Nationality words in Portuguese behave very differently from their English counterparts in two ways that trip up nearly every English speaker: they change form to match gender and number, and they are written in lowercase. "He is Brazilian" is ele é brasileiro, but "she is Brazilian" is ela é brasileira — and neither one is capitalized. This page covers how to build, agree, and use nationality adjectives, plus the rich system of city- and region-demonyms (gentílicos) that Brazilians use constantly.
Nationality adjectives agree in gender
A nationality is a regular adjective. It copies the gender and number of whatever it describes — a person, an object, a brand, anything. This is the first big break from English, where German, French, and Japanese never change shape.
Comprei um carro alemão.
I bought a German car. (carro is masculine → alemão)
Ela dirige uma moto alemã.
She rides a German motorcycle. (moto is feminine → alemã)
O meu vizinho é português, mas a esposa dele é brasileira.
My neighbor is Portuguese, but his wife is Brazilian.
The logic is exactly the same as for any other adjective (see adjectives/gender-agreement): the noun is the boss and the adjective dresses to match. There is nothing special about nationalities here — the only thing to unlearn is the English instinct that "German" is one fixed word.
They are LOWERCASE — always
In English you must capitalize Brazilian, French, Japanese. In Portuguese you must not. Nationality adjectives — and the noun forms derived from them — are common words, not proper nouns, so they stay lowercase. The country name Brasil is capitalized; the adjective brasileiro is not.
Eu sou brasileiro e moro em São Paulo.
I'm Brazilian and I live in São Paulo.
Ela fala inglês e francês fluentemente.
She speaks English and French fluently.
Adoro comida japonesa, principalmente sushi.
I love Japanese food, especially sushi.
Note that inglês and francês in the example above are doing double duty: they are the names of languages, which are also lowercase. The country Inglaterra is capitalized, but the language and the adjective are not (see nouns/proper-nouns for the capitalization rules).
The forms: a reference table
Most masculine nationalities end in -o and form the feminine in -a, exactly like ordinary adjectives. But a large and important group ends in -ês (stressed), and these take a special feminine in -esa (and drop the accent, because the stress is now carried by a syllable that follows).
| Country | Masculine | Feminine | Masc. plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brasil | brasileiro | brasileira | brasileiros |
| Portugal | português | portuguesa | portugueses |
| Inglaterra | inglês | inglesa | ingleses |
| França | francês | francesa | franceses |
| Japão | japonês | japonesa | japoneses |
| Alemanha | alemão | alemã | alemães |
| Espanha | espanhol | espanhola | espanhóis |
| Estados Unidos | americano | americana | americanos |
| Itália | italiano | italiana | italianos |
| China | chinês | chinesa | chineses |
The -ês → -esa pattern
This is the one pattern worth memorizing as a rule. When the masculine ends in stressed -ês, the feminine is -esa and the masculine plural is -eses — and in both the feminine and the plural, the written accent disappears. Why? Because the circumflex in inglês marks the stressed final syllable; once you add an ending (-a, -es), that syllable is no longer final and Portuguese spelling rules no longer require the accent.
O jogador é português; a treinadora é portuguesa.
The player is Portuguese; the coach (f.) is Portuguese.
Os turistas ingleses adoram as praias do Nordeste.
The English tourists love the beaches of the Northeast.
Watch the irregulars: alemão makes the feminine alemã (nasal, with a tilde) and the plural alemães, not *alemãos. And espanhol makes the plural espanhóis (the -ol becomes -óis, like other -ol words).
Nationality words used as nouns
Because these adjectives describe people, Portuguese lets you use them directly as nouns — the Brazilians, a Frenchwoman — with no extra word like English people or man/woman. The article tells you it is now a noun.
Os brasileiros são conhecidos pela hospitalidade.
Brazilians are known for their hospitality.
Tem um francês na recepção querendo falar com você.
There's a Frenchman at the front desk wanting to talk to you.
As japonesas que conheci na viagem eram muito simpáticas.
