Though many nouns will also helpfully end in -o(m.) or -a(f.), some nouns like céu(sky), do not. In these cases, you’ll need to memorize the noun’s gender in order to form proper agreement. For a refresher on the gender of Brazilian Portuguese nouns, check out this post!
Brazilian Portuguese Articles
How to use adjectives in Brazilian Portuguese?
By: Fabiana Dametto Oliveira Thu Dec 19 2024
Brazilian portugueseAdjectives
Adjectives are words used to describe a nounNo definition set for nounLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.. In Brazilian Portuguese, they are usually placed after the noun they describe, and they must agreeNo definition set for agreeLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with the noun they describe:
edifício alto
tall building
→ masculine singular
montanhas altas
tall mountains
→ feminine plural
As you can see, the ending of an adjective changes depending on the gender and number of the noun it describes. Most of the time, feminine adjectives will end in -a and you can add an -s to an adjective to make it plural, though there are some exceptions to both of these rules.
Are you curious to know more about the rules of using adjectives in Brazilian Portuguese? Let me explain!
Table of Contents
How does adjective agreement work in Brazilian Portuguese?
In Brazilian Portuguese, adjectives agree with the gender and number of the noun they describe. This means that they take on a form that reflects whether the noun is masculine or feminine, singular or plural. For example:
Masculine | Feminine | |
|---|---|---|
Singular | o carro barato the cheap car | a casa barata the cheap house |
Plural | os carros baratos the cheap cars | as casas baratas the cheap houses |
Tip
In the next sections, we’ll review how to modify the gender and number of adjectives to agree with the nouns they describe, starting with gender agreement!
Gender of adjectives: masculine vs. feminine
Gender in Brazilian Portuguese is marked on the adjective according to three main patterns. You can usually tell which pattern an adjective follows by looking at the ending of the masculine singular form (which is the form you will find in the dictionary). Let’s have a look at each pattern!
Adjectives ending in ‘-o’
If a masculine singular adjective ends in -o, then you’ll replace that -o with an -a to make it feminine.
Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
o menino educado the polite boy | a menina educada the polite girl |
o céu bonito the beautiful sky | a praia bonita the beautiful beach |
Important
Sometimes there are slight differences in the pronunciation of the masculine and feminine adjective stems that may not be obvious from the spelling. For example:
disposto
[dis-poh-sto]
disposed (m.)
→ sound in “no”
disposta
[dis-pau-sta]
disposed (f.)
→ sound in “pause”
This usually happens with adjectives ending in -oso, but if you’d like to see a fuller list, check out these adjectives whose pronunciation changes based on gender!
For more on the pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese, check out our other post!
An exception: Adjectives ending in ‘-ão’
There are a few adjectives that end in -ão in Brazilian Portuguese. For these nouns, you will usually create the feminine form just reducing the ending to -ã, but with adjectives that function as intensifiers, you’ll replace -ão with -ona.
Masculine | Feminine | English |
|---|---|---|
são | sã | sane |
cristão | cristã | Christian |
chorão | chorona | whiny |
See more examples of the feminine form of adjectives ending in -ão in our list!
Adjectives ending in ‘-u,’ ‘-ês,’ and ‘-or’
When a masculine singular adjective ends in -u, -ês, and -or in Brazilian Portuguese, we usually form the feminine by adding an -a to the masculine form.
Ending | Masculine | Feminine | English |
|---|---|---|---|
-u | cru | crua | raw |
-ês | português | portuguesa | Portuguese |
-or → (see Exception! below) | encantador | encantadora | enchanting |
Exception!
A few adjectives ending in -or have the same form in the masculine and feminine:
Comparative adjectivesNo definition set for Comparative adjectivesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. like maior(bigger)
The adjectives incolor(colorless) and multicor(multicolor).
Adjectives with no variation in gender
Some adjectives, especially those ending in -a, -e, -l, -ar, -s, -z and -m, as well as adjectives ending in -or, like melhor(better), have the same form for masculine and feminine.
O menino está contente! A menina está contente!
The boy is content! The girl is content!
O menino é inteligente! A menina é inteligente!
The boy is intelligent! The girl is intelligent!
O vestido é azul. A camisa é azul.
The dress is blue. The shirt is blue.
