Learn Portuguese

Aprenda Português

Articles - Artigos

Articles are small words that precede the substantive (a noun). 

Definite article: used to indicate that a thing is unique in some way.

Example:

• O carro – The car (O / the – refer to a specific car and not to any car)

Indefinite article: used to indicate that a thing is not identified as unique.

Example:

• Um carro – A car (Um/ A – refer to any car)

In Portuguese the article must agree in gender and number with the noun, which means that the definite article o, for example, should precede a singular and masculine (as you could see in the first example - "o carro").  Observe the chart below: 

Examples:

• o livro – the book   / os livros – the books
• um carro – a car  / uns carros – some cars
• a casa – the house / as casas – the houses
• uma menina – a girl / umas meninas – some girls

For more information on that take a look at the lesson about feminine and masculine words.