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Understanding Portuguese Word Gender and Agreement
In Portuguese, like in other Romance languages, nouns are classified by gender—masculine or feminine. However, this gender classification extends beyond nouns to adjectives, pronouns, and articles, which change form depending on the gender of the noun they refer to.
Take the following sentences:
(1) O meu primo comprou o seu primeiro carro.
My cousin bought his first car.
(2) A minha prima comprou a sua primeira mota.
My cousin bought her first motorcycle.
In the examples above, the red words are nouns, which are either masculine (primo, carro) or feminine (prima, mota). The blue words, in contrast, change to match the gender of the nouns they refer to.
As you can see, changing the gender of the red words—like in the shift from sentence 1 to sentence 2—also changes the gender of all the surrounding blue words.
This gender agreement is essential in Portuguese and can be tricky for learners. If you confuse the gender of a noun, it can lead to mistakes with the articles, adjectives and pronouns around it.
But worry not! In this article, I’ll guide you through the spelling patterns of gender for Portuguese nouns and provide helpful tips for converting masculine nouns to feminine and vice versa. Read on.
Gender and number go hand in hand concerning word declension. Here’s a complementary read for you: Forming the Plural in Portuguese: Singular-to-Plural Conversion Patterns You Need to Care About.
Nouns
Either masculine or feminine
In general, Portuguese nouns are either masculine or feminine. So, how do you know which is which?
Native Portuguese speakers like me know it by heart, of course. But for those of you learning Portuguese as a second language, coming to terms with the nouns’ gender can be a long and laborious process. Luckily, there are a few spelling patterns that will make your life easier. Let’s look at some of them.
The -o/-a pattern
The –o/-a pattern pervades much of the Portuguese language. Accordingly, there is an abundance of masculine and feminine nouns ending in -o and -a respectively. This pattern alone will help you to guess correctly the gender of a large number of words. A few examples:
| MASCULINE | FEMININE |
| o vaso (pot) | a mesa (table) |
| o livro (book) | a torneira (tap) |
| o carro (car) | a janela (window) |
| o copo (glass) | a casa (house) |
| o garfo (fork) | a persiana (blind) |
| o correio (post) | a faca (knife) |
| o prédio (building) | a cama (bed) |
| . . . |
While the -o/-a pattern may apply to a large number of words, you’ll need to guard for exceptions. The masculine word o dia (day) and the feminine word a tribo (tribe) are examples.
Crucially, to be 100% sure about the gender of any given noun, look at those little words preceding them (o, a, esta, este, etc.) – those words are called determiners and indicate the gender of the nouns they refer to.
Nouns ending in -grama, –ema, and –oma
There are plenty of masculine nouns ending in -a, which is an exception to the -o/-a pattern we saw above. However, many of these nouns give away their gender through their suffixes!
For instance, nouns ending in -grama, -ema, and -oma are masculine. A few examples:
| MASCULINE |
| o programa (program) |
| o telegrama (telegram) |
| o cinema (cinema) |
| o sistema (system) |
| o idioma (idiom) |
| o axioma (axiom) |
| . . . |
So far, we’ve taken up nouns ending with either -o or -a. Yet, there’s an abundance of nouns ending with other vowels or with consonants. Fortunately, in these cases, some patterns will help us identify the gender. Let’s look at some of them.
Nouns ending in -l, -r, or -z
Most nouns ending in -l, -r, or -z are masculine:
| MASCULINE |
| o papel (paper) |
| o anel (ring) |
| o colar (collar) |
| o lugar (place) |
| o juíz (judge) |
| o arroz (rice) |
| . . . |
Nouns ending in -ão
Nouns ending in -ão referring to concrete things are most often masculine:
| MASCULINE |
| o pão (bread) |
| o limão (lemon) |
| o coração (heart) |
| o pião (spinning-top) |
| . . . |
Let’s now look at patterns pointing at feminine nouns.
Nouns ending in –ção ,-são, or –ssão
Words ending in -ção, -são, or -ssão that refer to abstract concepts are feminine:
| Feminine |
| a exceção (exception) |
| a resignação (resignation) |
| a dimensão (dimension) |
| a divisão (division) |
| a compressão (compression) |
| a missão (mission) |
| . . . |
Did you notice that all the examples above have English cognates? You probably know more Portuguese words than you realize: English-Portuguese Cognates – The Words You Already Know (Without Knowing It).
Nouns ending in -gem
Nouns ending in –gem are feminine:
| FEMININE |
| a coragem (courage) |
| a origem (origin) |
| a imagem (image) |
| a vantagem (advantage) |
| a paisagem (landscape) |
| a viagem (travel) |
| . . . |
Nouns ending in -dade
The same goes for words ending with –dade, that is, they normally are feminine:
| FEMININE |
| a cidade (city) |
| a necessidade (necessity) |
| a integridade (integrity) |
| a qualidade (quality) |
| a possibilidade (possibility) |
| a mobilidade (mobility) |
| . . . |
Two genders, two forms (conversion patterns)
Unlike the nouns we’ve covered thus far, these have two forms: masculine and feminine. Typically, these nouns refer to humans to denote things like kinship, profession, or nationality.
Since all nouns in this category have a feminine and masculine form, we will now focus on masculine-to-feminine conversion patterns.
The good old -o/-a pattern
As mentioned before, the -o/-a pattern permeates much of the language and many of the words that have both masculine and feminine forms conform to it.
Accordingly, masculine words ending in –o find their feminine form by having -o replaced with -a:
| MASCULINE | FEMININE |
| o tio (uncle) | a tia (aunt) |
| o primo (cousin, he) | a prima (cousin, she) |
| o médico (doctor, he) | a médica (doctor, she) |
| o arquiteto (architect, he) | a arquiteta (architect, she) |
| o gato (male cat) | a gata (female cat) |
| o sueco (Swedish man) | a sueca (Swedish woman) |
| . . . |
Masculine nouns ending in –or
Departing from masculine nouns ending in –or, we form the feminine by adding an –a at the end. This is often the case for professions, jobs, and crafts:
| MASCULINE | FEMININE |
| o pintor (male painter) | a pintora (female painter) |
| o cantor (male singer) | a cantora (female singer) |
| o professor (male teacher) | a professora (female teacher) |
| o mentor (male mentor) | a mentora (female mentor) |
| . . . |
A few words ending in -or, however, form their feminine with -triz:
| MASCULINE | FEMININE |
| o ator (actor) | a atriz (actress) |
| o embaixador (male ambassador) | a embaixatriz (female ambassador) |
| o imperador (emperor) | a emperatriz (empress) |
| . . . |
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