Today I will answer your questions about the use of the word muito. Students often feel confused with muito. When is it just muito and when does it have a plural and a feminine?
I will organize my answer in three parts.
1) When muito means “very” it does not vary. Check out these examples:
- Ana é muito bonita = Ana is very beautiful
- Ana e Camila são muito bonitas = Ana and Camila are very beautiful
- Todas as minhas amigas são muito legais = All my girlfriends are very cool
- Joana e Pedro falam muito rápido = Joana and Pedro speak very fast
In the sentences above, muito = very, so it does not vary; it remains as “muito”.
If you are comfortable with grammar terms, please observe that in the cases above muito is an adverb that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
2) Muito can also translate as “a lot” and work as an adverb modifying a verb. In these cases, it is also invariable. Let’s see a few examples:
- Marina e Felipe falam muito = Marina and Felipe talk a lot (muito modifies the verb falar)
- Roberta trabalha muito = Roberta works a lot (muito modifies the verb trabalhar)
- Eles pensam muito na família = They think a lot about their family (muito modifies the verb pensar)
3) When muito modifies a noun to indicate quantity, it may vary both in gender (feminine and masculine) and in number (plural and singular) to agree with the noun that it refers to. In other words, when you are talking about quantity, muito will vary to agree with whatever you have many, much, or a lot of. Let’s see some examples:
- Paulo tem muitas camisetas transadas = Paulo has many cool t-shirts
- Eu tenho muitos livros = I have many books
- José tem muita paciência com Antônia = José has a lot of patience with Antônia
- Você colocou muito sal na comida = You put too much salt in the food
- Você colocou muita pimenta na comida = You put too much pepper in the food
I hope this helps!
—————-
Schedule your Portuguese Demo Lesson.
Street Smart Brazil offers one-on-one and group classes online via webcam. We have a fantastic team of tutors, exclusive class materials, and complete programs from absolute beginner to fluent. See what our customers are saying.
‘She is very beautiful’
“muita linda” or “muito linda”
I think I’ve heard both, but perhaps not in this example. Confused:)
When MUITO means VERY it does NOT vary. Therefore: Ela é muito linda.
You may have heard muita because many Spanish speakers make this mistake.
I live in a town nicknamed little Portugal . Ludlow , MA. Love the culture ,food & the people. Always trying to learn the language to be able to speak with elders that do not speak English much. Your videos are great.
Muito obrigada, Ty! Abraços para little Portugal 🙂