When using Adjectives in Portuguese, there are more things to consider. Unlike in English, they almost always come after the thing they are describing (noun). And they also need to agree with the gender and the number of the noun. So next, I will walk you through all that, and afterwards, we’ll look at how to use the adjectives in comparisons. If you were looking for adjectives that are also Past Participles in Portuguese, then visit the link instead. And here for colours in Portuguese.
Adjectives in Portuguese inflect in number and gender
This means that the adjective needs to agree with the gender of the nouns and if we’re referring to a singular unit or a plural one. (For curiosity, we call these adjectives: adjectives Biformes.) For instance:
Um casaco caro. (an expensive coat)
Um casaco (a coat) is the noun, and caro (expensive) is the adjective. Casaco is masculine and is singular here, therefore the adjective has to be singular and masculine too = caro.
Here is another example:
Uma carta longa. (a long letter)
Uma carta (a letter) is the noun and is feminine and singular, so the adjective – longa (long) has to be feminine and singular too.
What makes them feminine or masculine is the ending of the nouns. If ending in “a“, it’s feminine, and if ending in “o,” it’s masculine. Just like we saw with the lesson on the definite articles in Portuguese. Let’s look at plural examples now.
Carros barulhentos. (noisy cars)
carros (cars) is both masculine and plural, therefore the adjective will now also be masculine and plural. If we were talking about noisy “motas” (motorcycles), the adjective would be “barulhentas”:
motas barulhentas. (noisy motorcycles)
So what makes nouns plural or singular is, much like in English, the plural will have and “s” present at the end of the word. The same goes for adjectives.
| Adjectivos Biformes | masculine singular | masculine plural | feminine singular | feminine plural |
| expensive | caro | caros | cara | caras |
| cheap | barato | baratos | barata | baratas |
| tall | alto | altos | alta | altas |
| short (height) | baixo | baixos | baixa | baixas |
| long | comprido | compridos | comprida | compridas |
| short (length) | curto | curtos | curta | curtas |
Exceptions
Some adjectives don’t inflect in gender, and some don’t inflect in number either. For example, adjectives that end in the letter “e”, “l”, “m”, “ar”, “or”, “s”, or “z”, don’t have a masculine or feminine version, only singular or plural. We call these adjectives: adjectivos uniformes (this designation is not something you need to memorise). Let’s look at some examples:
| Adjectivos Uniformes | feminine/masculine singular | feminine/masculine plural |
| inteligent* | inteligente | inteligentes |
| important* | importante | importantes |
| possible* | possível | possiveís |
| comfortable* | confortável | confortáveis |
| happy | feliz | felizes |
| sad | triste | tristes |
| easy | fácil | fáceis |
| difficult | difícil | difíceis |
| bad/poor/mean | ruím | ruíns |
| superior | superior | superiores |
| unpaired | ímpar | ímpares |
*many words that end in ent and ant in English go to “ente” and “ante” in Portuguese. Similarly, many words that end in ible and able in English go to “ível” and “ável” in Portuguese. (Post coming on this soon)
If you’re wondering how you know what the gender of the noun is, then visit this lesson about feminine and masculine in Portuguese.
Most Used Adjectives in Portuguese
Here is a table with 30 of the most commonly used adjectives in Portuguese.
Comparisons and Superlatives
Making comparisons and superlatives are important parts of everyday speech in most languages. It’s important to be able to refer to your oldest child, or that you saw something that was cheaper at another shop/store.
And you know me, I’m going to try and keep this as simple as possible. There are three main ways to compare things and four superlatives. It’s easier than it sounds. And remember, the terms are not something you need to memorise.
Comparisons with Adjectives in Portuguese:
Inferiority – when we want to say something/someone is “less ____ than” something/someone else. The combo “less/than” is “menos/do que” in Portuguese. For instance:
O António é menos calmo do que o André.
António is less calm than André.
Fórmula: noun + é menos (is less) + adjective + do que (than) + noun
Superiority – when we want to say something/someone is “more _____ than” something/someone else. The combo “more/than” is “mais/do que” in Portuguese. For example:
A Susana é mais alta do que a Petra.
Susana is “more tall” (taller) than Petra.
Fórmula: noun + é mais (is more) + adjective + do que (than) + noun
Equality – when we want to say something/someone is “as____ as” something/someone else. The combo “as/as” is “tão/como” in Portuguese. Let’s see:
A Bruna é tão simpática como o Joel.
Bruna is as friendly as Joel.
Fórmula: noun + é tão (is as) + adjective + como (as) + noun
That’s it for the comparisons. Now on to the superlatives.
Superlatives with Adjectives in Portuguese:
Within the superlatives, there are 4 ways to express this. The first one is to say something/someone is “very _______”. In Portuguese, “very” is “muito” and it’s important to remember that in this context the word never becomes plural or feminine. It’s also always placed before the description:
O Miguel é muito trabalhador.
Miguel is very hard-working.
A Rita é muito inteligente.
Rita is very intelligent.
The second way to use a superlative is when you want to exaggerate a feature or hyperbolise it. To compare this to English is like saying something is “extremely _____”. We do this in Portuguese by adding “íssimo” or “íssima to the nouns ending in a vowel (after we take off the final vowel). And we add “bilíssimo” to adjectives ending in “vel” (after removing “vel”). For example.
O vestido é lindíssimo. (lindo+íssimo)
The dress is “extremely” gorgeous.
O Rui é inteligentíssimo. (Inteligente + íssimo)
Rui is “extremely” intelligent.
Isto é agradabilíssimo. (agradável + bilíssimo)
This is “extremely” pleasant.
The last two ways the superlatives are used are when we want to say that something is the most or the least ______ out of a group of things or people. And we do this by saying:
“the more_____ of all” (o mais_____ de todos)
and “the less ____ of all” (o menos ___de todos)
Examples:
O João é o mais alto de todos.
João is the tallest of all. (is the more tall)
Fórmula: noun + o/a mais + adjective + of all
A Andreia é a mais baixa de todos.
Andreia is the shortest of all. (is the more short)
Fórmula: noun + o/a mais + adjective + of all
O João é o menos baixo de todos.
João is the shortest of all. (is the less short)
Fórmula: noun + o/a menos + adjective + of all
A Andreia é a menos alta de todos.
Andreia is the least tall of all. (is the less tall)
Fórmula: noun +o/a menos + adjective + of all
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