In Portuguese grammar, nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and articles are moderately inflected: there are two genders (masculine and feminine) and two numbers (singular and plural). The case system of the ancestor language, Latin, has been lost, but personal pronouns are still declined with three main types of forms: subject, object of verb, and object of preposition. Most nouns and many adjectives can take diminutive or augmentative derivational suffixes, and most adjectives can take a so-called "superlative" derivational suffix. Adjectives usually follow their respective nouns.
Verbs are highly inflected: there are three tenses (past, present, future), three moods (indicative, subjunctive, imperative), three aspects (perfective, imperfective, and progressive), three voices (active, passive, reflexive), and an inflected infinitive. Most perfect and imperfect tenses are synthetic, totaling 11 conjugational paradigms, while all progressive tenses and passive constructions are periphrastic. There is also an impersonal passive construction, with the agent replaced by an indefinite pronoun. Portuguese is generally an SVO language, although SOV syntax may occur with a few object pronouns, and word order is generally not as rigid as in English. It is a null subject language, with a tendency to drop object pronouns as well, in colloquial varieties. Like Spanish, it has two main copular verbs: ser and estar.
It has a number of grammatical features that distinguish it from most other Romance languages, such as a synthetic pluperfect, a future subjunctive tense, the inflected infinitive, and a present perfect with an iterative sense.
Like most Indo-European languages, including English, Portuguese classifies most of its lexicon into four word classes: verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs. These are "open" classes, in the sense that they readily accept new members, by coinage, borrowing, or compounding. Interjections form a smaller open class.
There are also several small closed classes, such as pronouns, prepositions, articles, demonstratives, numerals, and conjunctions. A few grammatically peculiar words are difficult to categorize; these include cadê ("where is"—Braz., colloq.), tomara ("let's hope"), oxalá ("let's hope that"), and eis ("here is"; cf. Latin ecce and French voilà).
Within the four main classes there are many semi-regular mechanisms that can be used to derive new words from existing words, sometimes with change of class; for example, veloz ("fast") → velocíssimo ("very fast"), medir ("to measure") → medição ("measurement"), piloto ("pilot") → pilotar ("to pilot"). Finally, there are several phrase embedding mechanisms that allow arbitrarily complex phrases to behave like nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.
Following the general Indo-European pattern, the central element of almost any Portuguese clause is a verb, which may directly connect to one, two, or (rarely) three nouns (or noun-like phrases), called the subject, the object (more specifically, the direct object), and the complement (more specifically, the object complement or objective complement). The most frequent order of these elements in Portuguese is subject–verb–object (SVO, as in examples (1) and (2) below), or, when a complement is present, subject–verb–object-complement (SVOC — examples (3) and (4)):
(1) S V O, "Maria loves Paulo."
(2) S V O, "The mason has constructed the house."
(3) S V o O C, "The president appointed Pedro (as) minister."
(4) S V O C, "She found the book a bore."
Any of the three noun elements may be omitted if it can be inferred from the context or from other syntactic clues; but many grammatical rules will still apply as if the omitted part were there.
A clause will often contain a number of adverbs (or adverbial phrases) that modify the meaning of the verb; they may be inserted between the major components of the clause. Additional nouns can be connected to the verb by means of prepositions; the resulting prepositional phrases have an adverbial function. For example:
Ele carregou a mala , "He carried the bag ."
Portuguese is a null subject language, meaning that it permits and sometimes mandates the omission of an explicit subject.
In Portuguese, the grammatical person of the subject is generally reflected by the inflection of the verb. Sometimes, though an explicit subject is not necessary to form a grammatically correct sentence, one may be stated in order to emphasize its importance. Some sentences, however, do not allow a subject at all and in some other cases an explicit subject would sound awkward or unnatural:
As in other null subject language with a SVO word order, the subject is often postponed, mostly in existential sentences, in answers to partial questions and in contrast structures:
Portuguese declarative sentences, as in many languages, are the least marked ones.
Imperative sentences use the imperative mood for the second person. For other grammatical persons and for every negative imperative sentence, the subjunctive is used.
Yes/no questions have the same structure as declarative sentences, and are marked only by a different tonal pattern (mostly a raised tone near the end of the sentence), represented by a question mark in writing.
