Adjectives and comparison

Grammar

1. Agreement

Adjectives copy the gender and number of the noun. Three patterns:

a) Ends in -o → four forms

	singular	plural
masculine	`caro`	`caros`
feminine	`cara`	`caras`

Same for: barato, novo, pequeno, frio, cheio, vazio, cansado, ocupado, bonito, aberto, fechado, velho.

b) Ends in -e or a consonant → two forms

	singular	plural
both genders	`grande`	`grandes`

Same for: quente, doente, livre, ruim, fácil, difícil, pobre, forte.

Plural of -l adjectives follows the noun rule (ch. 05): fácil → fáceis, difícil → difíceis.

c) bom is irregular

	singular	plural
masculine	`bom`	`bons`
feminine	`boa`	`boas`

2. Position

Adjectives go after the noun. um carro novo, not um novo carro.

This is the default and you should follow it without exception. A few adjectives change meaning when placed before, but you do not need them:

After noun	Before noun
`um amigo velho` — an elderly friend	`um velho amigo` — a long-time friend
`um carro novo` — a new car	`um novo carro` — another car
`uma pessoa grande` — a big person	`uma grande pessoa` — a great person

3. Intensity

Portuguese	Respelling	Strength
`um pouco`	oong POH-koo	a bit
`meio`	MAY-oo	kind of, somewhat
`bem`	beng	quite, really
`muito`	MWEEN-too	very
`super` [+]	SOO-per	super (casual)
`demais`	jee-MAIS	too much (goes after)

muito is invariable when it modifies an adjective (muito caro, muito cara), but agrees when it modifies a noun (muita gente, muitos dias).

demais goes after the adjective: caro demais — too expensive.

meio stays invariable: meio cansada, not meia cansada.

4. Comparatives

mais + adjective + que — more … than menos + adjective + que — less … than tão + adjective + quanto — as … as

Portuguese	English
`mais caro que`	more expensive than
`menos caro que`	less expensive than
`tão caro quanto`	as expensive as
`igual a` [+]	the same as

do que is an equally correct alternative to que: mais caro **do que**. Both are common.

5. The four irregular comparatives

Adjective	Comparative
`bom` (good)	`melhor` (meh-LYOR) — better
`ruim` (bad)	`pior` (pee-OR) — worse
`grande` (big)	`maior` (mah-YOR) — bigger
`pequeno` (small)	`menor` (meh-NOR) — smaller

Never say mais bom or mais ruim. melhor and pior already contain the more.

Plurals: melhores, piores, maiores, menores. No gender change.

6. Superlatives

definite article + mais + adjective

Portuguese	English
`o mais caro`	the most expensive
`a mais barata`	the cheapest (fem.)
`o melhor`	the best
`o pior`	the worst
`o maior`	the biggest
`o mais perto`	the nearest

Add de for the scope: o melhor **da** cidade — the best in the city.

7. `-íssimo` — the intensified form

Very Brazilian, very useful. Drop the final vowel, add -íssimo:

Base	Intensified	Meaning
`caro`	`caríssimo`	extremely expensive
`bom`	`boníssimo` / `ótimo` [+]	excellent
`perto`	`pertíssimo`	very close indeed
`fácil`	`facílimo`	dead easy

Optional, but common and easy to recognise.

8. Quantifiers

Portuguese	Respelling	Use
`muito` / `muita`	MWEEN-too	a lot of, much
`pouco` / `pouca`	POH-koo	little, few
`um pouco de`	oong POH-koo jee	a bit of
`todo` / `toda`	TOH-doo	every, all
`tudo`	TOO-doo	everything
`alguns` / `algumas`	ahw-GOONGS	some
`nenhum` / `nenhuma`	neh-NYOONG	no, not any
`bastante` [+]	bahs-TAHN-chee	quite a lot
`mais` / `menos`	mais / MEH-noos	more / less
`só`	saw	only

todo vs tudo: todo modifies a noun (todo dia — every day). tudo stands alone (Tudo bem — everything's fine, É tudo — that's everything).

