Nominalization is the act of turning a verb or an adjective into a noun: construir (to build) → a construção (the building, the construction); feliz (happy) → a felicidade (happiness). It looks like vocabulary, but it is really a syntactic strategy. When you nominalize, you compress a whole clause into a single noun phrase, and that compression is the defining feature of formal, academic, and journalistic Brazilian Portuguese. Learning the suffixes is half the battle; learning when and why to reach for them is the other half.
Why nominalize at all?
Compare two ways of saying the same thing:
Construíram o prédio em 2020, e isso atrasou tudo. → They built the building in 2020, and that delayed everything.
A construção do prédio em 2020 atrasou tudo. → The building's construction in 2020 delayed everything.
The second version packs the entire action construir o prédio into one noun phrase, a construção do prédio, which can then slot into a larger sentence as a subject or object. This is exactly what English does when it prefers "the destruction of the city" over "they destroyed the city." Portuguese does it more aggressively and more elegantly, and mastering it is the single clearest marker that you have moved from intermediate to advanced register.
Verb → noun: the four main suffixes
-ção — the workhorse (formal/academic)
The suffix -ção is wildly productive. Almost any verb describing an action or process can spawn a -ção noun, and these dominate academic and bureaucratic prose. They are all feminine.
| Verb | Noun | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| educar | a educação | education |
| construir | a construção | construction |
| importar | a importação | importation |
| realizar | a realização | realization, carrying out |
| poluir | a poluição | pollution |
A poluição dos rios é o maior problema ambiental da região.
The pollution of the rivers is the region's biggest environmental problem.
A criação de novos empregos depende de investimento.
The creation of new jobs depends on investment.
Note the spelling: it is always -ção with the cedilla and the nasal ão — educação, poluição, never educacão or educaçao.
-mento — actions and their results
The suffix -mento also turns verbs into nouns, often emphasizing the result or ongoing process of an action. These nouns are masculine.
| Verb | Noun | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| mover | o movimento | movement |
| crescer | o crescimento | growth |
| conhecer | o conhecimento | knowledge |
| sentir | o sentimento | feeling |
| esquecer | o esquecimento | forgetting, oblivion |
O crescimento da economia surpreendeu até os especialistas.
The economy's growth surprised even the experts.
O envelhecimento da população exige novas políticas de saúde.
The aging of the population demands new health policies.
There is no airtight rule for choosing -ção over -mento — it is lexicalized per verb, and you simply learn each one. As a loose tendency, -ção leans toward the action itself, -mento toward its result or the event, but plenty of pairs ignore this.
-agem — processes, often technical (often borrowed/technical register)
-agem (feminine) often labels a process or a technical procedure, and many of these words mirror French/English -age.
| Verb | Noun | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| aterrissar | a aterrissagem | landing (of a plane) |
| lavar | a lavagem | washing |
| montar | a montagem | assembly, editing (film) |
| passar | a passagem | passage, fare/ticket |
A aterrissagem foi tranquila apesar do mau tempo.
The landing was smooth despite the bad weather.
-ada — a single completed instance (often colloquial)
-ada (feminine) frequently denotes a single bounded instance of an action — "an act of X-ing." It is more colloquial and concrete than the abstract -ção.
| Verb | Noun | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| chegar | a chegada | arrival |
| entrar | a entrada | entrance, entry |
| olhar | a olhada | a (quick) look |
| caminhar | a caminhada | a walk |
Depois da chegada dos convidados, a festa finalmente começou.
After the guests' arrival, the party finally started.
Adjective → noun: abstract quality suffixes
To name the quality an adjective expresses, Portuguese has its own set of suffixes. These produce abstract feminine nouns and are the backbone of writing about ideas.
-dade — by far the most productive (formal)
| Adjective | Noun | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| feliz | a felicidade | happiness |
| livre | a liberdade | freedom |
| igual | a igualdade | equality |
| real | a realidade | reality |
| capaz | a capacidade | capacity, ability |
A desigualdade entre as regiões do país aumentou na última década.
The inequality between the country's regions grew over the last decade.
-ez / -eza — qualities and states
| Adjective | Noun | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| belo | a beleza | beauty |
| certo | a certeza | certainty |
| rígido | a rigidez | rigidity |
| tímido | a timidez | shyness |
Não tenho a menor certeza de que ele vai aparecer.
