Portuguese Articles Explained: O, A, Um, Uma

Olá! Vamos conversar. Articles in Portuguese carry weight. They tell you the gender of every noun in the sentence and they appear in places English skips entirely.

Definite: o, a, os, as

O carro, a casa, os carros, as casas. The article matches gender and number. Brazilians use definite articles before names, countries, and even possessives. O João. A Maria. O meu pai.

Some countries skip the article, like Portugal and Israel. Most take one, like o Brasil, a França, os Estados Unidos.

Indefinite: um, uma, uns, umas

Um livro, uma cadeira, uns amigos, umas ideias. Use them the way English uses a, an, some.

Brazilians drop indefinite articles more often than English does. Sou professor, not sou um professor.

Let's practice together

Adriely, sua professora brasileira. Te vejo na próxima aula.