Unlike English, most Portuguese words have a gender: ♂ masculine or ♀ feminine.
Sometimes you’ll notice patterns, such as the -o ending in many masculine words and the -a ending in many feminine words. There are many, many exceptions, however, so you can’t always rely on that rule. You can start by using the patterns below as a guide and then you’ll pick up the exceptions over time as you hear them in context.
The masculine form is usually considered the “default” form in Portuguese. This even applies to pronouns: we have both elesthey(masc.) for male groups and elasthey(fem) for female groups, but if it’s a group of both males and females, you have to use eles, even if there’s only one man!
eles: 👨🏻👨🏾🦱🧔🏼👨🏽🦲👨🏻🦰 or 👩🏻🦰👵🏽👱🏼♀️👨🏻👩🏾👩🏻🦱
elas: 👩🏻🦰👵🏽👱🏼♀️👩🏾👩🏻🦱
Variable vs. Invariable
Because of this concept of grammatical gender, most Portuguese words are variable, which just means they change form depending on the gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural).
For example, most adjectives are variable, so they must match the gender (and number) of the noun they modify:
- O homem é altoThe man is tall | A mulher é altaThe woman is tall
- We’ll see some exceptions in the 3rd group below*
Portuguese adverbs, on the other hand, are one class that is always invariable. They only have one form, so they stay the same regardless of the gender (or number) of the noun they modify. For example:
Let’s explore more examples of how to indicate gender, by categorizing Portuguese words into the following 4 groups.
1. Same Root Word, Modified for Each Gender
This is the largest group, containing words that share a common root or radical, which is modified into a different form for each gender. A simple example is meninoboy and meninagirl . These share the same root (menin-) and the -o is changed to -a to take on the feminine form.
These include most adjectives, plus many nouns that relate to people, i.e. what we perceive to have a biological gender in the “real world”. Study the charts below to learn how different words are transformed from masculine to feminine.
- Simply changing -o to -a
- -ão turns into -ã, -oa or -ona
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| irmãobrother | irmãsister |
| alemãoGerman | alemãGerman |
| leãolion | leoalioness |
| patrãoboss(male) | patroaboss(female) |
| chorãowhiny | choronawhiny |
- -or turns into -iz
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| atoractor | atrizactress |
| embaixadorambassador | embaixatrizambassadress |
| imperadoremperor | imperatrizempress |
- Adding an -a to words ending in -or, -ês or -z
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| professorateacher(female) | |
| SenhorSir | SenhoraLady, Madam |
| portuguêsPortuguese | portuguesaPortuguese |
| inglêsEnglish | inglesaEnglish |
| juízajudge(female) | |
| aprendizapprentice(male) | aprendizaapprentice(female) |
- Words ending in -essa, -esa or-isa
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| condecount | condessacountess |
| abadeabbot | abadessaabbess |
| príncipeprince | princesaprincess |
| duqueduke | duquesaduchess |
| poetapoet(male) | poetisapoet(female) |
| profetaprophet | profetisaprophetess |
- and some anomalous examples
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| cãodog(male) | |
| rapazboy | raparigagirl |
| padrinhogodfather | madrinhagodmother |
| fradefriar | freiranun |
| ateuatheist | ateiaatheist |
| czartsar | czarinatsarina |
2. Only One Possible Gender
Nouns called substantivos uniformesunisex nouns have only one form. They already have a defined grammatical gender. In the examples below, the definite articles a or o match the gender of the noun:
-
- A portaThe door
- O carroThe car
Most of these words pertain to objects, i.e. things that don’t actually have a biological gender, so the gender just has to be learned. You can’t say ❌ o porta or ❌ a carro, for example. In Portuguese, a door will always be feminine and a car will always be masculine. But like we said, even though it’s much more common, it’s not always as simple as adding an o for words ending in o and an a for words ending in a. For example:
-
- A triboThe tribe – An example of a feminine word that ends in -o
- O pijamaThe pajamas – An example of a masculine word that ends in -a
3. Same Form, Two Possible Genders
Nouns in this group can be masculine or feminine, but the same form is used for both genders. The words that go with them (such as articles) are the only way to indicate whether you’re referring to a male or female.
For example, the word for artist is artista, regardless of whether it’s a male or female artist. To know whether we’re talking about a male or female, you’d have to look to other words in the sentence, such as o artista – the (male) artist vs. a artista – the (female) artist.
Most nouns that end in -e or -ista belong to this group, and many are related to occupations, but not all.
This group contains adjectives as well. Most adjectives are variable, however, the adjectives in this group are the exceptions. They are called adjetivos uniformesunisex adjectives and they do not change form (i.e. they are invariable* when it comes to gender, but not number). Usually, the ones ending in -a, -e, -l, -ar, –or, -s, -z and -m fit in this category, but not all.
Here are some examples:
- Nouns:
- Adjectives:
4. Two Completely Different Words
This group contains words whose forms have no common root between them. The masculine and feminine forms are two completely different words.
Wow I like practice Portuguese with you, it’s a difficult language, but with you, I am confident one day I will get there
Thank you guys
Thank you Brigitte! That’s very nice of you to say. You’re right: little by little, you’ll get there!
This is brilliant – I have one very basic/perhaps obvious question but would a woman say muita obrigada instead of muito?
Thanks for your comment, Lena! A woman should always say ‘Muito obrigada’, because ‘muito’ is an adverb here, so it’s invariable. It’s like ‘very’ in “Thank you very much”.
