Adjectives: Declension

01

Adjective Placement

In most cases, adjectives are placed after the noun they describe. This is the standard, neutral position.

• Eu comprei um carro vermelho.

  I bought a red car.

• Ela é uma mulher inteligente.

  She is an intelligent woman.

However, some common adjectives can be placed before the noun. This often adds a subjective or figurative quality to the description, while placing it after the noun tends to be more objective and literal.

• Ele é um homem pobre.

  He is a poor man. (lacks money)

• Ele é um pobre homem.

  He is a poor man. (unfortunate, pitiable)

• Ela é uma mulher grande.

  She is a large woman. (physically big)

• Ela é uma grande mulher.

  She is a great woman. (important, admirable)

02

Gender Agreement

Adjectives are categorized into two groups based on how they change for gender.

Variable Adjectives (Biformes)

These adjectives have distinct masculine and feminine forms.

• The most common pattern is a masculine form ending in -o and a feminine form ending in -a.

• O livro é caro.

  The book is expensive.

• A caneta é cara.

  The pen is expensive.

• Adjectives of nationality ending in a consonant often add an -a for the feminine form. For example, inglês becomes inglesa.

• Ele é um ator francês.

  He is a French actor.

• Ela é uma atriz francesa.

  She is a French actress.

• Adjectives ending in -or typically change to -ora for the feminine form.

• Meu pai é muito trabalhador.

  My father is very hard-working.

• Minha mãe é muito trabalhadora.

  My mother is very hard-working.

Invariable Adjectives (Uniformes)

These adjectives have the same form for both masculine and feminine nouns.

• Adjectives ending in -e.

• um exame diferente

  a different exam

• uma prova diferente

  a different test

• Adjectives ending in -l, -r, -s, or -z.

• um resultado final

  a final result

• uma decisão final

  a final decision

• um homem feliz

  a happy man

• uma mulher feliz

  a happy woman

03

Number Agreement (Plurals)

Adjectives also change to agree with plural nouns. The plural form depends on the ending of the singular adjective.

• For adjectives ending in a vowel, simply add -s.

• carros rápidos

  fast cars

• casas bonitas

  beautiful houses

• pessoas inteligentes

  intelligent people

• For adjectives ending in -r or -z, add -es.

• cores populares

  popular colors

• dias felizes

  happy days

• For adjectives ending in -m, change the -m to -ns.

• homens jovens

  young men

• tempos ruins

  bad times

• For adjectives ending in -l, the change is more complex:
• -al, -el, -ol, -ul change to -ais, -éis, -óis, -uis.

• problemas sociais

  social problems (from social)

• anéis fiéis

  faithful rings (from fiel)

• lençóis espanhóis

  Spanish bedsheets (from espanhol)

• Adjectives ending in an unstressed -il change to -eis.

• projetos fáceis

  easy projects (from fácil)

• animais úteis

  useful animals (from útil)

• Adjectives ending in a stressed -il change to -is.

• carros civis

  civilian cars (from civil)

04

Invariable Adjectives and Colors

Some adjectives are completely invariable, meaning they do not change for gender or number. This is common with colors that are also nouns.

• Eu comprei duas camisas vinho.

  I bought two wine-colored shirts.

• Ela tem sapatos laranja.

  She has orange shoes.

Compare this to regular color adjectives, which do agree:

• Eu comprei duas camisas amarelas.

  I bought two yellow shirts.

• Ela tem sapatos pretos.

  She has black shoes.

05

Compound Adjectives

For compound adjectives formed by two adjectives, typically only the second adjective agrees with the noun in gender and number.

• a cultura luso-brasileira

  the Luso-Brazilian culture

• os acordos luso-brasileiros

  the Luso-Brazilian agreements

An important exception is with compound colors where the second element is a noun. In this case, the entire compound adjective is invariable.

• um terno azul-marinho

  a navy-blue suit

• dois ternos azul-marinho

  two navy-blue suits

• uma saia verde-oliva

  an olive-green skirt

• duas saias verde-oliva

  two olive-green skirts