I don't have the slightest certainty that he'll show up.
-ura — physical and figurative qualities
| Adjective | Noun | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| louco | a loucura | madness |
| doce | a doçura | sweetness |
| alto | a altura | height |
| largo | a largura | width |
Sair de carro com essa chuva toda é pura loucura.
Going out by car in all this rain is pure madness.
The infinitive as a noun
There is a second, fully native way to nominalize a verb: just put an article in front of the infinitive. The infinitive then behaves as a masculine noun. This is more flexible — any verb can do it — and ranges from everyday to literary.
O jantar está pronto; podem vir à mesa.
Dinner is ready; you can come to the table. (o jantar = the dinner, from jantar 'to dine')
O ser e o nada são temas centrais da filosofia existencialista.
Being and nothingness are central themes of existentialist philosophy. (literary)
A few infinitives have fully lexicalized into common nouns — o jantar (dinner), o almoço-pattern aside, o poder (power), o dever (duty), o prazer (pleasure). Others stay productive and slightly literary: o caminhar, o olhar, o viver.
Putting it together: compressing a clause
The real power appears when you replace a finite clause with a nominalization plus de:
A demissão do diretor pegou todos de surpresa.
The director's dismissal caught everyone by surprise. (from: demitiram o diretor)
O reconhecimento do erro pela empresa veio tarde demais.
The company's acknowledgment of the mistake came too late. (from: a empresa reconheceu o erro)
Notice the pattern: the verb's object becomes a de-phrase (demissão do diretor), and the subject can be marked with por/pela (reconhecimento ... pela empresa). This is precisely the grammar of formal Portuguese headlines and abstracts.
Common mistakes
❌ A educacão é um direito de todos.
Incorrect — missing the cedilla; the suffix is always -ção.
✅ A educação é um direito de todos.
Education is a right for everyone.
❌ O movimento da economia... (meaning 'growth')
Incorrect — wrong lexicalized noun; 'growth' is crescimento, not movimento.
✅ O crescimento da economia surpreendeu.
The economy's growth surprised (everyone). (each verb has its own fixed noun)
❌ A felizidade não se compra.
Incorrect — feliz drops nothing oddly; the noun is felicidade, not felizidade.
✅ A felicidade não se compra.
Happiness can't be bought.
❌ O construir do prédio atrasou tudo.
Awkward — the suffix noun is far more natural here than the bare infinitive.
✅ A construção do prédio atrasou tudo.
The construction of the building delayed everything.
The last point is about style, not raw grammar: both exist, but where a lexicalized suffix noun is available, formal Portuguese strongly prefers it over the infinitive-as-noun. Reserve the infinitive form for verbs with no good suffix noun or for deliberate literary effect.
Key takeaways
- -ção (fem.) and -mento (masc.) turn verbs into nouns; the choice is lexicalized per verb.
- -dade, -ez/-eza, -ura turn adjectives into abstract nouns.
- The infinitive + article (o jantar, o ser) is a universal, slightly more literary nominalizer.
- Nominalization compresses a clause: object → de-phrase, subject → por-phrase.
- It is the engine of formal/academic BR — reach for it to raise register and density.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Verbal Nouns and NominalizationB2 — How Brazilian Portuguese turns verbs into nouns — the bare infinitive, the productive suffixes (-ção, -mento, -dor, -ada, -agem), and the participle-as-noun — and how new nouns get coined on the fly.
- Nominalization from VerbsB1 — Turning verbs into nouns in Brazilian Portuguese — deverbal suffixes (-ção, -mento, -dor, -ada) and nominalizing the bare infinitive (o jantar, o pôr do sol).
- Nominalization from AdjectivesB2 — Turning adjectives into nouns in Brazilian Portuguese — suffixes like -eza, -ura, -idade, plus the article-adjective frame (o importante, o difícil, o belo).
- Abstract Nouns and Their FormationB1 — The predictable, mostly-feminine suffix set Brazilian Portuguese uses to build abstract nouns — -dade, -ção, -eza, -mento, -ência and more.
- Noun-Forming SuffixesB1 — How Brazilian Portuguese builds nouns from verbs, adjectives, and other nouns with productive suffixes that signal both meaning and grammatical gender.