Portuguese Lessons
Free Portuguese lessons covering the essential aspects of Portuguese grammar and verbs. Use the table of contents below to choose a topic.
Table of Contents:
Definite Articles
Here are the Portuguese definite articles. Notice that there are different
forms for masculine and feminine and for singular and plural.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine | o | os |
| Feminine | a | as |
Examples:
|
o sapato os sapatos a mesa as mesas |
the shoe the shoes the table the tables |
| When to use the definite article |
| 1. When you are referring to nouns in general. A lot
of times in English the definite article would be
omitted for this usage. 2. When you are referring to a specific noun, or in other words, when we would use "the" in English. |
Indefinite Articles
Here are the Portuguese indefinite articles. Notice that just like the
definite articles, there are 4 different forms.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine | um | uns |
| Feminine | uma | umas |
Examples:
|
um sapato uns sapatos uma mesa umas mesas |
a shoe some shoes a table some tables |
| When to use the indefinite article |
| Indefinite articles are used when referring to non-specific things. They are the equivalent of "a" or "some" in English. |
Gender of Nouns
In Portuguese, nouns are either masculine or feminine. It is necessary to memorize whether a noun is masculine or feminine when you learn it. There are a few rules that will help you recognize which gender a noun is based on its ending.
In general, nouns that end in "o" are masculine and those that end in "a" are feminine, but there are a few exceptions. (Although, nouns ending in "á" are usually masculine.)
| Masculine Endings | Feminine Endings |
|---|---|
| -o -l -r -u -z |
-a -ade -ção -são |
Making Nouns Plural
The general rule for making nouns plural in Portuguese is to just add an "s", however this doesn't work in every instance.
Here are some other rules:
| Word Ending | Rule |
|---|---|
| -l | Drop the "l" and add "is". If the last syllable of the word is unstressed, then add "eis" instead. |
| -m | Drop the "m" and add "ns". |
| -s | The plural stays the exact same as the singular. |
| -x | The plural stays the exact same as the singular. |
| -r or -z | Add -es to form the plural. |
Asking Questions
There are a few different ways to ask a question in Portuguese.
1. Place the verb before the subject in a sentence.
2. Add a question mark at the end of a sentence with normal word
order. If you are speaking, you would slightly raise your voice
at the end of the sentence to indicate that you are asking a
question.
Interrogative Words
| Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? How much? How many? |
Quem? Que? Quando? Onde? Porque? Como? Quanto? Quantos? (masc.) / Quantas? (fem.) |
Subject Pronouns
Pronouns are words that are used in place of nouns. A subject pronoun
indicates who or what performs the action of the sentence. Portuguese is similar
to Spanish because they are both "pro-drop" languages, meaning the subject
pronouns are usually omitted because the conjugations of the verbs will indicate
the subject.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person | eu (I) | nós (we) |
| 2nd person | tu (you, familiar) | |
| 3rd person | ele (he) ela (she) |
eles (they) elas (they - if all females) |
Note: The subject pronoun "vós" is no longer widely used in modern day Portuguese and therefore is omitted in all of our grammar lessons.
The Present Tense
Formation
Regular verbs in the present tense fall into three groups depending on the ending of the verb. There are "ar", "er", and "ir" verbs.
The present tense is formed by adding the appropriate ending to the stem of the verb.
Verb Endings
| -ar verbs | -er verbs | -ir verbs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | o | o | o |
| ele, ela, você |
a | e | e |
| nós | amos | emos | imos |
| eles, elas, vocês |
am | em | em |
eu falo,
ele/ela fala, você fala,
nós falamos,
eles/elas falam, vocês falam
eu como,
ele/ela come, você come,
nós comemos,
eles/elas comem, vocês comem
eu parto, ele/ela parte, você parte, nós partimos, eles/elas partem, vocês partem
Usage
The Preterite Tense
Regular verbs in the preterite tense fall into three groups depending on the ending of the verb. There are "ar", "er", and "ir" verbs.
The preterite tense is formed by adding the appropriate ending to the stem of the verb.
Group 1: -ar verbs
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st-person | ei | amos |
| 2nd-person | aste | |
| 3rd-person | ou | aram |
eu falei
tu falaste
ele/ela falou, você falou
nós falamos
eles/elas falaram, vocês falaram
Group 2: -er verbs
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st-person | i | emos |
| 2nd-person | este | |
| 3rd-person | eu | eram |
eu comi
tu comeste
ele/ela comeu, você comeu
nós comemos
eles/elas comeram, vocês comeram
Group 3: -ir verbs
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st-person | i | imos |
| 2nd-person | iste | |
| 3rd-person | iu | iram |
eu parti
tu partiste
ele/ela partiu, você partiu
nós partimos
eles/elas partiram, vocês partiram
The Imperfect Tense
Regular verbs in the imperfect tense fall into 2 groups depending on the ending of the verb.
The imperfect tense is formed by adding the appropriate ending to the stem of the verb.
Group 1: -ar verbs
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st-person | ava | ávamos |
| 2nd-person | avas | |
| 3rd-person | ava | avam |
eu falava
tu falavas
ele/ela falava, você falava
nós falávamos
eles/elas falavam, vocês falavam
Group 2: --er/ir verbs
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st-person | ia | íamos |
| 2nd-person | ias | |
| 3rd-person | ia | iam |
eu comia
tu comias
ele/ela comia, você comia
nós comíamos
eles/elas comiam, vocês comiam
Basic Adjectives
|
large small tall short loud quiet hard soft wet dry fast slow beautiful ugly young old thin (person) fat (person) friendly rude good bad happy sad funny |
grande pequeno alto curto barulhento quieto duro macio; suave molhado seco ligeiro; rápido lento lindo; belo feio jovem velho magro; esbelto gordo simpático rude bom mau; ruim contente; feliz triste engraçado |
The Future Tense
Regular verbs in the future tense will all have the same endings.
The future tense is formed by adding the appropriate ending
to the infinitive form of the verb.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st-person | ei | emos |
| 2nd-person | ás | |
| 3rd-person | á | ão |
eu falarei
tu falarás
ele/ela falará, você falará
nós falaremos
eles/elas falarão, vocês falarão
The Conditional Tense
Regular verbs in the conditional tense will all have the same endings.
The conditional tense is formed by adding the appropriate ending to the infinitive form of the verb.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st-person | ia | íamos |
| 2nd-person | ias | |
| 3rd-person | ia | iam |
eu falaria
tu falarias
ele/ela falaria, você falaria
nós falaríamos
eles/elas falariam, vocês falariam
Possessive Adjectives
| Masculine Singular |
Feminine Singular |
Masculine Plural |
Feminine Plural |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| my | meu | minha | meus | minhas |
| your | teu | tua | teus | tuas |
| his, her, its, your | seu | sua | seus | suas |
| our | nosso | nossa | nossos | nossas |
| your | vosso | vossa | vossos | vossas |
| their, your | seu | sua | seus | suas |