My girlfriend is a language teacher from Brazil teaching me Portuguese, this is the exact thing she is telling me. Very cool thanks.
Thank you too for your comment 🙂
This is a very interesting matter, but you should fix the group “Words with two completely different forms”. Actually, the feminin of “marido (husband)” is “mulher (wife)”, and not “esposa (spouse)”. Please note that “esposo” and “esposa” form a pair of “words with two forms and the same root” that mean “spouse”.
Good point! You’re right mulher (wife) is used much more often than esposa (fem. spouse) and that esposo would be the male counterpart to esposa. I’ll remove that example since it’s a bit misleading.
What do I think. Its difficult. My parents are Portuguese, so i do speak it but they have been in Canada for over 50 years and they speak more English then Portuguese when we are all around. I find since I am not involved in conversational Portuguese that my Portuguese is becoming worse. I read the above but trying to remember some of the words that i would never use in a conversation is challenging. When I speak to my relatives in Lisbon it all sounds great in my head but I fumble over the words I am trying to say. I get frustrated and then I dont have a conversation with them. I keep it short because I am embarressed. I hope that as I go through these lessons I will become more comfortable and will remember some of the grammar. Hope to become more confidant. 🙂
Hang in there! It can be overwhelming because there is so much to learn, but over time it will get easier little by little. You’ll make lots of mistakes in conversation, but that’s the only way to get better – to learn from your mistakes and keep pushing through. Maybe start by talking to yourself out loud more at home to help make you feel more comfortable speaking.
Nice clarifications. What about words ending in “ista?” Can they take either article depending on the gender of the speaker? O abolicionista? A abolicionista? Please and thank you. 🙂
Yes, Michael, most nouns ending in -ista are invariable in gender themselves, but the preceding article changes accordingly (just added them to the group of “Words with only one form, but two genders” – thanks!).
– O abolicionista/a abolicionista (big word!) (abolitionist)
– O artista/a artista (artist)
– O turista/a turista (tourist)
– O solista/a solista (soloist)
Some nouns are always feminine:
– A pista (clue)
– A revista (magazine)
– A lista (list)
But some adjectives may have both forms, ending in -ista or -isto as needed:
– Misto/mista (mixed)
– Visto/vista (seen) and its direct derivatives (revisto/revista – reviewed; previsto/prevista – foreseen; imprevisto/imprevista – unforeseen; antevisto/antevista – previewed)
Thank you so much for replying to my inquiry. I suspected as much, but couldn’t find a confitmation anywhere. Thanks again.
Hi, I was wondering if there is a good rule for determining gender for words that end in -e when first learning them. For example, leite seems to be masculine while chave seems to be feminine. Both end in -e but from a foreign perspective have no discernible differences to assume masculine or feminine.
Oh, I’m afraid not… ‘O leite’ (milk), but ‘a chave’ (key). ‘A carne’ (meat), but ‘o peixe’ (fish). ‘O dente’ (tooth), but ‘a lente’ (lens). Then we also have the double-gendered words, like ‘o presidente/a presidente’ (president), or ‘o paciente/a paciente’ (patient), where only the preceding article changes gender. It all boils down to a LOT of memorization, I’m afraid 🙂
Ola! i came here to find out if I can (in conversation) call my girl dog “a cachorra” or if it’s always o cachorro for dogs, male or female. I saw the Cäo /cadela example, thank you!! Great list, appreciate it!!
Olá! Just like we use “cão”/”cadela” according to the dog’s gender, you should also use “cachorro”/”cachorra” in the same way 🙂 Just note that the “cão/cadela” word pair is the most commonly used one in Portugal. “Cachorro/cachorra” is used to some extent (mostly for puppies or small dogs), but overall, it’s much more prevalent in Brazil.
Wonderful lesson.
I just start to learn. Feel like a difficult language to learn. Almost to give up. But your explanation encouraged me to hang on.
Thanks again.
I live in portugal. I am from Sri lanka.
Thanks
Hi there. So Rùstico is rustic. Can it ever be rùstica? Thanks in advance.
Jess
Olá! Yes, both ‘rústico’ (masculine) and ‘rústica’ (feminine) exist, with the same meaning.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for this clarification. It has really helped. However, I am still confused about the use of feminine and masculine words especially when it is not a noun.
such as Obrigado and Obrigada.
– Why is a word like “thanks” gendered?
– who uses the female or male words and why?
– Can you give other words that are not nouns but they are gendered?
Thanks for your comment!
Think of “obrigado/obrigada” as a counterpart of “much obliged”, and that should help you better understand why it might be gendered, since it works like an adjective (although “obrigado” might also be simply classified as an interjection). Words are gendered according to whatever they refer to. When you say “obrigado” or “obrigada”, you are referring to yourself, so you should use the gender that you identify with. If you are referring to or describing someone or something else, your speech should align with the person’s gender or object’s grammatical gender. For example, “mesa” (table) is feminine, but “quadro” (board) is masculine. Any adjectives describing these objects should be gendered accordingly.
As explained in the Learning Note, not only nouns, but also many adjectives and pronouns can be gendered. Let me also mention determiners and quantifiers 🙂
Amazing! Thank you so much. This is the best explanation that makes sense. Because I have been pondering and asking questions from Lisbon residents. The response is usually construed as ‘youre a woman, so you have to say obrigada’
I’m glad now that I know the reason. Thanks a bunch