We use superlatives in Brazilian Portuguese to express that something is “the most” or “the least” in respect to a certain quality (e.g. “the most/least tall”). There are two types of superlatives in Brazilian Portuguese: relative superlatives and absolute superlatives.
Relative superlatives describe something with the most or least of a quality in a group. They are formed using o mais(the most) or o menos(the least).
Ele é o menino mais alto da escola.
He is the tallest boy in school.
Absolute superlatives describe something as displaying a quality very intensely. These are formed by adding -íssimo(very):
Ele é altíssimo.
He is very tall.
A few superlatives also have forms.
In this post, we will review how to form both relative and absolute superlatives, along with a few cases of irregular superlatives and informal ways to use the superlative. Eager to learn more? Keep reading this post!
We use o mais(the most) and o menos(the least), to form relative superlative adjectives, which describe a with the greatest or smallest amount of a quality within a particular group. These two phrases follow the same general structure:
A mulher mais inteligente do mundo.
The most intelligent woman in the world.
O homem mais rico do mundo.
The richest man in the world.
A rua menos bonita da cidade.
The least beautiful street in the city.
O restaurante menos caro do bairro.
The most expensive restaurant in the neighborhood.
In a complete sentence, the noun will often come before the , so we drop it from within the superlative phrase, to avoid repetition:
Este restaurante é o (restaurante) mais caro da cidade.
This restaurant is the most expensive (restaurant) in the city.
Esta rua é a (restaurante) menos bonita da cidade.
This restaurant is the most expensive (restaurant) in the city.
Though mais and menos do not change their forms, the article and the adjective should still in gender and number with the noun! The words mais and menos do not change.
feminine singular (rua) | a ruas mais bonita the most beautiful street |
feminine plural (ruas) | as ruas mais bonitas the most beautiful streets |
masculine singular (restaurante) | o restaurante mais caro the most expensive restaurant |
masculine plural (restaurante) | os restaurante mais caros the most expensive restaurants |
Did you notice that you can use a superlative to select a whole group of nouns with the most or least of a quality? If you want to talk about one member of such a group, use the structure below:
um dos/das + plural noun
adjective
Copacabana é uma das praias mais bonitas do Rio de Janeiro.
Copacabana is one of the most beautiful beaches of Rio de Janeiro.
An absolute superlative in Brazilian Portuguese describes nouns as having an extreme amount of some quality, without comparing it to any particular group. It is roughly parallel to saying that something is “very” + adjective in English. There are two ways to form absolute superlatives in Brazilian Portuguese:
using the suffix -íssimo/a
A sua casa é lindíssima!
Your house is very beautiful!
using an adverb of intensity, like muito
A sua casa é muito linda!
Your house is very beautiful!
There is very little difference in meaning between the two options. For example:
Adjective | Adjective + -íssimo | Adverb of intensity + adjective |
|---|---|---|
inteligente intelligent | inteligentíssimo very intelligent | muito inteligent very intelligent |
alto tall | altíssimo very tall | muito alto very tall |
triste sad | tristíssimo very sad | muito triste very sad |
feliz happy | felicíssimo very happy | muito feliz very happy |
Another way to evoke the meaning of an absolute superlative is by repeating the adjective:
Essa praia é linda, linda.
This beach is very beautiful.
A casa está suja, suja.
The house is very dirty.
We use the ending -íssimo/a to form a one-word, absolute superlative adjective, with the meaning “very” + adjective: inteligentíssimo, altíssimo, tristíssimo. This ending needs to agree with the noun being described:
inteligentíssimo → masculine singular
inteligentíssima → feminine singular
inteligentíssimos → masculine plural
inteligentíssimas → feminine plural
The process of adding this suffix is also slightly different, depending on whether the adjective ends in a consonant or in a vowel.
Adjectives ending in a vowel
If the adjective ends in a vowel, drop it before adding -íssimo:
lindo → lindíssimo
beautiful → very beautiful
divertido → divertidíssimo
funny → very funny
Adjectives ending in a consonant
If the adjective ends in a consonant, you can just add -íssimo to the end of the adjective:
original → originalíssimo
original → very original
vulgar → vulgaríssimo
vulgar → very vulgar
There are some adjectives ending in consonants that have a slightly irregular form when the suffix -íssimo is added. For example:
amável → amabilíssimo
amiable → very amiable
Check out this list of irregular one-word superlatives for more examples!
You can also form an absolute superlative by placing an adverb of intensity, most often muito(very) before the adjective. For example:
muito alto
very tall
Several other adverbs of intensity can also be used, without much change in meaning. For example:
imensamente alto
immensely tall
grandemente alto
grandly tall
excessivamente alto
excessively tall
extraordinariamente alto
extraordinarily tall
All of the adverbs of intensity described above are invariable, meaning that they don't vary in gender and number, but the adjective still agrees with the noun.
Ele é muito alto.
He is very tall.
Eles são muito altos.
They are very tall.
In more casual speech, you may hear adverbs of intensity like hiper(hyper), super(super), ultra(ultra), or mega(mega).
hiper alto
hyper tall
super alto
super tall
ultra alto
ultra tall
mega alto
mega tall
In the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in the south of Brazil, it's also common to use the prefix tri(very) before the adjective to express the absolute superlative:
O filme é trilegal!
The movie is very cool!
The adjectives bom(good), mau/ruim(bad), grande(big), and pequeno(small) have relative and absolute superlative forms in Brazilian Portuguese. Take a look at the table below to the seem the irregular relative and absolute superlative forms for these adjectives:
Adjective | Irregular relative superlative | Irregular absolute superlative |
|---|---|---|
bom good | melhor, melhores best | ótimo great |
mau, ruim bad | pior, piores worst | péssimo terrible |
grande big | maior, maiores biggest | máximo maximum |
pequeno small | menor, menores smallest | mínimo minimum |
These irregular superlatives (both types) are typically used before the noun they describe:
a melhor praia da cidade
the best beach in the city
o pior dia do mês
the worst day of the month
a péssima notícia
the terrible news
o ótimo dia
the great day
The irregular relative superlatives agree with the noun in number, but only the article reflects the gender. The irregular absolute superlatives agree with the noun in gender and number.
Gender/Number | Relative Superlatives | Absolute Superlative |
|---|---|---|
feminine singular | a melhor atriz the best actress | ótima atriz good actress |
feminine plural | as melhores atrizes the best actresses | ótimas atrizes great actresses |
masculine singular | o melhor sabor the best flavor | ótimo sabor great flavor |
masculine plural | os melhores sabores the best flavors | ótimos sabores good flavors |
In this post, we reviewed how to use the superlative in Brazilian Portuguese. We saw that there are two kinds of superlatives: relative superlatives and absolute superlatives.
Relative superlatives are used to describe a noun with the “most” or “least” of a quality
o mais(the most) / o menos(the least)
irregular forms: melhor(best), pior(worst), maior(biggest), menor(smallest)
Absolute superlatives are used to describe a noun with a lot of a quality (like “very” + adjective)
adjective + -íssimo(the most), e.g. lindíssimo(very beautiful)
adverb of intensity + adjective, e.g. muito lindo(very beautiful)
irregular forms: ótimo(great), péssimo(terrible), máximo(giant), mínimo(tiny)
Are you ready to practice using the superlative in Brazilian Portuguese with these activities?
