Adjectives vs Adverbs: What’s the Difference?

When learning Portuguese, a common source of confusion is understanding the difference between adjectives and adverbs. Both play crucial roles in the language, but they serve distinct purposes. This article will help you grasp these differences, with sentence examples to illustrate each point.

What Are Adjectives?

Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns and pronouns. They provide more information about a person, place, thing, or idea. Here are a few examples (adjectives in bold):

• O céu azul. (The blue sky.)
• Um vestido comprido. (A long dress.)
• Um aluno brilhante. (A bright student.)

In these examples, the adjectives “azul,” “comprido,” and “brilhante” are adjectives describing the nouns “céu,” “vestido,” and “aluno.”

Another thing to notice is that, in Portuguese, nouns tend to precede adjectives (as opposed to what happens in English). 

What Are Adverbs?

Adverbs are words that modify (or qualify) verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They provide more information about how, when, where, and to what extent something happens. Here are a few examples (adverbs in bold):

• Ela conduz devagar. (She drives slowly.) 
• Ela conduz extremamente devagar. (She drives extremely slowly.)
• O carro dela é bastante antigo. (Her car is quite old.)

In these examples, “devagar” modifies the verb “conduzir”; “extremamente” modifies the adverb “devagar”; and “bastante” modifies the adjective “antigo.”

Other Key Differences

By default, adjectives change form to conform to the nouns’ number and gender they are referring to:

• Um carro branco. (A white car.)
• Carros brancos. (White cars.)
• Uma casa branca. (A white house.)
• Casas brancas. (White houses.)

In these examples, the adjectives “branco,” “brancos,” “branca,” and “brancas” have different endings agreeing in gender and number with the nouns they are referring to: “carro” (masculine, singular); “carros” (masculine, plural); “casa” (feminine, singular); and “casas” (feminine, plural).

Adverbs, on the other hand, stay always the same. As we saw before, adverbs qualify adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs, none of which vary in gender or number.