The goal of this Portuguese lesson is to show you the main rules to identify the gender of words in Portuguese.
If you have been learning Portuguese, you already know that objects have a gender in my beautiful language. A house, for instance, is feminine. A computer, on the other hand, is masculine. And cars are masculine too, although in English you tend to refer to your car as she.
You also probably know that, in general, words that end in “a” are feminine in Portuguese and words that end in “o” are masculine. However, there are additional rules and there are common exceptions to this rule.
In this Portuguese lesson you will learn:
- The main rules to identify masculine and feminine words in Portuguese. This lesson focuses on nouns. I have a different Portuguese lesson about the gender of adjectives.
- Commonly used words that are exceptions to the rules.
- A list of common words that are masculine in Portuguese and feminine in Spanish, and vice-versa.
Nouns that are usually feminine in Portuguese
A noun is the name of a thing, such as an object, a place, or a person. Below are the main rules to identify the gender of nouns in Portuguese.
1. Nouns ending in A
- a cama = bed
- a cadeira = chair
- a mesa = table
Learn parts of the house in Portuguese.
A couple of very common exceptions to this rule:
- o dia = day
- o mapa = map
2. Nouns ending in Ã
- a manhã = morning
- a maçã = apple
- a hortelã = mint
There are exceptions, of course:
- o ímã = magnet
- o talismã = talisman
3. Nouns ending in AÇÃO
- a ação = action
- a nação = nation
- a confirmação = confirmation
Easily learn 90 Portuguese words that end in -ação
4. Nouns ending in DADE
- a universidade = university
- a cidade = city
- a tempestade = storm
5. Nouns ending in AGEM
- a garagem = garage (not parking)
- a viagem = trip
- a massagem = massage
Nouns that are usually masculine in Portuguese
1. Nouns ending in O
Here is a common exception:
- a tribo = tribe
2. Nouns ending in a consonant
- o hotel = hotel
- o papel = paper
- o cristal = crystal
- o amor = love
- o mar = sea
- o lápis = pencil
- o país = country
There are exceptions. Some nouns ending in “or” are feminine:
- a cor = the color
- a dor = the pain
- a flor = the flower
3. Nouns ending in I or U
- o abacaxi = pineapple
- o bisturi = scalpel
- o caju = cashew
- o baú = trunk
4. Nouns ending in EMA
This might be counter intuitive because of the “a” at the end:
- o problema = problem
- o telefonema = phone call
- o cinema = cinema
Some nouns have a single form for masculine and feminine
1. Nouns ending in ANTE
- o/a estudante = student
- o/a fumante = smoker
- o/a ajudante = helper
2. Nouns ending in ENTE
- o/a cliente = client
- o/a paciente = patient
- o/a parente = relative (family member)
Learn family vocabulary in Portuguese
3. Nouns ending in ISTA
- o/a dentista = dentist
- o/a turista = tourist
- o/a massagista = masseur
Learn professions in Portuguese
For fun: a bola vs. o bolo
These two nouns are a great source of confusion for learners:
- a bola de futebol = the soccer ball
- o bolo de chocolate = the chocolate cake
Avoid getting in trouble: Watch this fun Portuguese lesson on similar words that can get you into trouble 🙂
Is it the same as in Spanish?
It is almost the same as in Spanish.
However, some nouns are masculine in Portuguese, but feminine in Spanish. Here are some commonly used examples:
| Portuguese (masculine) | Spanish (feminine) | English |
| O computador | La computadora | Computer |
| O costume | La costumbre | Habit |
| O creme | La crema | Cream |
| O legume | La legumbre | Legume |
| O mel | La miel | Honey |
| O nariz | La nariz | Nose |
| O riso | La risa | Laughter |
And some nouns are feminine in Portuguese and masculine in Spanish. Some common words:
| Portuguese (masculine) | Spanish (feminine) | English |
| A árvore | El árbol | Tree |
| A cor | El color | Color |
| A dor | El dolor | Pain |
| A equipe | El equipo | Team |
| A origem | El origen | Origin |
| A pétala | El pétalo | Petal |
| A ponte | El puente | Bridge |
The book Ponto de Encontro brings a longer list of these words. It is a great book. I’ve written a review of Ponto de Encontro and other books to learn Portuguese if you wish to know more about these textbooks.
If you are a Spanish speaker, you can also check out the book Pois Não: Brazilian Portuguese Course for Spanish Speakers. It is pretty dense and not very easy to read (small font, not many pictures), but it is very informative.
Final thoughts on the gender of words in Portuguese
My main advice to you: Learn the rules. Practice them. But do not sweat it.
I know that your Brazilian friends probably correct any mix up of masculine and feminine words, and that probably makes you feel frustrated.
