Portuguese Adjectives
An adjective is a word whose main role is to modify a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or pronoun's definition. Some examples are: That is a green tree. I met a very old man.
THINGS TO REMEMBER: In Portuguese, as with all Latin languages, the adjective(s) come after the noun(s); eg. In English, ‘the red dress’ becomes ‘the dress red’ in Portuguese. So ‘the red dress’ becomes ‘O vestido vermelho’. Below is an example of the adjectives in the structure of the sentence.
English Adjectives |
Portuguese Adjectives |
Portuguese Pronunciation |
That is a tall building | Este é um edifício alto | ESTE E- UN- ED-IF-IC-IO- ALTO |
I met a very old man | Encontrei um homem muito velho | ENCON-TRAY- UN- OM-EN- MOIN-TO- VEL-IO |
The old red building is here | Aqui é o edifício vermelho e velho | ACK-EE- E- O- ED-IF-IC-IO- VER-MEL-IO- E- VEL-IO |
That's a very nice dress | Este é um vestido bonito> | ES-TE- E- UN- VES-TEE-DO- BON-EE-TO |
Adjectives used with different genders and numbers:
THINGS TO REMEMBER
- When talking about MASCULINE things; end the adjective in an ‘O’
- When talking about FEMININE things; end the adjective in an ‘A’
- When talking about PLURAL things that are MASCULINE; end the adjective in ‘OS’
- When talking about PLURAL things that are FEMININE; end the adjective in ‘AS’
- When talking about PLURAL things that are BOTH MASCULINE and FEMININE; end the adjective in ‘OS’ because the MASCULINE takes precedence over the FEMININE
Here are some examples in the table below:
Adjective (gender/ number) |
Brazilian Adjectives |
Pronunciation |
She is a tall woman | Ela é um mulher alta | E-LA- E- UN- MOOL- YER- AL-TA |
He is a tall man | Elo é um homem alto | E-LO- E- UN- OM-EN- AL-TO |
They are tall women | Elas sao mulheres altas | E-LAS- SOUN- MOOL-YER-ES- AL-TAS |
They are tall men | Eles sao homems altos | E-LES- SOUN- OM-ENS- AL-TOS |
Below is a vocabulary training for adjectives in Portuguese or Brazilian, try to memorize the adjectives below, because they’re very important.
Vocaublary |
Portuguese Adjectives |
Portuguese Pronunciation |
Angry | Zangado | ZAN-GA-DO |
Bad | Mau | MAL |
Beautiful | Bonito | BON-ITO |
Cheap | Barato | BAR-ATO |
Clean | Limpo | LIM-PO |
Cold | Frio | FREE-O |
Different | Diferente | DIF-ER-EN-TE |
Difficult | Difícil | DIF-EE-SIL |
Early | Cedo | SE-DO |
Easy | Fácil | FA-SEEL |
Friendly | Amigável | AM-IG-A-VEL |
Good | Bom | BON |
Heavy | Pesado | PES-A-DO |
Important | Importante | IMP-ORT-AN-TE |
Married | Casado | CAS-A-DO |
Natural | Natural | NAT-OO-RAL |
Nice | Amável | AM-A-VEL |
Open | Aberto | AB-ER-TO |
Polite | Gentil | GEN-TEEL |
Poor | Pobre | POB-RE |
Rich | Rico | REE-CO |
Sad | Triste | TREES-TE |
Simple | Simples | SIMP-LES |
Slow | Lento | LEN-TO |
Small | Pequeno | PEC-ENO |
Sweet | Doce | DO-SE |
Tall | Alto | AL-TO |
Warm | Morno | MOR-NO |
Well | Bem | BEN |
Worse | Pior | PEE-OR |
Worst | Pior | PEE-OR |
Wrong | Incorrecto | INC-ORR-EC-TO |
I hope the content of this page was useful to you, and that you learned some Portuguese Adjectives (Brazilian) ..., try to memorize them to be able to use them in your daily conversation. Make sure to check our Learn Portuguese page, which contains several lessons that might help you in your learning process.