4.1 the definitive article
As most languages, German for instance is an exception, in german exists a neutral gender as well, in Portugues we have only feminine and masculine. (Something actually very strange, because from a logical point of view things are neutral and living beings have a gender and this gender is a very important difference, it is astonishing that no language takes that into account. Even in german, where there is a neutral gender, most of the things are feminine or masculine.) The grammatical gender is arbitrary. Some people always wonder why the moon is feminine in Portuguese and the sun masculine, the book masculine and the table feminine. No need to dig there any further, it is just arbitrary.
Only in the case of living beeings we have a gender. That concerns professions, butcher, baker, engineer etc.., members of religious groups, catholics, protestants, moslems, hindus etc.., activities dancer, jogger, writer etc.. and so on. In this case we use the feminine article for feminine member(s) of these groups and the masculine article for the masculine member(s) and we have to distinguish between singular and plural.
| masculine singular | o | o amigo |  |
the (boy) friend |
| feminine singular | a | a amiga | |
the (girl) friend |
| masculine plural | os | os amigos* | |
the (boy) friends |
| feminine plural | as | as amigas* | |
the (girl) friends |
* We have chosen in this chapter only examples where the plural is formed in a regular way, in other words simply by adding an s. Furthermore words ending in o are, except some few exception, masculine, words ending in a are feminine. See 8. the formation of the plural and the masculine and feminine forms.
| singular | plural | sound | meaning |
| o livro | os livros | |
the book => the books |
| a casa | as casas | |
the house => the houses |
| o aluno | os alunos | |
the pupil => the pupils (masc.) |
| a aluna | as alunas | |
the pupil => the pupils (fem.) |
| a faca | as facas | |
the knife => the knifes |
| o exemplo | os exemplos | |
the exemple => the exemples |
| o menino | os meninos | |
the boy => the boys |
| a menina | as meninas | |
the girl => the girls |
Concerning the form there is no difference between the article and the personal pronoun accusative. (Something actually a little bit confusing.)
| article | pronoun | |
| o | the | he / him / it (subject / direct object mask. sing.) |
| a | the | she / her / it (subject / direct object fem. sing.) |
| os | the | they / them (subject / direct object masc. plural) |
| as | the | they / them (subject / direct object fem. plural) |
We will discuss these issue later see 6.1.1 the unstressed personal pronouns.
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* Right now we don't care about the conjugation of the verbs, we will do that later. However the conjugation of regular verbs, to which the verb ler = to read doesn't belong to, is easy. There are three types of verbs, those who en in -ar like falar, those who end in -e, like comer and those who end in -ir like partir. For a detailed description see 5. conjugation of the verbs in present.
Since we always need a verb in the conjugated form in order to make a sentence and since we need to make a little bit more complex sentences in order to explain something, we explain the conjugation briefly.
In order to conjugate a regular verb we leave out the endings of the infinitive forms -ar, -er, -er and to what is left we add the respective personal ending. The lê, he / she / it reads, is irregular. We don't care as well about the personal pronouns eu (I), tu (you), ele (he), ela (him) etc.. This is just a short introduction to the conjugation. No need to care about it at the moment.
| Verb falar infinitive ends on -ar to speak | ||||
| personal pronoun | conjugated verb | ending | English | Audio |
| eu | falo | -o | I speak | |
| tu | falas | -as | you speak | |
| você* | fala | -a | you speak | |
| ele | fala | -a | he speaks | |
| ela | fala | -a | she speaks | |
| nós | falamos | -amos | we speak | |
| vocês | falam | -am | you speak ** | |
| eles | falam | -am | they speak (plural.masc.) | |
| elas | falam | -am | they speak (fem. masc.) | |
* The second person singular is in general not used in Brasilian portuguese and has been substituted by você. In other words, the distinction between tu, used in European Portuguese in more informal situations and higher intimacy, and você, something between informal and formal situation has vanished in Brasilian Portuguese. In really formal situation we use O senhor / A senhora on both sides of the Atlantic. For a more detailed discussion see 5.conjugation of the verbs in present.
** The plural form can be used on both sides of the atlantic in informal situations and less formal situations. In formal situations Os senhores / As senhores is used on both sides of the Atlantic.
| Verb comer infinitive ends on-er to eat | ||||
| personal pronoun | conjugated verb | ending | English | Audio |
| eu | como | -o | I eat | |
| tu | comes | -es | you eat |
|
| você | come | -e | you eat | |
| ele | come | -e | he eats | |
| ela | come | -e | she eats | |
| nós | comemos | -emos | we eat |
|
| vocês | comem | -em | you eat | |
| eles | comem | -em | they eat (plur.masc.) | |
| elas | comem | -em | sie essen (plur.masc.) | |
| Verb partir infinitive ends on-ir to leave | ||||
| personal pronoun | conjugated verb | ending | English | Audio |
| eu | parto | -o | I leave | |
| tu | partes | -es | you leave | |
| você | parte | -e | you leave | |
| ele | parte | -e | he leaves | |
| ela | parte | -e | she leaves | |
| nós | partimos | -imos | we leave | |
| vocês | partem | -em | you leave | |
| eles | partem | -em | they leave (plur.masc.) | |
| elas | partem | -em | they leave (plur.fem.) | |
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