indicator of the plural in Portuguese.

Now, to decide which kind of article you want to use before the nouns will depend on the meaning you want the word to convey. If you want to say that it’s the one – the ones specifically, you use one of these o, a, os, as. If you want to say that it’s one or some among others, you use one of these um, uma, uns, umas.

Note: It’s a good idea to learn each noun with its corresponding definite article before it. That way, you will be able to easily recognize when a noun is masculine or feminine in the future.

 I’m so glad you’re here! If you’re just starting on your journey of Portuguese learning, be sure to check out the Starter Guide.

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