Let’s see some more examples of all these cases below:
Ending | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
-a | o homem hipócrita the hypocritical man | a mulher hipócrita the hypocritical woman |
-e | o treinador forte the strong trainer | a treinadora forte the strong trainer |
-l | o exercício fácil the easy exercise | a prova fácil the easy test |
-ar | o jogador peculiar the peculiar player | a jogadora peculiar the peculiar player |
-s | o restaurante simples the simple restaurant | a padaria simples the simple bakery |
-z | o rapaz feliz the happy boy | a moça feliz the happy girl |
-m | o pai jovem the young father | a mãe jovem the young mother |
-or | o livro maior the bigger book | a revista maior the bigger magazine |
Tip
Comparative adjectives ending in -or include:
maior(bigger), menor(smaller)
melhor(better), pior(worse)
Exception!
There are two important exceptions to the -m and -l rule above:
Though bom(good) ends in -m, it does have a feminine form: boa
o bom médico
the good doctor (m.)
a boa médica
the good doctor (f.)
Though espanhol(Spanish) ends in -l, it does have a feminine form: espanhola
o vinho espanhol
the Spanish wine
a comida espanhola
the Spanish food
Number of adjectives: singular vs. plural
In Brazilian Portuguese, the number (singular or plural) of an adjective will match the number of the noun it describes or modifies. Luckily, the rules for forming plural adjectives are the same ones you’ll follow to form the plural of nouns in Brazilian Portuguese. So, if you know how to make the plural form of nouns in Brazilian Portuguese, you basically already know how to make the plural of adjectives. Take a look at the examples below:
Ending (Dictionary) | Rule | Masculine | Feminine | English | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |||
-o, -u, -ão, -a, -e | + -s (usually) | bonito | bonitos | bonita | bonitas | beautiful |
*-ês | + -es(m.) | português | portugueses | portuguesa | portuguesas | Portuguese |
-ar, -or | + -es(m.) | encantador | encantadores | encantadora | encantadoras | enchanting |
-l | change to -is | legal | legais | legal | legais | cool |
-s | no change | simples | simples | simples | simples | simple |
Exception!
The colors ending in -a: rosa(pink), laranja(orange), violeta(violet) and cinza(gray), have the same form for singular and plural, masculine and feminine. We don't need to add an -s to make the adjective plural, and don't need to change the ending between masculine and feminine.
a saia rosa → as saias rosa(the pink skirt → the pink skirts)
o portão cinza → os portões cinza(the gray gate → the gray gates)
Compound adjectives
Brazilian Portuguese compound adjectives — adjectives made up of more than one word — all follow one simple rule: only the last word within the compound adjective must agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies. For example:
Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
cabelo castanho-escuro dark brown hair | cabelos castanho-escuros dark brown hairs |
olho verde-claro light green eye | olhos verde-claros light green eyes |
Pretty simple, right? Now, we’ll take a quick look at where to place adjectives in Brazilian Portuguese — and then you’ll be ready for some practice!
Adjective placement: Where to put them in a sentence?
Unlike in English, adjectives in Brazilian Portuguese usually come after the noun:
nounadjective
a pessoa engraçada
the funny person
O restaurante brasileiro está cheio.
The Brazilian restaurant is full.
However, the adjective will sometimes come before the noun instead. Certain types of adjectives (e.g. possessive adjectives or demonstrative adjectives) will generally come before the noun, but with others, the placement will depend on your intended meaning or the emphasis you want to place. For example:
uma velha amiga
a long-time friend
uma amiga velha
a friend who is old
Isn’t that interesting? If you’d like to know more, take a look at our other post on how to place adjectives in Brazilian Portuguese!
In summary
Let’s review what we’ve learned about adjectives in Brazilian Portuguese:
Adjectives must agree in gender and number with the nouns they are describing.
Gender agreement: most of the masculine adjectives end in -o and most of the feminine adjectives end in -a. Rules for creating feminine forms:
-u, -ês, and -or → add -a
-ão → change the ending to -ã or -ona
-a, -e, -l, -ar, -s, -z, -m, -or (comparatives) → usually no change
Number agreement: the rules for number agreement of adjectives are the same as the rules for Brazilian Portuguese nouns.
Compound adjectives: we change only the last word in compound adjectives according to the number and gender of the noun.
Adjective placement: Brazilian Portuguese adjectives are typically placed after the noun. However, sometimes it is possible to place adjectives before the noun, depending on the meaning you want to give to the accompanied noun.
Ready to practice? Now you can check your understanding by practicing with these exercises on adjectives in Brazilian Portuguese!
