Portuguese 1.3. Gender & Plural

Each noun and adjective in Portuguese have a gender. There are only two genders in Portuguese: masculine and feminine. There is no neuter gender. Throughout the book, we use the superscripts ^m and ^f to refer to masculine and feminine genders, respectively.

The adjective follows the noun it describes in gender and number. The only certain way to determine the gender of a noun is by looking it up in a dictionary. Nevertheless, there are some general rules that can help you be right most of the time. Remember, however, that these are general rules, and there are some exceptions.

Table of Contents

• Gender of a Noun
• Gender of an Adjective
  • 1. Adjectives ending in “-ão”
  • 2. Some adjectives ending in “-or”
  • 3. Some adjectives ending in “-eu”
  • 4. Adjectives ending in “-a,” “-e,” “-l,” “-m,” “-s,” “-z,” or “-ar”
  • 5. Irregular adjectives
• Forming the Plural of a Noun or Adjective
  • 1. Nouns and adjectives ending in a vowel
  • 2. Nouns and adjectives ending in “-s”
  • 3. Nouns and adjectives ending in “-r” “-z,” or “-n”
  • 4. Nouns and adjectives ending in “-m”
  • 5. Nouns and adjectives ending in “-ão”
  • 6. Nouns and adjectives ending in “-l”
• Summary of Plural Rules in Portuguese
• Level I – Basic

Gender of a Noun

As a general rule, most nouns ending in “-o” are masculine, whereas most nouns ending in “-a” are feminine. However, there are some exceptions that we must be aware of. For example, the nouns “mão” (hand) and “tribo” (tribe) are feminine despite their “-o” ending. Likewise, the nouns “dia” (day) and “sofá” (sofa) are masculine even though they end with “-a.”

In addition, nouns with “-l,” “-r,” or “-z” ending are generally masculine. Many nouns with “-ma” and “-pa” ending are masculine despite their “-a” ending. On the other hand, nouns with “-gem” or “-dade” ending are often feminine.

To summarize:

Gender	Ending	Examples
masculine	–o	livro (book), número (number), tio (uncle)
	–ma, –pa	clima (climate), poema (poem), mapa (map)
	–l,-r, –z	papel (paper), lugar (place), arroz (rice)
feminine	–a	mesa (table), bola (ball), tia (aunt)
	–gem	imagem (image), origem (origin), viagem (travel)
	–dade	cidade (city), qualidade (quality), verdade (truth)

Notice that many words that end in “-ma” or “-pa” and originate from Greek are masculine, for example:

problemam	problem	dramam	drama
sistemam	system	dilemam	dilemma
temam	topic or theme	diagramam	diagram
diplomam	diploma	poemam	poem
climam	climate	mapam	map

However, this does not apply to words that do not originate from Greek, such as “forma” (form) and “plataforme” (platform), which are feminine.

Nouns with “-e” (except “-dade”) or “-ão” ending can be either masculine or feminine. As a general rule, nouns in this category tend to be masculine if they refer to concrete things, and feminine if they refer to abstract concepts. Here are some examples:

Ending	Gender	Examples
–e	masculine	leite (milk), sanduíche (sandwich), recipiente (container)
	feminine	crise (crisis), noite (night), sorte (luck), corrente (current)
-ão	masculine	pão (bread), coração (heart), limão (lemon)
	feminine	paixão (passion), exceção (exception), missão (mission)

Some words have a different meaning when used in the masculine form versus when used in the feminine form. For example:

caram	guy	caraf	face
capitalm	capital (money)	capitalf	capital (city)
gramam	gram (unit)	gramaf	grass
rádiom	radio set or radium	rádiof	radio station

Some nouns that refer to people can be masculine or feminine. The most common pattern to form the feminine noun from a masculine noun is to replace the final “-o” with “-a.” For example:

médicom	doctor	médicaf	doctor
engenheirom	engineer	engenheiraf	engineer

Nevertheless, this is not the only gender pattern in Portuguese. Other patterns include:

Masculine	Feminine	Example
–or	–ora	pintor > pintora (painter) professor > professora (teacher)
	–triz	ator > atriz (actor/actress) emperador > emperatriz (emperor/empress)
	–eira	lavrador > lavradeira (farmer)
–ês	–esa	inglês > inglesa (English man/woman)
–ão	–ã	irmão > irmã (brother/sister)
	–oa	leão > leoa (lion/lioness)
	–ona	sabichão > sabichona (know-all person)

