4

Articles

4.1 The definite article

In English, the definite article has only one form for all nouns: ‘the’. In Portuguese, the
form of the definite article depends on the gender and number of the noun it accompanies.

4.1.1 Forms of the definite article

The forms of the definite article are as follows:
Singular Plural
Masculine o os
Feminine a as

Examples:
o jornal ‘the newspaper’
a casa ‘the house’
os homens ‘the men’
as mulheres ‘the women’.

4.1.2 Pronunciation of the definite articles

The masculine singular and plural forms are usually unstressed and pronounced [u] and
[us]. If stress is required for some reason, they are pronounced with the closed o sound:
[o] and [os]. The feminine articles are pronounced [a] and [as], as you would expect.

Note that, when the word following the plural articles begins with a vowel, h or a voiced
consonant (b, d, g, l, m, n, r, v), the s is pronounced [z] as the article and the word it
accompanies are run together, e.g. os homens [u`zɔmẽjs], as mulheres [azmu`ʎεris].

4.1.3 Contractions of the definite articles with prepositions

The prepositions a ‘to’, de ‘of, from’, em ‘at, in, on’ and por ‘by, for, through’ combine
with the definite articles to form single-word contractions:
Preposition Reduced form o os a as
a – ao aos à às
de d- do dos da das
em n- no nos na nas
por pel- pelo pelos pela pelas
32
 The indefinite article 4.2
(iii) Especially in the colloquial spoken language, with normally uncountable nouns to
mean ‘some’, ‘a piece of’:
Meu pai me deu um dinheiro.
My dad gave me some money.
Comi uma carne e um arroz branco.
I had a piece of meat and some plain rice.

4.2.4 Use of uns/umas

The plurals of the indefinite article correspond to the English ‘some’ in the sense of
‘a few’, ‘a number of’:
Passei uns dias em São Paulo.
I spent a few days in São Paulo.
Preciso comprar umas canetas.
I need to buy some pens.

They have a special usage preceding a number in the sense of ‘about, around’:
Recebi uns dez telefonemas.
I got about ten phone calls.
Deve custar uns cem reais.
It must cost about a hundred reais.
daqui a umas duas semanas
in about two weeks
A festa vai começar a umas oito horas.
The party’ll start around eight.

37