Wh-questions often start with quem ("who"), o que ("what"), qual ("which"), onde ("where"), aonde ("where... to"), quando ("when"), por que ("why"), etc. The interrogative pronouns quem, o que and qual can be preceded by any preposition, but in this case o que will usually be reduced to que. Frequently in oral language, and occasionally in writing, these words are followed by the interrogative device é que (literally, "is [it] that"; compare French est-ce que in wh-questions).
Wh-questions sometimes occur without wh-movement, that is, wh-words can remain in situ. In this case, o que and por que are replaced by their stressed counterparts o quê and por quê (Brazilian Portuguese) or porquê (European Portuguese).For example:
O que/Que é que ela fez? or O que/que fez ela?
"What did she do?"
Ela fez o quê?
"What did she do?" or, if emphatic, "She did what?"
Por quê? (Brazilian Portuguese) / Porquê? (European Portuguese)
"Why?"
Em que dia é que isso aconteceu?
"On what day did that happen?"
Isso aconteceu em que dia?
"On what day did that happen?"In Brazilian Portuguese, the phrase é que is more often omitted.
Não ("no") is the natural negative answer to yes/no questions. As in Latin, positive answers are usually made with the inflected verb of the question in the appropriate person and number. Portuguese is one of the few Romance languages keeping this Latin peculiarity. The adverbs já ("already"), ainda ("yet"), and também ("too", "also") are used when one of them appears in the question.
Q: Gostaste do filme? A: Gostei. / Não.
Q: "Did you like the movie?" A: "Yes.", literally, "I liked." / "No."
Q: Eu não tinha deixado aqui uma chave? A: Tinhas!
Q: "Didn't I leave a key here?" A: "Yes, you did!", literally, "[You] did."
Q: Já leste este livro? A: Já. / Ainda não.
Q: "Have you already read this book?" A: "Yes", literally, "Already." / "Not yet."
The word sim ("yes") may be used for a positive answer, but, if used alone, it may in certain cases sound unnatural or impolite. In Brazilian Portuguese, sim can be used after the verb for emphasis. In European Portuguese, emphasis in answers is added with the duplication of the verb. In both versions of Portuguese, emphasis can also result from syntactical processes that are not restricted to answers, such as the addition of adverbs like muito ("much") or muitíssimo ("very much").
It is also acceptable, though sometimes formal, to use yes before the verb of the question, separated by a pause or, in writing, a comma. The use of sim before the verb does not add emphasis, and may on the contrary be less assertive.
Q: Gostou do filme? A: Gostei, sim!
Q: "Did you like the movie?" A:"Yes, I did!"
Q: Gostaste do filme? A: Gostei, gostei!
Q: "Did you like the movie?" A:"I did, I did!"
Q: Há comboios a esta hora? A: Há, há!
Q: "Are there any trains at this time?" A:"Yes, there are!"
Q: Ele gostou do filme? A: Sim, gostou...
Q:"Did he like the movie?" A: "He did, yes..."
Portuguese has definite and indefinite articles, with different forms according to the gender and number of the noun to which they refer:
singular | plural | meaning | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | masculine | feminine | |||
definite article | o, el | a | os | as | the | |
indefinite article | um | uma | uns | umas | a, an; some |
The noun after the indefinite article may be elided, in which case the article is equivalent to English "one" (if singular) or "some" (if plural): quero um também ("I want one too"), quero uns também ("I want some too").
Nouns are classified into two grammatical genders ("masculine" and "feminine") and are inflected for grammatical number (singular or plural). Adjectives and determiners (articles, demonstratives, possessives, and quantifiers) must be inflected to agree with the noun in gender and number. Many nouns can take diminutive or augmentative suffixes to express size, endearment, or deprecation.
Portuguese does not inflect nouns to indicate their grammatical function or case, relying instead on the use of prepositions (simple and phrasal), on pleonastic objects, or on the context or word order. Personal pronouns, on the other hand, still maintain some vestiges of declension from the ancestor language, Latin.
