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Articles
Four definite articles and four indefinite, agreeing with gender and number. The complication is not the articles themselves — it is that Portuguese fuses them onto the preposition in front, without exception.
| masculine | feminine | |
|---|---|---|
| singular | o livro | a casa |
| plural | os livros | as casas |
| a / an | um livro | uma casa |
| some | uns livros | umas casas |
The contractions
Every preposition merges with the article. There is no choice about it, and writing them apart is simply wrong.
| + o | + a | + os | + as | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| de | do | da | dos | das |
| em | no | na | nos | nas |
| a | ao | à | aos | às |
| por | pelo | pela | pelos | pelas |
Vou ao mercado — I'm going to the market. Estou na cozinha — I'm in the kitchen. O preço do pão — the price of the bread.
Where Portuguese uses an article and English does not
- With names of people: o Pedro, a Maria. Universal in Portugal, regional in Brazil, and startling to a Spanish speaker.
- With possessives: o meu carro, "the my car". Optional in Brazil, standard in Portugal.
- With most countries: o Brasil, a França — but not Portugal, which takes none.
Where it does not
- After em casa — "at home", not "at the house".
- With most cities: em Lisboa, but no Porto and no Rio, because those names were once ordinary nouns.
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