ポルトガル語 Noun

Nouns have three main grammatical characteristics, which, in most cases, determine what form they take: gender (masculine / feminine), number (singular / plural), and degree (augmentative / diminutive). In a sentence, they play either the role of the subject or object of a verb, that is, the thing which carries out or receives an action, respectively.

Gender

All nouns in Portuguese have either the masculine or feminine gender. Though there is sometimes a correlation, grammatical gender does not necessarily relate to social gender or biological sex. In most cases, masculine nouns end with an -o and feminine nouns end with an -a:

• Masculine nouns:

- menino (boy); carro (car); sonho (dream); raio (lightning)

• Feminine nouns:

- menina (girl); cama (bed); ideia (idea); chuva (rain)

There are also nouns that have different endings, but all of them are either masculine or feminine. There is no neutral gender in Portuguese.

• Masculine noun examples:

- problema (problem); professor (teacher); herói (hero); lápis (pencil)

• Feminine noun examples:

- mulher (woman); ré (defendant); análise (analysis); capitã (captain)

Number

All nouns in Portuguese are either singular or plural. The main ending for plural is adding “-s” at the end of the word.

• menino (boy) — meninos (boys)

• carro (car) — carros (cars)

• menina (girl) — meninas (girls)

• cama (bed) — camas (beds)

The plural form may also need more letters than just an “-s” at the end, and sometimes we even need to replace a few. These are just some examples:

• coração (heart) — corações (hearts)

• pão (bread) — pães (bread)

• vendedor (salesman) — vendedores (salesmen)

• sol (sun) — sóis (suns)

Degree

The degree indicates the size, intensity or value of a noun. Different from number and gender, the degree has a normal (or neutral) mode. The word will receive a new ending to indicate augmentative or diminutive modes.

As you can see, there are many types of endings for augmentative and diminutive forms, and it is something that is learned along the way while you study Portuguese.