The Japanese women I met on the trip were very nice.
Gentílicos: city and region demonyms
This is where Brazilian Portuguese becomes genuinely rich. Every city and state has a gentílico — a word for someone from that place — and Brazilians use them constantly, both as adjectives and as nouns. Crucially, a large share of them end in -ista, which is invariable for gender (it works for men and women alike) and only adds -s for the plural.
| Place | Gentílico | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| São Paulo (city) | paulistano | agrees: paulistana |
| São Paulo (state) | paulista | invariable for gender |
| Rio de Janeiro (city) | carioca | invariable for gender |
| Rio de Janeiro (state) | fluminense | invariable for gender |
| Minas Gerais | mineiro / mineira | agrees in gender |
| Bahia | baiano / baiana | agrees in gender |
| Pernambuco | pernambucano | agrees in gender |
| Ceará | cearense | invariable for gender |
The -ista and -ense endings stay the same for men and women — um paulista, uma paulista; um cearense, uma cearense — exactly like other invariable adjectives (see adjectives/invariable-adjectives). The -ano/-eiro types, by contrast, behave like ordinary -o/-a adjectives.
Ela é mineira, mas mora no Rio há dez anos.
She's from Minas Gerais, but she's lived in Rio for ten years.
Os cariocas costumam ir à praia mesmo no inverno.
People from Rio tend to go to the beach even in winter.
Como bom baiano, ele faz um acarajé incrível.
Like a true Bahian, he makes an amazing acarajé.
A useful detail: carioca and paulista are also extremely common as nouns with no article change between sexes, and they appear in fixed expressions — o jeitinho carioca (the Rio way of doing things), o sotaque paulista (the São Paulo accent).
Common Mistakes
❌ Ele é Brasileiro.
Incorrect — nationality adjectives are lowercase in Portuguese.
✅ Ele é brasileiro.
He is Brazilian.
❌ Uma carro alemão.
Incorrect — but also: the adjective must match a feminine noun.
✅ Uma moto alemã.
A German motorcycle. (feminine noun → alemã)
❌ As mulheres japoneses.
Incorrect — feminine plural needs -esas, not the masculine -eses.
✅ As mulheres japonesas.
The Japanese women.
❌ Eu falo Inglês.
Incorrect — language names are lowercase, like nationalities.
✅ Eu falo inglês.
I speak English.
❌ Ela é uma paulistana, e ele é paulistana também.
Incorrect — paulistano agrees in gender, so a man is paulistano.
✅ Ela é paulistana, e ele é paulistano também.
She's from the city of São Paulo, and so is he.
Key Takeaways
- Nationality adjectives agree in gender and number: carro alemão, moto alemã, turistas ingleses.
- They are lowercase, and so are language names: brasileiro, inglês, japonês. Only the country (Brasil, Japão) is capitalized.
- The -ês → -esa pattern (feminine and plural drop the accent): português → portuguesa, portugueses.
- They double as nouns with just an article: os brasileiros, um francês.
- Gentílicos in -ista and -ense are invariable for gender (paulista, carioca, cearense); those in -ano/-eiro agree like normal adjectives (mineiro/mineira).
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Gender AgreementA1 — How Portuguese adjectives change form to match the masculine or feminine gender of the noun they describe — and which ones don't change at all.
- Number AgreementA1 — How Portuguese adjectives form their plural to match plural nouns — using the same rules as nouns, plus the masculine-default rule for mixed groups.
- Adjectives: OverviewA1 — How Brazilian Portuguese adjectives work — they agree with the noun in gender and number and usually follow it, the mirror image of English's invariable pre-nominal adjective.
- Proper Nouns and CapitalizationA2 — What Brazilian Portuguese capitalizes and — crucially — what it lowercases: months, days, languages, nationalities, and religions that English would capitalize.
- Invariable AdjectivesA2 — A systematic group of Portuguese adjectives — colors named after objects, compound colors, and borrowings — that never change for gender or number.