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Portuguese/Contents/BPL1/Primeira lição
Genders and articles
In grammar, nouns (Portuguese: "substantivos") are all words that give names to things. Some Indo-European
languages (like English and Portuguese) present grammatical genders (Portuguese: "gêneros gramaticais), meaning
that every single word has a specific gender. In English words are either masculine, feminine or neutral, but only
singular personal pronouns distinguishes genders: "he", "she" and "it", respectively. The grammatical gender in
English coincides with the "natural gender": masculine nouns are those that name men or male animals, feminine
nouns are those that name women and female animals, neutral nouns are all those that are not male nor female.
Unlike English, Portuguese has no neutral gender (nouns are either masculine or feminine) and there is not actually a
rule for determining what the gender of a noun is. Every single noun (people, animals, even inanimate objects and
places) has a specific gender. For example, the word "mesa" (table) is a feminine noun, but the word "prato" (dish)
is a masculine noun. The gender of each noun must be learned, although there is a rule of thumb that does help you
to greatly minimize the amount of mistakes that can be done - you will meet it in the next few paragraphs.
Portuguese articles and adjectives also have masculine and feminine forms. Their gender is determined by the noun
they are with (masculine nouns must be linked to masculine articles and adjectives, and feminine nouns to feminine
articles or adjectives). Looking at a word's article, it is possible to say which is the gender if the noun. The definite
articles in Portuguese are:
Masculine o os
Feminine a as
Unlike English, grammatical gender isn't always correlated to sexual gender; it is sometimes correlated, but it is not a
rule.
a mulher ("the woman") – "mulher" is a feminine noun.
o homem ("the man") – "homem" is a masculine noun.
a criança ("the child") – "criança" is a feminine noun, but it is used both for boys and girls.
There is a tip about determining the gender of a singular noun: the last vowel of a noun is often the same as that of
the definite article of its gender. It means that nouns ending in -o are mostly masculine, and nouns ending in -a are
mostly feminine.
a casa ("the house") – "casa" is a feminine noun.
o almoço ("the lunch") – "almoço" is a masculine noun.
a caixa ("the box") – "caixa" is a feminine noun.
o quarto ("the room") – "quarto" is a masculine noun.
Portuguese indefinite articles are easier to learn than the definite ones. Let's look at them:
Portuguese/Contents/BPL1/Primeira lição 2
Masculine um uns
Exercises
Homem (men) is masculine and mulher (women) is feminine. What is the articles of...
• (.) men is tall.
• (.) women
Personal pronouns
There are eight personal pronouns (Portuguese: "pronomes pessoais") in standard Portuguese:
Personal pronouns
1. s. eu I
2. s. tu you
3. s. ele he, it
ela she, it
1. p. nós we
3. p. eles they
elas
Some of these are unusual or absolutely not used in common Brazilian Portuguese. The pronoun "vós" is never used
coloquially (even in European Portuguese), neither at formal language nor at informal language; however, you will
find it in classic literary work. Also, in some dialects, the pronoun "tu" is no longer used. Instead of the
second-person pronouns, one may use the address pronouns (Portuguese: "pronomes de tratamento") "você"
(singular) and "vocês" (plural). Despite being second person pronouns (meaning "you" and "you all"), they behave as
third person pronouns (all address pronouns behave the same way).
Portuguese/Contents/BPL1/Primeira lição 3
The pronoun "nós" is becoming increasingly avoided by many people (especially the younger) in colloquial
language, although a significant part of the population still uses it. Instead, "a gente" (literally: "the people") is used.
Though it actually means "we", it is a feminine noun, and behaves as a third person singular "pronoun".
1. s. I eu
2. s. you tu
3. s. he, it ele
she, it ela
1. p. we nós
3. p. they eles
elas
Languages such as Italian, German, Polish and even Portuguese have special words to address people politely. In
Italian, Lei is used for addressing both a man and a woman, generally an unknown or someone we know but are not
intimate with; in Polish one has Pan for men and Pani for women. In Portuguese, it is customary to address older
people, or anyone we would want to be respectful with, by o senhor (the male form, equivalent to the english "sir")
and a senhora (the female form, equivalento to "madam"). These words mean, respectively, "the sir" and "the
madam". When using the vocative, the articles ("o" and "a") are removed.