Most adjectives and demonstratives, and all articles must be inflected according to the gender and number of the noun they reference:
esta linda casa branca ("this lovely white house")
este lindo carro branco ("this lovely white car")
estas lindas aves brancas ("these lovely white birds")
estes lindos gatos brancos ("these lovely white cats")
The agreement rules apply also to adjectives used with copulas, e.g. o carro é branco ("the car is white") vs. a casa é branca ("the house is white").
Portuguese nouns form their plurals by adding -s if the singular ends in a vowel, and -es if the singular ends in n, r or z. If the singular ends in s, then if the last syllable is stressed, the plural adds -es, and otherwise the plural is the same as the singular. Words ending in m change that m into ns, and words ending in l change that l into -is (e.g. animal > animais). Before 1943, the plural of words that ended in l, was -es, so: Crystal -> Crystaes, Papel -> Papees. Words ending in ão vary in how they form their plurals: some replace the ão with ães, others with ões, and others just add an -s like the other nouns ending in a vowel.
Grammatical gender of inanimate entities is sometimes different from that used in sister languages: thus, for example, Portuguese árvore ("tree") and flor ("flower") are feminine, while Spanish árbol and Italian fiore are masculine; Portuguese mar ("sea") and mapa ("map") are masculine, while French mer and mappe are feminine.
In many cases, the gender and number of a noun can be deduced from its ending: the basic pattern is "-o" / "-os" for masculine singular and plural, "-a" / "-as" for feminine. So, casa ("house"), mala ("suitcase"), pedra ("stone"), and inteligência ("intelligence") are feminine, while carro ("car"), saco ("bag"), tijolo ("brick"), and aborrecimento ("annoyance") are masculine. However, the complete rules are quite complex: for instance, nouns ending in -ção are usually feminine, except for augmentatives like bração ("big arm"). And there are many irregular exceptions. For words ending in other letters, there are few rules: flor ("flower"), gente ("folk"), nau ("ship"), maré ("tide") are feminine, while amor ("love"), pente ("comb"), pau ("stick"), café ("coffee") are masculine.
On the other hand, the gender of some nouns, as well as of first- and second-person pronouns, is determined semantically by the sex or gender of the referent: aquela estudante é nova, mas aquele estudante é velho ("this (female) student is new, but that (male) student is old";or eu sou brasileiro ("I am Brazilian", said by a man) and eu sou brasileira (the same, said by a woman). Honorific forms of address such as Vossa Excelência ("Your Excellency") exhibit noun/adjective agreement internally, but require agreement according to the gender of the referent for other modifiers, as in Vossa Excelência está atarefado ("Your Excellency is busy").[1]
Also, many animate masculine nouns have specific feminine derivative forms to indicate female sex or social gender: lobo ("wolf" or "male wolf", masculine gender) → loba ("she-wolf", feminine), conde ("count", m.) → condessa ("countess", f.), doutor ("doctor" or "male doctor", m.) → doutora ("female doctor", f.), ator ("actor", m.) → atriz ("actress", f.), etc. The feminine noun derivations should not be confused with the adjectival gender inflections, which use different (and more regular) rules.
The Portuguese language makes abundant use of diminutives, which connote small size, endearment or insignificance. Diminutives are very commonly used in informal language. On the other hand, most uses of diminutives are avoided in written and otherwise formal language.
The most common diminutive endings are -inho and -inha, replacing -o and -a, respectively. Words with the stress on the last syllable generally have -zinho or -zinha added, such as café "coffee" and cafezinho "coffee served as a show of hospitality". In writing, a c (but not a ç) becomes qu in some words, like pouco ("few") and pouquinho ("very few"), in order to preserve the [k] pronunciation.
Possible endings other than -inho(a) are:-ito(a), e.g. copo/copito ("glass")
-ico(a), e.g. burro/burrico ("donkey")
-(z)ete, e.g. palácio/palacete ("palace")
-ote, e.g. saia/saiote ("skirt")
-oto, e.g. lebre/lebroto ("hare/leveret")
-ejo, e.g. lugar/lugarejo ("place")
-acho, e.g. rio/riacho ("river")
-ola, e.g. aldeia/aldeola ("village")
-el, e.g. corda/cordel ("rope")It is also possible to form a diminutive of a diminutive, e.g. "burriquito" (burro + -ico + -ito).