Most nouns that end in “-ista” can refer to masculine or feminine people performing a role or profession. For example:

dentistam,f	dentist	analistam,f	analyst
artistam,f	artist	pianistam,f	pianist

Similarly, some nouns ending in “-e” can also refer to both male and female in some occupations. For example:

gerentem,f

manager

estudantem,f

student

Others have only one form (masculine or feminine) regardless of the gender of the person that the noun refers to, for example:

peessoaf	person	vítimaf	victim
cônjugem	spouse	criançaf	child

In general, most countries ending with “-a” (but not “á” or “ã”) are feminine, e.g., “Italia^f” (Italy). For example:

Turquiaf	Turkey	Rússiaf	Russia
Colômbiaf	Colombia	Françaf	France
Italiaf	Italy	Alemanhaf	Germany

Most other countries are masculine. Here are some examples:

Japãom	Japan	Irãm	Iran
Canadám	Canada	Portugalm	Portugal

Notice that most countries are often preceded by a definite article, while only a few cannot be used by a definite article, such as:

Portugalm	Portugal	Marrocosm	Morocco
Cubam	Cuba	Moçambiquem	Mozambique

Some countries are always in plural form, such as:

Estados Unidosm	United States	Países Baixosm	Netherlands
Filipinasf	Philippines	Bahamasf	Bahamas

Gender of an Adjective

An adjective follows the noun it describes in gender and number. For the purpose of brevity throughout the book, we often refer only to the masculine singular form of an adjective. We trust that by learning some basic rules, you will be able to guess the feminine and plural forms most of the time.

Adjectives in Portuguese, unlike in English, come after the noun they describe, for example, “prédio histórico” (historic building). There are some exceptions to this rule, for example, “grande cidade” (big or great city). Many adjectives that come before the noun are indefinite adjectives, which will be covered in Level III, Lesson 3.

Many masculine adjectives in Portuguese end in “-o.” The feminine form of most masculine adjectives ending in “-o” is often obtained by changing the final “-o” to “-a,” e.g., “lindo/linda” (beautiful), “alto/alta” (high or tall), “velho/velha” (old), etc.

Generally, most masculine adjectives ending in “-or,” “-ês,” or “-u” form the feminine form by simply adding an “-a” to the end of the word. For example:

interior	trabalhadorm	trabalhadoraf
Chinese	chinêsm	chinesaf
naked	num	nuaf

However, there are some exceptions that follow different patterns. The following are the most common irregular patterns:

1. Adjectives ending in “-ão”

The feminine form of masculine adjectives ending in “-ão” is often obtained by changing the final “-ão” to “-ã,” or in some few words to “-ona”:

German	alemãom	alemãf
sane/healthy	sãom	sãf
playful	brincalhãom	brincalhonaf

2. Some adjectives ending in “-or”

The feminine form of some masculine adjectives ending in “-or” remains unchanged:

interior	interiorm	interiorf
exterior	exteriorm	exteriorf
better	melhorm	melhorf
worse	piorm	piorf
superior	superiorm	superiorf
bigger	maiorm	maiorf
smaller	menorm	menorf

3. Some adjectives ending in “-eu”

The feminine form of masculine adjectives ending in “-eu” is often obtained by changing the final “-eu” to “-eia”:

European	europeum	europeiaf
Hebrew	hebreum	hebreiaf

One exception is:

Jewish

judeum

judiaf

4. Adjectives ending in “-a,” “-e,” “-l,” “-m,” “-s,” “-z,” or “-ar”

The feminine form of most masculine adjectives that end with “-a,” “-e,” “-l,” “-m,” “-s,” “-z,” or “-ar” remains unchanged:

optimist	otimistam	otimistaf
idiot	idiotam	idiotaf
strong	fortem	fortef
sad	tristem	tristef
cruel	cruelm	cruelf
possible	possívelm	possívelf
common	comumm	comumf
young	jovemm	jovemf
simple	simplesm	simplesf
vulgar	relesm	relesf
happy	felizm	felizf
fast	velozm	velozf
regular	regularm	regularf
similar	similarm	similarf

5. Irregular adjectives

There are some irregular adjectives that do not follow any pattern and must simply be memorized, such as:

good	bomm	boaf
bad	maum	máf

Forming the Plural of a Noun or Adjective

More often than not, forming the plural of a noun in Portuguese resembles the English common way of adding an “-s” or “-es” at the end of a word. However, some nouns do not follow this simple pattern. Here, we will examine the different rules and patterns of forming the plural in Portuguese.

