Adjectives
In today’s Brazilian Portuguese grammar lesson we are going to learn about adjectives and how they are modified.
Order
Unlike in English, adjectives in Portuguese go after the noun. For example:
maçã vermelha
cachorro grande
prato pequeno
red apple
big dog
small plate
Sometimes you might see an adjective before a noun but this is usually done in a poetic sense.
Must be in agreement
Adjectives need to agree with the noun that it is describing.
Things that effect the adjective:
- masculine
- feminine
- singular
- plural
Before we begin, let’s recap a previous lesson:
Some words are feminine. These words tend to end in an “a”. Plural feminine nouns end in “as”. This is the general rule. Check out our previous lesson on gendered nouns.
Some words are masculine. These words tend the end in a “o”. Plural masculine nouns end in “os”. Again, this is just the general rule. There are many exceptions.
If a noun is feminine then the adjective must be feminine as well by changing the ending. If a noun is plural than the adjective must be plural as well by changing the ending.
For example:
feminine singular
feminine plural
masculine singular
masculine plural
a maçã vermelha
as maçãs vermelhas
o morango vermelho
os morangos vermelhos
the red apple
the red apples
the red strawberry
the red strawberries
Some adjectives do not come in all the forms (feminine/masculine/plural/singular). In these cases we have exceptions. *I will include the relevant exceptions in your downloads (typically as a visual aid).
Exceptions
Colors
Colors are adjectives but, certain colors, also are nouns in Brazilian Portuguese. For example, the word rosa is a noun (rose) and an adjective (pink). Because of this, it doesn’t change based on gender or the number of the word is describing. Laranja is another common example of this.
For example:
feminine singular
feminine plural
masculine singular
masculine plural
a maçã rosa
as maçãs rosa
o morango rosa
os morangos rosa
the pink apple
the pink apples
the pink strawberry
the pink strawberries
Notice how rosa doesn’t change.
Colors that can also be nouns (laranja, rosa) can appear like this “cor de___”. This is a more formal way of using these adjectives. For example:
O morango da cor de laranja.
A maçã da cor de rosa.
The orange strawberry.
The pink apple.
⭐️ Optional Read: Learn Colors in Portuguese
