Noun gender & plural

What it is

Every Portuguese noun is masculine or feminine, including things and ideas: o carro (the car) is masculine, a casa (the house) is feminine. You see the gender in the words around the noun: the article (o/a, um/uma), the numbers one and two (um/uma, dois/duas) and, later, adjectives. That is why you should learn every noun together with its article.

Most nouns form the plural by adding -s. A few endings change, and nouns in -ão have three possible plurals.

How to form it

Gender

• A short list of everyday words breaks the pattern. O dia, o mapa and o planeta are masculine; a mão, a foto and a moto are feminine (foto and moto are short for a fotografia and a motocicleta). O coração is masculine despite its -ção.
• Many words of Greek origin in -ma are masculine: o problema, o sistema, o programa, o tema, o idioma, o clima. Everyday words like a cama and a semana stay feminine.
• Nouns ending in -e or a consonant give no clue: o leite, a noite, o hotel, a flor, o mar, a cor, o nariz, a luz.
• People: most nouns in -o and -or have a feminine in -a (o aluno → a aluna, o professor → a professora), and -ão becomes -ã (o irmão → a irmã, o alemão → a alemã). Nouns in -ista and -ente keep one form, and only the article changes: o/a turista, o/a estudante. Some pairs are different words: o pai / a mãe, o homem / a mulher.

Plural

• -ões is by far the most common plural of -ão, and every noun in -ção takes it (a estação → as estações). The other two are short lists: -ães (pães, cães, alemães) and -ãos (mãos, irmãos, cidadãos).
• Stressed -el and -ol get an accent in the plural: hotel → hotéis, papel → papéis, lençol → lençóis. The dunes of the Lençóis Maranhenses are literally "the bedsheets of Maranhão".
• Some accents disappear: mês → meses, inglês → ingleses.
• A mixed group takes the masculine plural: os alunos (male and female students), os filhos (children), os irmãos (brothers and sisters), os pais (parents).

When to use it

Gender and number decide the form of every article, number and adjective around the noun:

• Quero dois pães e um café, por favor.Two rolls and a coffee, please.dois + masculine plural
• A gente precisa de duas chaves.We need two keys.duas: chave is feminine
• Tenho um problema com o celular.I have a problem with my phone.masculine in -ma
• Você tira uma foto da gente?Could you take a photo of us?feminine in -o
• Os ônibus para o centro passam aqui.The buses to the city centre stop here.no change in the plural
• Meus pais moram em Porto Alegre.My parents live in Porto Alegre.masculine plural for a mixed pair

Because the ending doesn’t always tell you, note new words as article + noun: not problema but o problema, not mão but a mão. The greetings you already know help: bom dia because o dia is masculine, boa tarde and boa noite because a tarde and a noite are feminine.

Contrasts and traps

• uma problema ✗ → um problema; o mão ✗ → a mão; um foto ✗ → uma foto.
• pais (parents) is not país (country, plural países). avô (grandfather) is not avó (grandmother), and os avós are your grandparents.
• mães (mothers) is not mãos (hands).
• In compound nouns only the main noun takes the plural: dois pães de queijo, not pães de queijos ✗.
• In relaxed speech many Brazilians mark the plural only on the first word: os menino, dois real. You will hear it everywhere, but it is socially stigmatised. Write and say os meninos, dois reais.

If you speak Spanish

Most genders match Spanish, but some frequent nouns switch: o leite, o sangue, o nariz, o mel, o sal are masculine in Portuguese, and a ponte, a árvore, a dor, a cor, a viagem, a garagem, a equipe are feminine. Every noun in -agem is feminine, even though Spanish -aje is masculine. For the plural of -ão, Spanish gives you the answer: -ones → -ões (canciones → canções), -anes → -ães (panes → pães), -anos → -ãos (hermanos → irmãos). And -l disappears: animales → animais, hoteles → hotéis.