Adjectives

They agree with the noun in gender and number, and they usually follow it.

The ones that do not change

Adjectives ending in -e, -l, -z or -ar have one form for both genders: grande, fácil, feliz, familiar. They still take a plural. When you are unsure of a noun's gender, one of these is a safe choice.

Comparison

• mais … (do) que — mais alto do que — taller than
• menos … que — less than
• tão … como — as … as

Four irregulars: bom → melhor, mau → pior, grande → maior, pequeno → menor.

The superlative in -íssimo

lindo → lindíssimo, caro → caríssimo. Not "very beautiful" but something stronger, and extremely common in speech.

bom or bem

Bom is the adjective, bem the adverb — but with estar Portuguese uses bem: Estou bem, never estou bom. Saying estou bom means you have recovered from an illness.

Adverbs from adjectives

Take the feminine form and add -mente: rápida → rapidamente, sincera → sinceramente. If two adverbs run together, only the last keeps the ending: falou clara e rapidamente.

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