Examples

Agreement

Portuguese	Respelling	English
Um quarto pequeno	oong KWAR-too peh-KEH-noo	A small room
Uma casa pequena	OO-mah KAH-zah peh-KEH-nah	A small house
Dois quartos pequenos	doys KWAR-toos peh-KEH-noos	Two small rooms
Duas casas pequenas	DOO-ahs KAH-zahs peh-KEH-nahs	Two small houses
Um restaurante bom	oong hes-tow-RAHN-chee bong	A good restaurant
Uma comida boa	OO-mah koh-MEE-dah BOH-ah	Good food
Restaurantes bons	hes-tow-RAHN-chees bongs	Good restaurants
Um hotel grande	oong oh-TEW GRAHN-jee	A big hotel
Uma cidade grande	OO-mah see-DAH-jee GRAHN-jee	A big city
Hotéis grandes	oh-TAYS GRAHN-jees	Big hotels

Intensity

Portuguese	Respelling	English
Está caro	tah KAH-roo	It's expensive
Está muito caro	tah MWEEN-too KAH-roo	It's very expensive
Está caro demais	tah KAH-roo jee-MAIS	It's too expensive
Está um pouco caro	tah oong POH-koo KAH-roo	It's a bit expensive
Está bem barato	tah beng bah-RAH-too	It's quite cheap
Está meio frio	tah MAY-oo FREE-oo	It's kind of cold
Estou muito cansado	toh MWEEN-too kahn-SAH-doo	I'm very tired
É caríssimo	eh kah-REE-see-moo	It's extremely expensive
É pertinho [+]	eh per-CHEE-nyoo	It's really close (ch. 21)

Comparatives

Portuguese	Respelling	English
Este é mais caro	EHS-chee eh mais KAH-roo	This one is more expensive
Tem mais barato?	teng mais bah-RAH-too	Do you have anything cheaper?
É mais barato que o outro	… kee oo OH-troo	It's cheaper than the other one
O ônibus é mais barato que o táxi	…	The bus is cheaper than the taxi
Este quarto é maior	EHS-chee KWAR-too eh mah-YOR	This room is bigger
A outra loja é menor	… eh meh-NOR	The other shop is smaller
Este restaurante é melhor	… eh meh-LYOR	This restaurant is better
A comida aqui é pior	… eh pee-OR	The food here is worse
É tão caro quanto o outro	eh towng KAH-roo KWAHN-too…	It's as expensive as the other one
Fica mais perto	FEE-kah mais PEHR-too	It's closer

Superlatives

Portuguese	Respelling	English
É o mais barato	eh oo mais bah-RAH-too	It's the cheapest
É o melhor da cidade	eh oo meh-LYOR dah see-DAH-jee	It's the best in the city
É o mais perto daqui	… mais PEHR-too dah-KEE	It's the closest to here
Qual é o melhor?	kwaw eh oo meh-LYOR	Which is the best?
O pior dia	oo pee-OR JEE-ah	The worst day
O maior problema	oo mah-YOR proh-BLEH-mah	The biggest problem

Quantifiers

Portuguese	Respelling	English
Muita gente	MWEEN-tah ZHEN-chee	A lot of people
Muitos dias	MWEEN-toos JEE-ahs	Many days
Pouca comida	POH-kah koh-MEE-dah	Not much food
Um pouco de água	oong POH-koo jee AH-gwah	A bit of water
Só um pouco	saw oong POH-koo	Just a little
Todo dia	TOH-doo JEE-ah	Every day
Toda semana	TOH-dah seh-MAH-nah	Every week
Tudo bem [+]	TOO-doo beng	Everything's fine
É tudo, obrigado	eh TOO-doo	That's everything, thanks
Alguns dias	ahw-GOONGS JEE-ahs	A few days
Nenhum problema	neh-NYOONG proh-BLEH-mah	No problem at all
Mais um	mais oong	One more
Menos açúcar [+]	MEH-noos ah-SOO-kar	Less sugar

Shopping and describing — putting it together

Portuguese	English
Está muito caro, tem mais barato?	It's very expensive, do you have anything cheaper?
Este é bom, mas o outro é melhor	This one's good, but the other is better
O quarto é pequeno demais	The room is too small
A comida estava boa, mas estava fria	The food was good, but it was cold
É o hotel mais perto da praia	It's the closest hotel to the beach
Este ônibus é mais rápido [+]	This bus is faster
A cidade é grande, mas o centro é pequeno	The city is big, but downtown is small
Foi o melhor dia	It was the best day

What to take from this chapter

Adjectives go after the noun and agree with it.
-o adjectives have four forms; -e and consonant adjectives have two.
melhor, pior, maior, menor — never mais bom or mais ruim.
mais … que for comparison, o mais … for superlative.
demais goes after the adjective and means too.
todo before a noun, tudo standing alone.