Mini-Lesson part 1 : Articles

Some Advice First

Portuguese grammar is not too difficult to learn compared to other Romance languages. There are fewer "idiomatic irregularities," if you will, than there are in French or Italian. The syntax is also generally much closer to English.

It has been traditionally thought that building a basic knowledge of the grammar of a language is the first thing to do in order to learn well. I would say that being surrounded by the language in its original land is probably the best way to learn well - both in terms of pronunciation and the spoken language. But since most people don't get that opportunity (live abroad) quite readily, we have to figure out other ways to fill the gap, like using movies, audio tapes and listening to Portuguese or Brazilian music.

Reading children's literature is another way to begin a language, and as you pick up more vocabulary you could begin reading newspaper and magazine articles to familiarize yourself with Portuguese society and life. Many people say that being able to read and understand the newspaper is the ultimate test for average fluency.

Before long, let's get into some essential Portuguese grammar to start off with.

Part 1

O nome do rapaz é Miguel. The name of the boy is Miguel.
O nome da rapariga é Paula. The name of the girl is Paula.

Besides their names, you can see that the only difference between the above sentences is do rapaz and da rapariga. The do and da are shortened forms for de o and de a, which means exactly as in the English translation -- "of the".

Portuguese has only two genders for nouns -- masculine and feminine.

But, alas, we have o for masculine the, and a for feminine the. Easy enough. O rapaz, a rapariga. And then we have o nome -- masculine once again.

- É um rapaz! (It's a boy!)
- Não é! É uma rapariga! (No it isn't! It's a girl!)

This time we have the indefinite articles: um for the masculine a, and uma for the feminine a. To make it just a tiny bit more complicated, articles can be in plural, too.

Masculine: Feminine: English equivalent:

Um: Uma: A; One Singular

Uns: Umas: (Some); Ones Plural

O: A: The Singular

Os: As: The Plural

Plurals are easy to deal with. Just like in English, you simply add an "s" or "es" to make a noun plural. E.g. ovo (egg) and ovos (eggs), rapaz (boy) and rapazes (boys). If you want to say the boys, you must say os rapazes - so...
Remember, remember! All modifiers (articles and adjectives alike) must agree with the gender and plurality of the noun!