The most reliable way to tell the gender of nouns in Brazilian Portuguese is to look at the preceding the noun. In most cases, the ending of the noun will also give you a hint — nouns that end in -o are masculine and nouns that end in -a is feminine — but nouns can also have unexpected endings, so the article is the most reliable.
Masculine: o carro(the car)
Feminine: a casa(the house)
Why is knowing the gender of nouns important in Brazilian Portuguese? You will need to know a noun’s gender to use the appropriate forms of adjectives and other words to describe masculine versus feminine nouns. In this post, I will give you some tips on how to identify the gender of animate nouns, inanimate nouns, and some special cases. Let's explore each of them!
To identify the grammatical gender of an animate (living) noun, you can always look at the that is used before it.
Most commonly, the ending will also help you:
-o, -ão, -s, -r for masculine
-a -ã, -sa, -ra for feminine
But sometimes different endings are used, so the article is the most reliable.
Usually, animate nouns take their grammatical gender from real-world sex or gender of the person or animal the noun represents. So if you know a person or animal’s gender, that will also help.
Some nouns have only a grammatically feminine form, but this form can still be used to refer to male people or animals. For example: a criança(the child), a pessoa(the person), a testemunha(the witness), a vítima(the victim).
As pessoas já estão na sala, dois homens e duas mulheres.
People are already in the room, two men and two women.
Há nove crianças no parque. Cinco meninas e quatro meninos.
There are nine children in the park. Five girls and four boys.
Let’s look at all of these cases below!
In Brazilian Portuguese, many nouns will end in -o when they refer to a male person or animal and -a if they refer to a female person or animal. The -o version is grammatically masculine, while the -a version is grammatically feminine. Here are some examples:
Masculine (-o) | Feminine (-a) |
|---|---|
menino boy | menina girl |
filho son | filha daughter |
tio uncle | tia aunt |
Though this is the most common pattern, many animate nouns do not follow the pattern above. Keep reading to discover other common patterns!
There are a few other endings that are commonly used for gendered pairs as well:
-ão / -ã
Animate masculine nouns ending in -ão can be made feminine by replacing -ão with -ã:
Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
irmão brother | irmã sister |
cidadão (male) citizen | cidadã (female) citizen |
alemão German male | alemã German female |
-s, -r / -sa, -ra
Animate masculine nouns ending in -r or -s can be made feminine by adding -a to the masculine form. For example:
Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
inglês English male | inglesa English female |
francês French male | francesa French female |
professor (male) teacher | professora (female) teacher |
pintor (male) painter | pintora (female) painter |
In some cases, the form of a noun does not change to reflect its gender, and the only way to determine whether it refers to a male or female person is to look at the that precedes it. The article will always indicate whether the noun is masculine or feminine.
masculine articles → o, os(the); un(a, an); uns(some)
feminine articles → a, as(the); una(a, an); unas(some)
Read about Brazilian Portuguese articles in our posts on definite articles and indefinite articles!
In Brazilian Portuguese, animate nouns ending in -e, -ista, -ante, or -ente are most likely to have the same form in the masculine and feminine. Look at the following examples:
Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
o artista the (male) artist | a artista the (female) artist |
o dentista the (male) dentist | a dentista the (female) dentist |
o comandante the (male) commander | a comandante the (female) commander |
o gerente the (male) manager | a gerente the (female) manager |
o intérprete the (male) interpreter | a intérprete the (female) interpreter |
o estudante the (male) student | a estudante the (female) student |
In some cases, the whole noun changes form to reflect the real-world sex or gender of the person or animal it represents:
Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
o rei the king | a rainha the queen |
o ator the actor | a atriz the actress |
o garçom the waiter | a garçonete the waitress |
This way of marking gender is particularly common with nouns referring to animals, much like pairs like “rooster/hen” in English. For example:
Masculine: o carneiro(the ram)
Feminine: a ovelha(the sheep)
See more examples like those above on this list! Or, learn more about the names of animals specifically from our guide to the gender of animal names in Brazilian Portuguese!
Like with animate nouns, you can identify the gender of inanimate (non-living) nouns from the noun’s ending (e.g. -o / -a) or the gender of its article. Even though inanimate nouns don’t have a sex or gender, they will still have a grammatical gender: masculine or feminine. For example:
Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
carro car | casa house |
However, some inanimate nouns may have additional endings other than -o, -a. In the sections below we’ll take you through a few common endings for masculine nouns, a few common endings for feminine nouns, and a few special cases, where gender may be more difficult to identify.
