A Portuguese adjective doesn't only match its noun in gender — it also matches in number. One blue shirt is "azul," but two blue shirts are "azuis." English marks the plural on the noun alone ("blue shirts"), never on the adjective. In Portuguese, the plural spreads across the whole noun phrase: the article, the noun, and every adjective all pluralize together. The good news is that adjectives pluralize using exactly the same rules as nouns — so if you know how to pluralize a noun, you already know how to pluralize an adjective.
The default: just add -s
Adjectives ending in a vowel (including -e) simply add -s.
| Singular | Plural | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bonito | bonitos | pretty |
| bonita | bonitas | pretty (fem.) |
| grande | grandes | big |
| verde | verdes | green |
| inteligente | inteligentes | intelligent |
Os meninos são muito bonitos.
The boys are very good-looking.
Comprei duas blusas verdes.
I bought two green blouses.
Notice that gender and number stack: bonito → bonitos → bonitas. You apply gender first (the -o/-a choice), then add -s for the plural.
-l → -is
Adjectives ending in -l drop the -l and add -is. This is identical to the noun rule (see nouns/plural-words-ending-in-l).
| Singular | Plural | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| azul | azuis | blue |
| fácil | fáceis | easy |
| difícil | difíceis | difficult |
| legal | legais | cool, nice (informal) |
| gentil | gentis | kind |
Watch the accent: words stressed on the second-to-last syllable like fácil keep an accent in the plural (fáceis), while words stressed on the final syllable like azul and legal take no accent (azuis, legais).
Os exercícios de hoje foram bem fáceis.
Today's exercises were pretty easy.
Seus olhos são azuis como o mar.
Your eyes are blue like the sea.
-m → -ns
Adjectives ending in -m change to -ns.
São erros muito comuns entre iniciantes.
These are very common mistakes among beginners.
Eles são jovens e cheios de energia.
They are young and full of energy.
So comum → comuns, jovem → jovens, bom → bons (an irregular but related case — "bom" is the masculine of "good").
-ês → -eses
Nationality and origin adjectives in -ês add -es and drop the accent: português → portugueses.
Os vinhos portugueses são excelentes.
Portuguese wines are excellent.
Vários turistas ingleses visitam o Rio no verão.
Many English tourists visit Rio in the summer.
-z → -zes
Adjectives ending in -z add -es, giving -zes.
| Singular | Plural | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| feliz | felizes | happy |
| capaz | capazes | capable |
| feroz | ferozes | fierce |
As crianças estão felizes com os presentes.
The children are happy with the presents.
-ão → -ões / -ãos / -ães
Adjectives in -ão follow the same three-way split as nouns (see nouns/plural-words-ending-in-ao). The overwhelmingly common pattern is -ão → -ões.
Eles são bons cidadãos e muito trabalhadores.
They are good citizens and very hard-working.
Os meninos são brincalhões e nunca param quietos.
The boys are playful and never sit still.
So brincalhão → brincalhões, chorão → chorões, alemão → alemães (this one takes -ães, matching the noun pattern).
The masculine-default rule for mixed groups
Here is the rule English never needs, because English adjectives have no gender at all. When a single adjective describes two or more nouns of different genders, it defaults to the masculine plural.
A casa e o carro são caros.
The house and the car are expensive. ('casa' fem. + 'carro' masc. → masculine plural 'caros')
O menino e a menina são bonitos.
The boy and the girl are good-looking. (mixed genders → masculine 'bonitos')
A comida e o serviço estavam ótimos.
The food and the service were excellent.
The logic is that masculine is the "unmarked" or default gender in Portuguese — it's what you fall back to when the group is mixed or when gender is unknown. This is why a group of women is "elas" but a group with even one man becomes "eles." The adjective behaves the same way: one masculine noun in the set pulls the whole adjective into the masculine plural.
If all the nouns share the same gender, the adjective simply takes that gender:
A saia e a blusa são novas.
The skirt and the blouse are new. (both feminine → 'novas')
Putting gender and number together
A full noun phrase agrees on all fronts at once. Watch every word in the phrase fall into line:
aquelas duas casas brancas e antigas
those two white old houses (feminine + plural throughout)
uns prédios altos e modernos
some tall modern buildings (masculine + plural throughout)
Common Mistakes
❌ Os meninos são bonito.
Incorrect — the adjective must also be plural to match the plural noun
✅ Os meninos são bonitos.
The boys are good-looking.
❌ Os olhos azuls
Incorrect — adjectives in -l pluralize to -is, not just adding -s
✅ Os olhos azuis
The blue eyes
❌ A casa e o carro são caras.
Incorrect — a mixed-gender group takes the masculine plural
✅ A casa e o carro são caros.
The house and the car are expensive.
❌ exercícios faceis
Incorrect — the plural of 'fácil' keeps its written accent: 'fáceis'
✅ exercícios fáceis
easy exercises
❌ As crianças felizs
Incorrect — adjectives in -z pluralize to -zes
✅ As crianças felizes
the happy children
The deepest error for English speakers is under-marking: leaving the adjective singular ("os meninos são bonito") because in English only the noun pluralizes. In Portuguese, the plural is a property of the whole phrase, and every agreeing word must show it.
Key Takeaways
- Adjective plurals use the same rules as noun plurals — learn one, apply to both.
- Add -s by default; -l → -is, -m → -ns, -z → -zes, -ês → -eses, -ão → -ões/-ães.
- Accented -il/-el adjectives keep the accent in the plural: fácil → fáceis.
- Gender and number stack: pick the -o/-a form first, then add the plural -s.
- A single adjective over a mixed-gender group goes masculine plural (casa e carro são caros).
Now practice Portuguese
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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.
- Plural Formation: Regular RulesA1 — The default Brazilian plural — add -s to vowel-ending nouns — and the agreement chain it sets off, forcing every article, possessive, and adjective in the noun phrase to pluralize too.
- Plural of -L Ending WordsA2 — How nouns ending in -l drop the -l and add -is, the accents this creates (papéis, lençóis), and the stress split that decides whether -il becomes -is or -eis.
- Plural of -M Ending WordsA2 — The fully regular -m → -ns plural — homem→homens, jardim→jardins, som→sons, álbum→álbuns — and why the spelling change just reflects the nasal sound staying put.
- 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.