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Portuguese Year 1: Nouns and adjectives

Portuguese, Year 1 (Portugal): Recognise proper names, and make nouns and adjectives agree: one or many, boy or girl.

Names and the words that describe them

Nouns name people, animals, things and places. A proper noun names one special being or place, like Rita, Bolinhas or Portugal, and starts with a capital letter. Adjectives say how a noun is: preto (black), pequeno (small), bonito (pretty). The adjective changes with the noun: «o gato preto», «a gata preta», «os gatos pretos».

Words that go together

In Portuguese, the words in a group go together: if you talk about many, the noun and the adjective both change (number); if it is a boy or a girl, a male or a female cat, the adjective changes too (gender). You do not have to memorise every word. You look for the pattern: gato, gatos; flor, flores. Discovering the rule helps you with new words.

A case: the white cat

Sentence: «O gato branco dorme.» Step 1, many: gato ends in a vowel, so add -s; branco too: «Os gatos brancos dormem.» Step 2, female: gato becomes gata, branco becomes branca: «As gatas brancas dormem.» Step 3, proper noun: «A Rita tem uma gata branca.» Rita starts with a capital letter because it is one girl's name.

Not every adjective changes

Some children put -o or -a on every adjective, but «grande» and «verde» stay the same for a boy or a girl: «o gato grande», «a gata grande». Words ending in r, like «flor», take -es (flores), not just -s. And a few words, like «pão» (pães), do not follow the rule: check them when you meet them.

Where you use it

You use it when you write the names of your friends on a card, when you describe a pet or a classmate, when you write a shopping list, and when you read the labels on things. Every time you write «duas maçãs verdes» you make the words agree.

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