However, for those who do not have this gender distinction for nouns in their own languages, there will likely always be a word here and there that you mix up even when you are completely fluent in Portuguese.
When you are in a spontaneous conversation, your brain is processing so many things at once that it might mix up masculine and feminine nouns, adjectives, articles, pronouns etc. even when you know the rules.
And that if just fine. You will get better with practice. And your ability to communicate well does not depend on the gender of the words in Portuguese.
The trick to speaking Portuguese comfortably is practice.
There is no practice more effective than one-on-one lessons with instructors who are trained to help you learn Portuguese well at any level of your language journey.
Street Smart Brazil has been helping learners around the globe speak Portuguese with confidence for over a decade.
Book a Trial Lesson with us to see the difference it makes when you learn with the right professionals.
I am learning Porteugese for maybe a month, but seriously everything has two words for it so it is so frustrating. Obrigada, obrigado. I dont know. I am confused.
I have a lesson about Obrigada/Obrigado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocBjYvAAF3s
This helps, I’ve been trying to learn Portuguese now for 18 months and just found out today that only nouns are masculine or feminine and learned what esse essa este and esta mean. I have a problem learning the meaning of smaller words and similar sounding words even though I recognize them and how often they are used and can spell them. My Brasilian girlfriend only speaks English with me when I go to Brasil so that doesn’t help either. I only started speaking simple sentences in basic conversation. Understanding spoken Portuguese is difficult. This gives me hope. Thanks
Obrigada pelo comentário, Pat. Nowadays a lot of people sell language learning saying that it is easy. It is not easy. And it does not happen quickly for most of us. So do not feel discouraged because it really is a challenging endeavor. It is also very rewarding 🙂 Spend a little time with the language every day. I have a client who started to watch Brazilian TV from day 1, even though he did not understand anything. He ended up learning really fast and he has great listening skills today. If you like music, choose a song that you like and look at the lyrics to understand what it says and how it is written. Then sing along! It will help with listening and pronunciation. Find activities that you enjoy. And do not feel bad about making mistakes or asking the same thing more than once. No one learns a language without making mistakes and memorization is challenging to everyone. Um abraço!
Hello! Pat again. It’s been 2 years and 9 months now and 12 trips to Brasil and I still have a hard time understanding people speaking Portuguese and have my classes in English because I can’t converse in Portuguese yet. It’s very frustrating. I did notice an improvement in my understanding. Instead of 0-1 words understood in a sentence I hear it’s now 1-3 so I have hope. When I hear people say they can teach me to converse for 5 minutes after month it’s irritating. I’d love to be able to for 30 seconds! Any ideas
Oi, Patrick. I understand that it is frustrating when you cannot understand people. My suggestion is to try different resources. Have you worked with the Living Language material? Here’s a link to it: http://amzn.to/2rZQ256 Each chapter has a short dialogue. All the dialogues are on the accompanying CDs. One way to develop listening comprehension it to listen to these simple audios several times. You listen while following along with the text. Then you listen without the text. It’s not very exciting and takes patience, but it helps.
Once you master those dialogues, you can practice the same way with longer texts. Most books come with accompanying CDs so you can listen to the audio and follow along with the text.
Music also helps. Learn the lyrics to songs that you like and sing along. Then listen to the song without singing along.
Ask your teacher to work with audio exercises from different books.
It’s hard work, I know.
I wish you the best!
Thanks, I’ve been listening to
Movies, tv and other audio sources along with 12 trips to Brasil so I guess I’ll keep doing it and hope things improve. When my Brasilian girlfriend speaks Portuguese I can’t understand her so she will go over the sentence word by word but that’s frustrating for her and keeps her from speaking Portugues with me. I’ll try to improve so we can converse in Portugues. Thanks. Pat
Só when I hear people speak
Portuguese am I supposed to hear each word and translate it very quickly while I’m listening to them or instantly understand everything they say? I can only understand things like “bom dia” and “boa noite” without translating. Everything else is too fast or me to translate or I can’t understand what the people are saying. Thanks
Understanding without translating happens in stages. It is the final destination. There are many stages until one gets there.
It’s Pat again and I’m in Santos Brasil for the 13th time and still can’t converse yet after studying for 3 years and 3 months. My girlfriend here still speaks English with me because when she tries Portugues I can’t understand her and she gets angry when I ask her to explain what things mean. I think the lack of being able to speak and converse is slowing things down. Any ideas? Thanks. Pat
Muito obrigada.Isto me ajuda muito.Porque eu estou aprendendo o português e o espanõl.I realise that the genders in português are not so complicated as I have thought.Obrigada!
Obrigada pelo comentário, Tina! Fico feliz de saber que meu artigo ajudou você 🙂