Portuguese diminutive endings are often used not only with nouns but also with adjectives, e.g. tonto/tontinho ("silly" / "a bit silly"), or verde/verdinho ("green" / "nicely green") and occasionally with adverbs, e.g. depressa/depressinha ("quickly") and some other word classes, e.g. obrigadinho—diminutive for the interjection obrigado "thanks". Even the numeral um (one) can informally become unzinho.
The most common augmentatives are the masculine -ão and the feminine -ona, although there are others, like -aço(a) e.g. mulher/mulheraça ("woman"); or -eirão, e.g. voz/vozeirão ("voice"), less frequently used. Sometimes the masculine augmentative can be applied to a feminine noun, which then becomes grammatically masculine, but with a feminine meaning, e.g. a mulher / o mulherão ("the woman" / "the big woman").
Adjectives normally follow the nouns that they modify. Thus "white house" is casa branca, and "green fields" is campos verdes; the reverse order (branca casa, verdes campos) is generally limited to poetic language.
However, some adjectives—such as bom ("good"), belo ("nice"), and grande ("great", "big")—often precede the noun. Indeed, some of these have rather different meanings depending on position: compare um grande homem "a great man", vs. um homem grande "a big man".
Adjectives are routinely inflected for gender and number, according to a few basic patterns, much like those for nouns, as in the following table:
singular | plural | meaning | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masc. | fem. | masc. | fem. | ||
branco | branca | brancos | brancas | "white" | |
francês | francesa | franceses | francesas | "French" | |
motor | motriz | motores | motrizes | "motorised" | |
grandão | grandona | grandões | grandonas | "rather big" | |
conservador | conservadora | conservadores | conservadoras | "conservative" | |
europeu | europeia | europeus | europeias | "European" | |
verde | verdes | "green" | |||
superior | superiores | "superior" | |||
feliz | felizes | "happy" | |||
central | centrais | "central" | |||
civil | civis | "futile" | |||
fácil | fáceis | "easy" | |||
azul | azuis | "blue" |
A feminine adjective ending in -eia may correspond either to a masculine adjective ending in -eu (e.g. europeu, europeia) or to one ending in -eio (e.g. feio, feia).
Although, some adjectives are invariable, usually the ones whose singular form ending is -s, and a few colour adjectives, generally the compound ones, as in the table below:
singular | plural | meaning | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masc. | fem. | masc. | fem. | ||
simples | "simple" | ||||
reles | "lousy" | ||||
azul-claro | "light blue" | ||||
laranja | "orange" | ||||
verde-oliva | "olive green" | ||||
ultravioleta | "ultraviolet" |
singular | plural | meaning | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masc. | fem. | masc. | fem. | |||
bom | boa | bons | boas | "good" | ||
mau | má | maus | más | "bad" |
Comparison of adjectives is regularly expressed in analytic form using the adverb mais: mais alto (do) que = "higher than", o mais alto "the highest". Most adjectives have—in addition to their positive, comparative, and superlative forms—a so-called "absolute superlative" form (sometimes called "elative"), which enhances the meaning of the adjective without explicitly comparing it (lindo, "beautiful"; muito lindo or lindíssimo, "very beautiful"), it can appear in both analytic or synthetic form.
Positive | Comparative | Superlative | Analytic absolute superlative | Synthetic absolute superlative | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
belo "pretty" | mais belo "prettier" | o mais belo "the prettiest" | muito belo "very pretty" | belíssimo "very pretty" | ||
caro "expensive" | mais caro "more expensive" | o mais caro "the most expensive" | muito caro "very expensive" | caríssimo "very expensive" |
Positive | Comparative | Absolute superlative | Superlative | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
bom "good" | melhor "better" | ótimo "very good" | o melhor "the best" | ||
mau "bad" | pior "worse" | péssimo "very bad" | o pior "the worst" | ||
pequeno "small" | menor "smaller" | mínimo "very small" | o menor "the smallest" | ||
grande "big" | maior "bigger" | máximo "very big" | o maior "the biggest" |
Portuguese adverbs work much like their English counterparts, e.g. muito ("very"), pouco ("not much"), longe ("far"), muito ("much, a lot"), quase ("almost"), etc. To form adverbs from adjectives, the adverbial suffix -mente is generally added to the feminine singular of the adjective, whether or not it differs from the masculine singular. Thus:
Unlike Spanish, an orthographic accent on the adjective is not retained on the adverb; thus for example rápido → rapidamente ("fast, quickly").