Senhor, que horas são? ("What time is it, sir?")
Com licença, senhora, qual o nome desta rua? ("Excuse me madam, what is the name of this street?")
Como a senhora está? ("How are you?", polite)
However, do not address people by senhor or senhora unless they have a certain age, or if they are in an important
position. Brazilians tend to be very informal and many people might find it strange to be addressed by senhor or
senhora. As a matter of fact, they might even feel old - and they will let you know it sometimes, albeit with a great
dose of good humor!
All adjectives which end in -o also change in gender. To turn them to their feminine forms, change the final -o for -a.
The gender of some nouns which end in -o may be changed the same way.
o menino cansado ("the tired boy")
os meninos cansados ("the tired boys")
a menina cansada ("the tired girl")
as meninas cansadas ("the tired girls")
You will also find many nouns and adjectives that end with an r. Such nouns are generally masculine; the female
form will usually take an a:
o pintor ("the painter", male)
a pintora ("the painter", female)
o professor ("the teacher", male)
a professora ("the teacher", female)
Other plurals
Some adjectives that end in -z take -es for forming the plural.
o indivíduo feliz ("the happy person")
os indivíduos felizes ("the happy people")
Most nouns and adjectives ending in -l have their last syllables stressed. The plural of such words is made by
changing the -l for -is.
o código penal ("the penal code")
os códigos penais ("the penal codes")
Some nouns ending in -l don't have their last syllable stressed (marked by the circumflex or by the acute accent), so
they don't get -is for pluralizing. Instead, they get -es, just like words ending in -z.
o cônsul ("the consul")
os cônsules ("the consuls")
Of course, there would be exceptions to the simple rule. One of them is when a noun ends with -ão, which becomes
ões:
o avião ("the airplane")
'os aviões ("the airplane")
'o balão ("the balloon")
os balões ("the balloons")
Aumentative form
This ending can also be used to for the aumentative of nouns, coloquially or not. Very colloquially, it can also be an
enhancement to the quality expressed by the adjective, but only in the masculine:
amarelo ("yellow")
amarelão ("strong yellow")
bonito ("handsome")
bonitão ("very handsome")
The feminine version of this "superlative" form would be -ona. The gramatically (generally) correct form would be
to add "muito" before the adjective:
Portuguese/Contents/BPL1/Primeira lição 5
Verb 'estar'
Portuguese verbs conjugate (inflect), having different forms for each grammar person. Most verbs follow one of the
three regular conjugation patterns, but there are some irregular verbs; the two copula verbs are irregular. The first
verb you will learn is "estar" in the simple present. Portuguese grammar calls this tense indicative present
(Portuguese: presente do indicativo).
1. s. eu estou I am
Continuous tense
In English, the continuous tense (Portuguese: tempo contínuo) is formed by combining "to be" with the present
participle of a verb. In Portuguese, it is formed the same way, with the auxiliary verb "estar". The present participle
is called gerund (Portuguese: gerúndio) by Portuguese grammar. The infinitive verbs are preceded with "to" in
English. In Portuguese, all of them end in -r. To form the gerund tense, just change their -r to -ndo.
Portuguese English
Dialogue
John is an English who is studying Brazilian Portuguese. He meets his Brazilian friends Renata and Marcelo, who also live in England.
John: Marcelo, Renata! Oi!
Marcelo: Oi!
Renata: Oi! Como você está?
John: Bem, e vocês?
Marcelo: Estamos bem!
Renata: Você está estudando português?
John: Estou sim! E já estou atrasado para a aula, estou indo embora!
Marcelo: Tudo bem, tchau!
Renata: Tchau!
John: Tchau!
Vocabulary
como how
e and
estar to be irregular present indicative (estou, estás, está, estamos, estais, estão).
estudar to study
já already
muito very
oi hello, hi
sim yes
tchau bye
tudo everything
tudo bem ok
License
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