When they don’t end in -o, masculine inanimate nouns can end in the vowels -i, -u, -á, or -é, or with particular endings like -ema, -oma, or -grama.
Masculine ending | Example |
|---|---|
-i | o abacaxi the pineapple |
-u | o chapéu the hat |
-á | o chá the tea |
-é | o pé the foot |
-ema | o problema the problem |
-oma | o sintoma the symptom |
-grama | o programa the program |
There is also a short list of inanimate nouns ending in the consonants -l, -m, or -r that are masculine:
Masculine ending | Example |
|---|---|
-l | o hospital the hospital |
-m | o jardim the garden |
-r | o mar the sea |
Finally, there are certain categories of inanimate nouns that are always masculine. Colors, numbers, months, and languages fall into these categories. These are some examples:
Colors | amarelo yellow |
|---|---|
Numbers | cinco five |
Months | agosto August |
Languages | português Portuguese |
Aside from the feminine ending -a, inanimate feminine nouns also end in -ade, -agem, or -ície.
Feminine ending | Example |
|---|---|
-ade | a cidade the city |
-agem | a garagem the garage |
-ície | a superfície the surface |
The word personagem(character) is an exception. We can say o personagem for a masculine character and a personagem for a feminine character.
Sometimes, inanimate nouns will have a masculine or feminine gender by implication, meaning there is a second, unexpressed noun that determines the gender of the noun.
For example, o Amazonas(the Amazon) is masculine by implication because the word o rio(river) is implied and is a masculine noun.
This often happens with names of countries, lakes, mountains, oceans, and rivers (which are masculine) and with parts of the world, sciences and arts, and cities (which are feminine).
Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
o (rio) Amazonas the Amazon river | a (parte do mundo) Europa Europe |
o (oceano) Pacífico the Pacific ocean | as (ilhas) Maldivas the Maldives |
os (montes) Alpes the Alps | a (cidade) Paris Paris |
We refer to the city of Rio de Janeiro as masculine, since it begins with the masculine noun rio.
O Rio de Janeiro é lindo!
Rio de Janeiro is a beautiful city!
Unexpressed nouns can determine the gender of nouns that are places or companies by implication, as well. For example:
o (hotel) Hilton
the Hilton hotel
o (jornal) New York Times
the New York Times newspaper
a (companhia) Apple
the company Apple
To identify the gender of inanimate nouns ending in -ão, follow these general rules:
When an inanimate noun ending in -ão is concrete, meaning it is a physical object in the real world, it is a masculine noun.
When an inanimate noun ending in -ão refers to an abstract idea, then it is feminine.
Take a look:
Masculine (concrete) | Feminine (abstract) |
|---|---|
o limão the lemon | a conclusão the conclusion |
o coração the heart | a invenção the invention |
o pão the bread | a questão the question |
When an inanimate noun ends in -e or -z the only reliable way to identify the noun’s gender is to check the gender of the article placed before it.
Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
o chocolate the chocolate | a noite the evening, night |
o nariz the nose | a voz the voice |
In case you cannot refer to the gender of the article for some reason, take a look at our list of common nouns ending in -e and -z and their genders!
In a few cases, the ending of some inanimate objects can be misleading. Sometimes, they end with -a, but they are actually masculine nouns, and vice-versa. Take a look at the examples below and refer to our list of other misleading nouns!
Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
o clima the climate | a cor the color |
o dia the day | a foto the photo |
o planeta the planet | a flor the flower |
Some Brazilian Portuguese nouns can be either masculine or feminine, but they change their meaning based on their gender. Even though the noun itself remains the same, the meaning will change, depending on whether you treat it as masculine or feminine. See below:
Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
o cabeça the leader | a cabeça the head |
o capital the investment | a capital the capital city |
Check out this list of nouns that change their meaning based on gender for more examples.
It is important to be able to identify the gender of Brazilian Portuguese nouns so that the adjectives and other words used to describe them can make sense. To do so, let’s remember a few rules:
Nouns for animate beings generally have two forms of nouns: masculine and feminine. They are usually identifiable by their endings (-o or -a), but some nouns may not change form, while others have specific forms to refer to a male or female.
Inanimate (non-living) nouns ending in vowels -i, -u, -á, -é, or particular endings such as -ema, -oma, -grama, -l, -m, -r are typically masculine.
Inanimate nouns ending in -a, -ade, -agem, -ície are typically feminine.
Nouns ending in -e, -z and some other special cases are not always clear-cut, but you can always check the gender of the article that accompanies the noun.
Now you can refer to these activities and double check what you learned!
