Portuguese nouns

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A portuguese noun has, unlike an english noun, gender. It can be either masculine or feminine. And it can also be either singular or plural.

Spotting Noun Gender

The gender of a noun can in many occasions be deducted from the noun ending, in the remaining cases it will have to be learned by heart.

Masculine are usually...:

• ... ending in -O
• ... ending in a consonant

Feminine are usually...:

• ... ending in -A
• ... ending in -ÇÃO
• ... ending in -DADE
• ... ending in -GEM
• ... ending in -IE
• ... ending in -TUDE

And nouns with following ending can be either gender, so have to be learned:

• ... -ÃO

Plural Nouns

The following rules can be observed for making plural nouns out of singular ones:

• If the noun ends in -O, -A or ,-E, then add -S
• If the noun ends in -S, it does not change
• If the noun ends in -AL, change this to -AIS
• If the noun ends in -EL, change this to -ÉIS
• If the noun ends in -OL, change this to -ÓIS
• If the noun ends in -EM, change this to -ENS
• If the noun ends in -IL, change this to -IS

If the noun ends in -ÃO, then the plural can be -ÃOS, -ÕES or -ÃES, so it will have to be learnt.

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