Adjectives
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Adjective PlacementAdjective Forms
Comparatives
Superlatives
Demonstrative Adjectives
Possessive Adjectives
Adjective Placement
In Portuguese, adjectives are usually placed after the noun.
uma casa branca - a white house
Some adjectives can be placed before the noun to alter the meaning of the phrase.
um grande homem - a great man
um homem grande - a large man
Adjective Forms
Adjectives change forms in order to agree with the gender and number of the noun.
Masculine and Feminine Forms
- Masculine adjectives that end in -o have a corresponding feminine form ending in -a.
cansado → cansada; rico → rica - Adjectives that end in -ão change to -ã.
vão → vã - Adjectives that end in -u add -a.
cru → crua - Adjectives that end in -e or a consonant usually have the same form for masculine and feminine.
doente → doente; azul → azul
Plural Forms
Adjectives form the plural in the same way as nouns.
| Adjective Ending | Plural Alteration | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -vowels | add -s | grande → grandes |
| -s with stress on the final syllable | add -es | português → portugueses |
| -s with stress NOT on the final syllable | no change | simples → simples |
| -r, or -z | add -es | feliz → felizes |
| -m | changes to -ns | comum → comuns |
| -ão | changes to -ões, -ãos, or -ães | alemão → alemães |
| -al, -ol,-ul | changes to -is | azul → azuis |
| -el | changes to -eis | fiel → fiéis |
| -il stressed | changes to -is | civil → civis |
| -il unstressed | changes to -eis | fácil → fáceis |
Irregular Forms
The common adjectives bom (good) and mau (bad) have irregular forms.
| Masc. Singular |
Fem. Singular |
Masc. Plural |
Fem. Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| bom | boa | bons | boas |
| mau | ma | maus | mas |
Comparatives
When comparing two nouns, you can indicate whether an adjective is more, less, or equal by adding comparative words.
| Comparison | Translation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| mais ... que | more ... than | mais rico que - richer than |
| menos ... que | less ... than | menos rico que - less rich than |
| tão ... como | as ... as | tão rico como - as rich as |
Notes:
The word que is short for do que meaning than.
There are some irregular comparison words:
| Comparison | Translation |
|---|---|
| melhor que | better than |
| pior que | worse than |
| maior que | bigger than |
| menor que | smaller than |
Superlatives
These are words used when more than two nouns are compared.
| Superlative | Translation |
|---|---|
| o mais ... | the most ... |
| o menos ... | the least ... |
| o melhor | the best |
| o pior | the worst |
| o maior | the largest |
| o menor | the smallest |
You can indicate that an adjective is extreme by:
- changing the ending to -íssimo, or -íssima.
bela → belíssima - very beautiful - using muito before the adjective.
muito fácil - very easy
Demonstrative Adjectives
These have the same forms as the demonstrative pronouns.
| Masc. | Fem. | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| este(s) | esta(s) | this, these (something near to the speaker) |
| esse(s) | essa(s) | that, those (something near to the listener) |
| aquele(s) | aquela(s) | that, those (something far from both) |
Possessive Adjectives
Possessive adjectives agree in number and gender of the thing possessed.
| Masculine | Feminine | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| meu meus |
minha minhas |
my |
| teu teus |
tua tuas |
your |
| nosso nossos |
nossa nossas |
our |
| vosso vossos |
vossa vossas |
your |
| seu seus |
sua suas |
his, her, its, your, their |
Notes:
To avoid the ambiguity of seu(s) and sua(s), you can use the prepositional pronouns dele(s) and dela(s).
Você normally uses seu(s) or sua(s), but it is acceptable to use teu(s) or tua(s).
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