As with adjectives, the comparative of adverbs is almost always formed by placing mais ("more") or menos ("less") before the adverb. Thus mais cedo ("earlier"), mais rapidamente ("faster, more quickly"), etc.
The adjectives bom ("good") and mau ("bad") have irregular adverbial forms: bem ("well") and mal ("badly"), respectively. And, like their corresponding adjectival forms, bem and mal have irregular comparative forms: melhor ("better") and pior ("worse"), respectively.
Adverbs of place show a three-way distinction between close to the speaker, close to the listener, and far from both:
aqui, cá = "here"
aí, lá = "there" (near you)
ali, acolá = "over there" (far from both of us)
These adverbs (except by cá and lá) get contracted with de (from).
preposition | adverb | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
aqui | aí | ali | acolá | ||
de | daqui | daí | dali | dacolá |
The English concept of phrasal verb—a verb-and-adverb sequence that forms a single semantic unit, such as "set up", "get by", "pick out", etc.—is rare in Portuguese. There are, however, some exceptions, such as ir embora ("to go away / to leave") and jogar fora ("to throw away").
Simple prepositions consist of a single word, while compound prepositions are formed by a phrase.
Portuguese generally uses de ("of") to indicate possession. Several prepositions form contractions with the definite article.[2]
1 Contractions with para are colloquial only, those with com are colloquial or poetic. The contractions with de, em, por, and a are mandatory in all registers. The grave accent in à / às has phonetic value in Portugal and African countries, but not in Brazil (see Portuguese phonology). In Brazil, the grave accent serves only to indicate the crasis in written text. The contractions with para are common in speech, but not used in formal writing. They may, however, appear when transcribing colloquial speech, for example in comic books. The prepositions de and em form contractions with the third-person pronouns, as, for example, dele ("of him, his"), nelas ("in them [fem.]"), as well as with the demonstrative adjectives (thus desta "of this [fem.]", naqueles "in those [masc.]"). These two prepositions may also contract with the indefinite article:
1Contractions with para are colloquial only, those with com are colloquial or poetic. These contractions with the indefinite article are common in the spoken language, formal or informal, and are also acceptable in formal writing in Portugal. In Brazil, they are generally avoided in writing, especially those of the preposition de. Across clause boundaries, contractions may occur in colloquial speech, but they are generally not done in writing: Fui, apesar da loja estar fechada. (contracted form) Fui, apesar de a loja estar fechada. (noncontracted form) "I went, even though the shop was closed." For more contracted prepositions in Portuguese, see this list on the Portuguese Wikipedia. Personal pronouns and possessivesSee main article: Portuguese personal pronouns and possessives. Pronouns are often inflected for gender and number, although many have irregular inflections. Personal pronouns are inflected according to their syntactic role. They have three main types of forms: for the subject, for the object of a verb, and for the object of a preposition. In the third person, a distinction is also made between simple direct objects, simple indirect objects, and reflexive objects. Possessive pronouns are identical to possessive adjectives. They are inflected to agree with the gender of the possessed being or object. DemonstrativesDemonstratives have the same three-way distinction as place adverbs: este lápis – "this pencil" (near me) esse lápis – "that pencil" (near you) aquele lápis – "that pencil" (over there, away from both of us) In colloquial Brazilian Portuguese, esse is often used interchangeably with este when there is no need to make a distinction. This distinction is usually only made in formal writing or by people with more formal education, or simply to emphasize the fact that it is near, as in esta sexta | ("next Friday!"). The demonstratives, like the articles, form contractions with certain preceding prepositions: de + este = deste ("of this"), de + esse = desse ("of that"), em + aquilo = naquilo ("in that thing"), a + aquela = àquela ("to that").
