ADJECTIVES IN

PORTUGUESE

Remetio, Kim A.
 Portuguese language
 is a western Romance language and the
sole official language
of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-
Bissau, Mozambique, Angola, and São
Tomé and Príncipe. It also has co-official
language status in East Timor, Equatorial
Guinea and Macau in China.
Adjectives
 Adjectives are words that describe or
modify other words, making your writing
and speaking much more specific, and a
whole lot more interesting. They are
usually positioned before
the noun or pronoun that they modify.
Some sentences contain multiple
adjectives.
Adjectives in Portugeuse
 Things to remember:
In Portuguese, as with all Latin
languages, the adjective(s) come
after the noun(s); eg. In English, ‘the
red dress’ becomes ‘the dress red’ in
Portuguese. So ‘the red dress’
becomes ‘O vestido vermelho’.
 Things to remember
 THINGS TO REMEMBER

1. When talking about MASCULINE things;

end the adjective in an ‘O’
2. When talking about FEMININE things; end
the adjective in an ‘A’
3. When talking about PLURAL things that are
MASCULINE; end the adjective in ‘OS’
Things to Remember

4. When talking about PLURAL things that are

FEMININE; end the adjective in ‘AS’
5. When talking about PLURAL things that are
BOTH MASCULINE and FEMININE; end
the adjective in ‘OS’ because the
MASCULINE takes precedence over the
FEMININE
 Examples:
 A lição fácil – The easy lesson. (Observe that the
word “fácil” – easy – modifies the noun “lição” –
lesson. Being “fácil” is an abstract quality of the
lesson)
 A casa branca– the white house. (Observe that the
word “branca” – white – modifies the noun “casa”
– house. Being “white” is a concrete quality of the
house.)
 Examples:
 Poucas canetas – few pens. (Observe that the word
“poucas” – few – quantifies the noun “canetas” –
pens)

 The adjective may have the same termination when

it refers to masculine and feminine words. Observe
in the examples below that the adjective remains
unchanged even when it refers to a feminine word.
 The adjective may have the same termination when
it refers to masculine and feminine words. Observe
in the examples below that the adjective remains
unchanged even when it refers to a feminine word.
 Examples:

O homem forte – The strong man

A mulher forte – The strong woman
 Usually adjectives ending in “e” and “ista” have
just one termination for both genders.

 O menino inteligente – The intelligent boy

 A menina inteligente – The intelligent girl

 O professor idealista – The idealist teacher

 A professora idealista – The idealist teacher.
 The adjective may have different terminations
according to each gender. Adjectives ending in “o”
can be either masculine or neutral. To compose the
feminine form of adjectives ending in “o” just
change the “o” for the letter “a”
 Examples:

O menino alto – The tall boy

A menina alta – The tall girl
 The adjective agrees in number with the noun.

 Examples:
 O  menino inteligente – the intelligent boy.
(singular)
 Os meninos inteligentes – the intelligent boys.
(plural)
 A mesa grande – The big table. (singular)
 As mesas grandes – the big tables.(plura)
 Usually in Portuguese the adjective follows the
noun.

 Examples:

 A mulher bonita – The beautiful woman

 O carro pequeno – The small car
 But in some cases the adjective may precede the
noun. For these cases the adjective is more
emphatic and may attribute a metaphoric quality to
the noun.
 Uma velha amiga – a longtime friend.
 Una amiga velha – an old friend.