We use the definite articles in Portuguese (os artigos definidos) before a noun to indicate that the identity of that noun is known to us or the person we are speaking to. In English, this is the word “the”.
What’s a noun?
A noun is a name we give to people, things, places or ideas. In Portuguese, it’s very important to understand that there is a grammatical gender and a grammatical number. This results in words inflecting in the feminine and the masculine and singular and plural.
Keep in mind that the gendered aspect of nouns almost never has anything to do with societal constructs or steriotypes of what is deemed traditionally “female” or “male”.
How can you tell what’s what?
As a general rule of thumb, if a word ends in “a” it’s going to be feminine and if a word ends in “o” it’s going to be masculine. But, as with any grammar rule, there are exceptions. For example “cinema” is a masculine word in Portuguese. For more exceptions and rules, I have a separate lesson here.
Why is this important and how does it relate to the articles?
Because nouns are gendered, they are what determine what gender the surrounding words are going to have, including the articles. This means that there are four definite articles in Portuguese and it also means there are NO exceptions to the following rule:
a – before a feminine singular noun
as – before a feminine plural noun
o – before a masculine singular noun
os – before a masculine plural noun
If there are any exceptions they will be reflected in the noun and not the article. I mentioned earlier the example “o cinema” (the cinema). Even though “cinema” is the exception, the article still remains masculine – “o” (the).
Examples:
Let’s look at some simple examples of the definite articles in Portuguese before a noun:
| Feminine singular | Masculine singular | Feminine plural | Masculine plural |
| a fruta (the fruit) | o garfo (the fork) | as frutas (the fruits) | os garfos (the forks) |
| a casa (the house) | o casaco (the coat) | as casas (the houses) | os casacos (the coats) |
| a caneta (the pen) | o jantar (the dinner) | as canetas (the pens) | os jantares (the dinners) |
| a janela (the window) | o carro (the car) | as janelas (the windows) | os carros (the cars) |
So all of these, except “jantar“, were easy to identify as being feminine (ending is “a” or “as“) and masculine (ending in “o” or “os“). But what about nouns that don’t fall into either of these? How do you know what gender those are? find out more here.
Contractions with prepositions (contrações com preposições)
The definite articles in Portuguese can contract with certain prepositions. So it’s important to know which ones as well as when to use each one, but all in good time. That’s something you learn in more detail in preposition-focused lessons. First, let’s look at what they are with the articles specifically:
| + | a = the | as = the | o = the | os =the |
| a = at or to | à | às | ao | aos |
| em = in or on | na | nas | no | nos |
| de = of or from | da | das | do | dos |
| por = for; by; through; via | pela | pelas | pelo | pelos |
Let’s look at examples of these contractions in action:
Note that prepositions are not always the same in every language. This is, sometimes, what makes them less easy to learn quickly.
Eles vão à praia amanhã (They’re going to the beach tomorrow)
Nós vamos ao cinema. (we’re going to the cinema.)
Eles deitam-se às 8 horas da noite. (They go to bed “at the” 8pm.)
Amanhã vou aos correios. (Tomorrow I’m going to the post “offices”.)
A casa do Rui fica no Algarve. (Rui’s house is in the Algarve.)
A mala da Susana. (Susana‘s bag – “the bag of the Susana”)
O livro do João. (João‘s book – “the book of the João”)
Vamos pela autoestrada. (We’ll go via the motorway.
Passo pelo banco. (I’m passing by the bank.)
To consolidate what you’ve learned in this lesson:
- Download this worksheet
- Test yourself here.