Adjectives in Portuguese

Look around you. Can you describe everything you see? How aboutem Português? Adjectives are the words you use to describe things. They are what make language colorful! In this lesson… you guessed it… we'll be talking about adjectives in Portuguese.

Portuguese adjectives are a bit different from adjectives in English as they generally match the gender of the noun they're describing. For example, the color red changes depending on whether you're describing a bike –bicicleta vermelha– or a car –carro vermelho. Luckily in Portuguese, there are only two genders for adjectives and they're pretty easy to remember.

Resources for further reading:

Take a look at those examples again. Did you notice something else that's different to English? I most cases the adjective goes after the noun unlike in English. I promise it's easier than it sounds...

Pronouncing Adjectives in Portuguese

Let's get started...

Practice Your Pronunciation With Rocket Record

Rocket Record lets you perfect your Portuguese pronunciation. Just listen to the native speaker audio and then use the microphone icon to record yourself. Once you’re done, you’ll get a score out of 100 on your pronunciation and can listen to your own audio playback. (Use a headset mic for best results.) Problems? Click here!

grande

big / large

pequeno

small

claro

light

escuro

dark

colorido

colorful

simples

plain

áspero

rough

liso

smooth

duro

hard

macio

soft

difícil

difficult

fácil

easy

brilhante

shiny

enfadonho / lerdo

dull

chato / enfadonho

boring

Excelente. I hope you learned a lot in this lesson and you'll find it useful. Of course, there are countless adjectives and we could only go over a small portion in this lesson. As you keep learning the number of adjectives in your word bank will increase. Just remember to always match the number and gender of the noun!

Atê logo!

Here are a few recommended Portuguese lessons to try next!

Tchau

Tereza Pereira: Rocket Portuguese

Make It Stick With Rocket Reinforcement

Reinforce your learning from this lesson with the Rocket Reinforcement activities!