Nouns are words that refer to:
people (a irmã)
places (Portugal)
things (o livro)
abstract ideas (o amor)
When learning nouns, you need to know:
spelling
gender (masculine/feminine)
number (singular/plural)
All Portuguese nouns are either masculine or feminine. Gender is grammatical and often does not correspond to biological sex.
👉 Determiners and adjectives must agree with the noun:
uma coisa bonita
o livro interessante
o menino / a menina
o gato / a gata
(often -ista, -e)
o/a estudante
o/a artista
o/a gerente
o homem / a mulher
o pai / a mãe
o rei / a rainha
-ção / -são → a nação, a decisão
-dade / -tade / -tude → a verdade, a liberdade
-a → usually feminine (a mesa)
Exceptions:
o problema, o sistema, o mapa, o dia
-o, -or, -ês → o livro, o professor, o português
a mão, a flor
Some nouns change meaning with gender:
o capital (money) vs a capital (city)
o rádio (device) vs a rádio (station)
vowel → +s
livro → livros
consonant → +es
papel → papéis
👉 Agreement:
os alunos bons
muitas casas grandes
-ão → -ões / -ãos / -ães
coração → corações
mão → mãos
pão → pães
words ending in -l:
animal → animais
words ending in -m:
homem → homens
Plural marking varies:
guarda-chuva → guarda-chuvas
fim de semana → fins de semana
Usually unchanged:
os Silva
os Costa
To master Portuguese nouns:
learn article + noun together
track gender and plural patterns
memorise common irregular forms
Q: Why is it Comprei as verduras and NOT Comprei os verduras? Determiners (and adjectives) must agree in gender and number with the noun:
as verduras (feminine plural)
❌ os verduras
Q: Why is it dois jovens and NOT dois jovems? Nouns ending in -m form the plural in -ns:
jovem → jovens
Q: Why is it Eu leio um livro and NOT Eu leio uma libra? These are different words:
livro = book
libra = pound (weight or currency)
👉 Always learn vocabulary carefully—some words look similar but mean different things.
Q: Why is it somos os Silva and NOT somos os Silvas? Family names are usually unchanged in the plural:
os Silva, os Costa, os Pereira
Q: Why is it o estudante tem muitos lápis and NOT lápizes? Words ending in -s (unstressed) often do not change in the plural:
o lápis / os lápis
👉 The article shows number.
Q: Why is it a água está fria and NOT o água está fria? In Portuguese, água is simply feminine:
a água fria
as águas frias
👉 Unlike Spanish, Portuguese does not switch to a masculine article.
Agreement is essential (gender + number)
Plurals follow predictable patterns (-ns, invariant forms, etc.)
Portuguese differs from Spanish in key areas (e.g., a água, not el agua)
Write o or a:
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Write the correct definite article (o, a, os, as):
Choose the correct article (um, uma, o, a, os, as):
Translations:
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