Adjectives in Portuguese must also agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

To form the plural in Portuguese, there are six main patterns:

1. Nouns and adjectives ending in a vowel

Most nouns and adjectives ending in a vowel add a final “-s” to form the plural. For example:

braçom	arm	braçosm	arms
mesaf	table	mesasf	tables
carosm	expensive	carosm	expensive

2. Nouns and adjectives ending in “-s”

Most nouns and adjectives ending in “-s” that are stressed on the last syllable or has a single syllable form the plural by adding a final “-es.” For example:

paísm	country	paísesm	countries
inglêsm	English	inglesesm	English
mêsm	month	mesesm	months

Most other nouns and adjectives ending in “-s,” i.e., multi-syllable words stressed on any syllable but the last, do not change form in the plural. Here are some examples:

ônibusm	bus	ônibusm	buses
lápism	pencil	lápism	pencils
simplesm,f	simple	simplesm,f	simple

3. Nouns and adjectives ending in “-r” “-z,” or “-n”

Most nouns and adjectives ending in “-r” “-z,” or “-n” add a final “-es” to form the plural. For example:

professorm	teacher	professoresm	teachers
vozf	voice	vozesf	voices
capazm,f	capable	capazesm,f	capable
líquenm	lichen	líquenesm	lichens

4. Nouns and adjectives ending in “-m”

Most nouns and adjectives ending in “-m” change the final “-m” to “-n” and add a final “-s” to form the plural. For example:

somm	sound	sonsm	sounds
nuvemf	cloud	nuvensf	clouds
ruimm,f	bad	ruinsm,f	bad

5. Nouns and adjectives ending in “-ão”

Most nouns and adjectives ending in “-ão” change the final ending to “-ões” to form the plural. For example:

coraçãom	heart	coraçõesm	hearts
razãof	reason	razõesf	reasons
decisãof	decision	decisõesf	decisions

However, there are some exceptions:

a) Some words, especially ones that are stressed on the second-last syllable, simply add an “-s” to the final “-ão” to form the plural. For example:

órfãom	orphan	órfãosm	orphans
órgãom	organ	órgãosm	organs
mãof	hand	mãosf	hands
irmãom	brother	irmãosm	brothers

b) Some words change the final “-ão” to “-ães” to form the plural. For example:

alemãom	German	alemãesm	Germans
cãom	dog	cãesm	dogs
pãom	bread	pãesm	bread (loaves)
capitãom	captain	capitãesm	captains

6. Nouns and adjectives ending in “-l”

a) Nouns and adjectives ending in “-al,” “-el,” “-ol,” and “-ul” form the plural by changing their ending into “-ais,” “-eis,” “-ois,” and “-uis,” respectively. For example:

animalm	animal	animaism	animal
papelm	paper	papéism	papers
solm	sun	sóism	suns
azulm,f	blue	azuism,f	blues

Notice that if last syllable is stressed, an acute accent is needed on the letter before the final “-is” in the plural.

b) Nouns and adjectives ending in “-il” form the plural by changing the final ending into “-is” if the last syllable is stressed, or “-eis” if the stress falls on a different syllable. For example:

funilm	funnel	funism	funnels
sutilm,f	subtle	sutism,f	subtle
fóssilm	fossil	fósseism	fossils
réptilm	reptile	répteism	reptiles

c) Few words deviate from the above two rules and form the plural differently:

cônsulm	consul	cônsulesm	consuls
golm	goal	golsm	goals
malm	evil	malesm	evils

Summary of Plural Rules in Portuguese

Singular Ending	Plural Ending	Example
vowel	–s	mesa (table) > mesas (tables)
–s	–	lápis (pencil) > lápis (pencils)
	–es	país (country) > países (tables)
–r,-z,-n	–es	voz (voice) > vozes (voices)
–m	–ns	som (sound) > sons (sounds)
–ão	–ões	razão (reason) > razões (reasons)
	–ãos	mão (hand) > mãos (hands)
	–ães	cão (dog) > cães (dogs)
–l	–al > –ais	animal (animal) > animais (animals)
	–el > –eis	hotel (hotel) > hotéis (hotels)
	–ol > –ois	sol (sun) > sóis (suns)
	–ul > –uis	azul (blue) > azuis (blue)
	–il > –is (stressed) –il > –eis (unstressed)	funil (funnel) > funis (funnels) réptil (reptile) > répteis (reptiles)

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