Demonstrative adjectives are identical to demonstrative pronouns: e.g. aquele carro "that car", and aquele "that one." Indefinite pronounsThe indefinite pronouns todo, toda, todos, todas are followed by the definite article when they mean "the whole". Otherwise, articles and indefinite pronouns are mutually exclusive within a noun phrase. In the demonstratives and in some indefinite pronouns, there is a trace of the neuter gender of Latin. For example, todo and esse are used with masculine referents, toda and essa with feminine ones, and tudo and isso when there is no definite referent. Thus todo livro "every book" and todo o livro "the whole book"; toda salada "every salad" and toda a salada "the whole salad"; and tudo "everything"; etc.:
1 For purposes of agreement, these neuter pronouns take masculine modifiers (except for tudo isto, tudo isso, and tudo aquilo). 2 Archaic, prefereble to use um outro, uma outra, uns outros, umas outras, uma outra coisa and uma outra pessoa respectively. Just like the articles, they form contractions with certain preceding prepositions
1Colloquial or poetic contractions. VerbsRelated article: Portuguese verb conjugation Portuguese verbs are usually inflected to agree with the subject's grammatical person (with three values, 1 = I/we, 2 = thou/you, 3 = he/she/it/they) and grammatical number (singular or plural), and to express various attributes of the action, such as time (past, present, future); aspect (completed, interrupted, or continuing); subordination and conditionality; command; and more. As a consequence, a regular Portuguese verb stem can take over 50 distinct suffixes. (For comparison, regular verbs have about 40 distinct forms in Italian and about 30 in modern French.) CopulaeRelated article: Romance copulaPortuguese has two main linking verbs: ser and estar (both translated "to be"). They developed from Latin SUM and STŌ, respectively (although the infinitive form ser actually comes from SEDĒRE). Most forms of ser come from SUM (infinitive ESSE). Change of adjective meaning
With adjectives of appearance ("beautiful", etc.), ser means "to be", and estar means "to look".
| = "Wow, she's so beautiful" (characteristic)
As in Spanish, the states of life and death are expressed with estar: Está vivo ("He is alive"). Está morto ("He is dead"). Ser is used with adjectives of fundamental belief (Não sou católico, "I'm not Catholic"), nationality (És português, "You are Portuguese"), sex/gender (É homem, "He's a man"), intelligence (Somos espertos, "We are smart"), etc. Católico can also be used with estar, in which case it takes on a figurative meaning:
Infinitive formThe infinitive is used, as in English, as a nominal expression of an action or state at an unspecified time, and possibly with an indefinite or implicit subject, e.g. queremos cantar ("we would like to sing"), cantar é agradável (lit. "to sing is pleasant"). Many of its uses would be translated into English by the "-ing" nominal form, e.g. mesa para cortar ("cutting table"), cantar é bom ("singing is good"), trabalhe sem parar ("work without pausing"). European Portuguese has the distinct feature of preferentially using the infinitive preceded by the preposition "a" in place of the gerund as the typical method of describing continuing action: Estou lendo. "I am reading." (Brazilian Portuguese) Estou a ler. "I am reading." (European Portuguese) Estavam dormindo. "They were sleeping." (Brazilian Portuguese) Estavam a dormir. "They were sleeping." (European Portuguese) The gerund "-ndo" form is still correct in European Portuguese and it is used colloquially in the Alentejo region, but relatively rare (although its adverbial uses and the other participle forms are not uncommon). On the other hand, the "a + infinitive" form is virtually nonexistent in Brazil, and is considered incorrect in Brazilian Portuguese, though it can be found in 19th century literature. A distinctive trait of Portuguese grammar (shared with the Galician language and Sardinian) is the existence of infinitive verb forms inflected according to the person and number of the subject: É melhor voltar, "It is better to go back" (impersonal) or "It is better [that] I go back" É melhor voltares, "It is better that you go back" É melhor voltarmos, "It is better that we go back" Depending on the context and intended sense, the personal infinitive may be forbidden, required, or optional. Personal infinitive sentences may often be used interchangeably with finite subordinate clauses. In these cases, finite clauses are usually associated with the more formal registers of the language. Conjugation classesAll Portuguese verbs in their infinitive form end in the letter r. Verbs are divided into three main conjugation classes according to the vowel in their infinitive ending:
The exceptional verb pôr ("to put") is placed by many grammarians in the -er conjugation class, for historical reasons: in older language the infinitive was poer, derived from Latin PONERE. It is the basis for several derived, prefixed verbs, most of which correspond to English verbs in -pose (although some differ in meaning):
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