Bastante, Quase, and Realmente

In this learning note, we’ll explore 3 tricky Portuguese words:

• bastantequite a lot, a lot, enough, very, manyCommunity Slow audio Play audio Determiner, Singular, Masculine
• quasealmostCommunity Slow audio Play audio Adverb
• realmentereally, indeedCommunity Slow audio Play audio Adverb

Bastante

Bastante can do six different jobs, depending on the word it’s attached to and its position:

• Before a noun it acts as a quantifier — quite a lot of, quite a few
• On its own it acts as an indefinite pronoun — quite a lot, quite a few
• Before an adjective or adverb it acts as an adverb — quite, fairly
• After a verb it acts as an adverb — a lot, plenty
• After a noun it acts as an adjective — enough
• As o bastante it acts as a noun — enough

(NOTE: Some grammar books may use different labels to describe these uses.)
One rule to remember: Whenever bastante is tied to a noun, it agrees with that noun in number (i.e. bastante if singular, bastantes if plural). In other contexts, it doesn’t change.

Quite a lot / Quite a few

Using bastante as a quantifier is the most common use case. Bastante sits before a noun to tell you that there’s a fair amount of something, without saying exactly how much.
Tenho bastante trabalho esta semanaI have a lot of work this weekCommunity Slow audio Play audio
Havia bastantes pessoas na festaThere were quite a few people at the partyCommunity Slow audio Play audio
And if the noun has already been mentioned, you may find yourself commenting or replying with just Bastante! or Bastantes! to indicate the quantity of something. (By itself like this, it’s technically an indefinite pronoun.)

• Quanto pelo de gato há no chão? Bastante.How much cat hair is there on the floor? A lot (of cat hair) .Community Slow audio Play audio
• Quantos museus cobram entrada? Bastantes!How many museums charge for entry? Quite a few (museums) !Community Slow audio Play audio

Quite / Fairly

As an adverb, bastante amplifies the intensity of the adjective or adverb it precedes.

• Isso é bastante interessante!That’s very interesting!Community Slow audio Play audio
• Está bastante frio hojeIt's quite cold todayCommunity Slow audio Play audio

But keep in mind that bastante is usually not as strong as muito:

• um pouco frio = a bit cold
• bastante frio = quite cold, fairly cold
• muito frio = very cold

A lot / Plenty

If it’s placed after a verb, bastante is still an adverb, but now it indicates how much someone does something.

• Elas comem bastanteThey eat plentyCommunity Slow audio Play audio
• O meu irmão fala bastanteMy brother talks a lotCommunity Slow audio Play audio
• Não, obrigada, já comi bastanteNo, thanks, I’ve eaten plentyCommunity Slow audio Play audio

At its heart, bastante expresses the idea of “a good amount”, covering the full range from “enough” to “a lot”.

Enough

Placing bastante after a noun turns it into an adjective meaning “enough”, as in Um pagamento em atraso não é razão bastante para cancelar o contrato (A late payment isn’t reason enough to cancel the contract).
This is actually the word’s original meaning, having come from the verb bastar, “to be enough.” You may have spotted it in Portuguese recipes as quanto baste (q.b.) to taste, as needed, enoughCommunity Slow audio Play audio .
While the verb bastar is still quite common nowadays, bastante as an adjective is mostly limited to formal writing, older books, and legal documents.
Bastante can also take the article o in front of it to become a noun (o bastante) and behave as a unit meaning “enough”.

• Não estudei o bastante para ter boa nota (I didn’t study enough to get a good grade)

In this form, you could think of it as “the sufficient amount”. And in everyday Portuguese, that’s actually the word we prefer: suficienteenoughCommunity Slow audio Play audio Adjective . It’s much more common to hear and read dinheiro suficiente (enough money), tempo suficiente (enough time), Não estudei o suficiente (I didn’t study enough), etc.

Quase

Quase is simpler: it means “almost” and it almost always modifies whatever comes next.
Let’s compare these 2 examples:

• A Maria quase leu o livro.Maria almost read the book.Community Slow audio Play audio – In front of the verb (leu), it means that action almost happened, but didn’t. Maria may have been just about to start reading the book, but then changed her mind.
• A Maria leu quase todo o livroMaria read almost the whole bookCommunity Slow audio Play audio – If you move it in front of the object (todo o livro), now it means the action happened, but not completely. This time she really did read, but stopped before the end of the book.

More examples:

• Estiveram lá quase cem pessoasThere were almost a hundred people thereCommunity Slow audio Play audio
• Quase que chegámos a tempoWe almost arrived on timeCommunity Slow audio Play audio – In some contexts, quase que can be used instead of just quase. The meaning is the same, with a bit of extra emphasis.
• São quase três horasIt's almost three o'clockCommunity Slow audio Play audio
• A sopa está quase friaThe soup is almost coldCommunity Slow audio Play audio
• Não sabemos quase nada sobre istoWe know almost nothing about thisCommunity Slow audio Play audio – This means the same as Quase não sabemos nada sobre isto.

And here’s a helpful pattern that’s worth learning: Estar quase aCommunity Slow audio Play audio followed by an infinitive verb means to be on the verge of (doing something) / to be about to (do something).

• Estou quase a chegar a casa.I’m almost (arriving) home.Community Slow audio Play audio
• O filme está quase a começarThe film is about to startCommunity Slow audio Play audio

Realmente

Realmente can apply to a whole sentence or sharpen a single word.
On its own, it signals agreement:

• RealmenteTrue, IndeedCommunity Slow audio Play audio Adverb

At the start of a sentence, marked off by a comma, it confirms something:

• Realmente, isso é caro.Indeed, that's expensive.Community Slow audio Play audio

In front of an adjective, it intensifies it:

• Isso é realmente caro.That's really expensive.Community Slow audio Play audio