Capitalization feels like it should transfer cleanly from English — capital letter at the start of a sentence, capital letters for names. And those two cases do transfer. But Brazilian Portuguese lowercases a whole category of words that English insists on capitalizing: months, days of the week, languages, nationalities, religions, and compass directions. For English speakers this is the single most common capitalization error, because the instinct to write "Março" or "Português" is almost automatic. This page sorts out exactly what gets a capital and what does not.
The big picture: capitalize less than in English
The Portuguese default is to capitalize only proper nouns (specific names of people, places, organizations) and the first word of a sentence. Everything that is merely a category — a month, a language, a nationality — is treated as an ordinary common noun or adjective and stays lowercase. The mental model that helps: ask "is this the actual name of one specific thing, or just a type of thing?" Months and languages are types; Maria and Brasil are names.
What you DO capitalize
These match English and need no special effort:
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| First word of a sentence | Hoje está frio. / Vamos sair? |
| People's names | Maria, João, Machado de Assis |
| Place names (cities, countries, rivers) | São Paulo, Brasil, rio Amazonas |
| Institutions, brands, organizations | Universidade de São Paulo, Petrobras |
| Holidays and historic events | Natal, Carnaval, Independência |
✅ A Maria nasceu em São Paulo, mas mora no Rio de Janeiro.
Maria was born in São Paulo, but lives in Rio de Janeiro.
✅ O Natal e o Carnaval são as festas mais esperadas do ano.
Christmas and Carnival are the most anticipated celebrations of the year.
What you do NOT capitalize (but English does)
This is the heart of the page. All of the following are lowercase in Brazilian Portuguese.
Months and days of the week
| English (capital) | Portuguese (lowercase) |
|---|---|
| January, March, July | janeiro, março, julho |
| Monday, Friday, Sunday | segunda-feira, sexta-feira, domingo |
✅ Meu aniversário é em março, numa sexta-feira este ano.
My birthday is in March, on a Friday this year.
✅ A reunião ficou para a próxima segunda-feira.
The meeting was moved to next Monday.
Languages, nationalities, and adjectives of origin
Languages and nationalities are common nouns/adjectives here, so they stay lowercase — including when a nationality is used as a noun for a group of people.
| English | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| Portuguese (the language) | português |
| Italian food | comida italiana |
| the Brazilians | os brasileiros |
| a French film | um filme francês |
✅ Eu falo português e estou aprendendo um pouco de japonês.
I speak Portuguese and I'm learning a little Japanese.
✅ Os brasileiros adoram comida italiana, principalmente massa.
Brazilians love Italian food, especially pasta.
Religions and their followers
✅ Ela estuda o budismo, mas foi criada no catolicismo.
She studies Buddhism, but was raised in Catholicism.
✅ Os muçulmanos jejuam durante o ramadã.
Muslims fast during Ramadan.
Points of the compass
A compass direction as a plain direction is lowercase (norte, sul, leste, oeste). It is capitalized only when it names a specific region treated as a proper noun — o Nordeste (the Northeast region of Brazil), o Sul.
✅ A janela fica voltada para o norte, então pega sol o dia todo.
The window faces north, so it gets sun all day.
✅ Ela é do Nordeste, de uma cidadezinha perto de Recife.
She's from the Northeast, from a little town near Recife.
Titles used within a sentence
Common titles like presidente, doutor, senhor, professor, papa are lowercase when they appear mid-sentence describing someone, even right before the name.
✅ Falei com o doutor Silva e com a professora de história.
I spoke with Dr. Silva and with the history teacher.
✅ O presidente discursou; depois o senhor Almeida fez uma pergunta.
The president gave a speech; then Mr. Almeida asked a question.
você and senhor are not capitalized mid-sentence
English capitalizes the pronoun "I" everywhere; Portuguese does not capitalize its pronouns. Forms of address like você, senhor, senhora are lowercase in normal running text. (You may see them capitalized in very formal correspondence as a courtesy — Vossa Senhoria, V. Sa. — but that is a stylistic formality, not the default.)
✅ Eu acho que você tem razão, mas precisamos confirmar.
I think you're right, but we need to confirm.
Titles of books, films, and works
In titles of works, Brazilian convention is generally to capitalize the first word (and any proper nouns inside), leaving the rest lowercase — Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas, Cidade de Deus. This contrasts sharply with English "title case," where most words are capitalized. Practice varies (publishers and headline styles sometimes capitalize content words), so when in doubt follow the source, but the unmarked Brazilian norm is sentence-style capitalization.
✅ Estou lendo 'Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas', do Machado de Assis.
I'm reading 'The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas', by Machado de Assis.
Common Mistakes
❌ Vou viajar em Julho, numa Segunda-feira.
Incorrect — months and weekdays are lowercase in Portuguese.
✅ Vou viajar em julho, numa segunda-feira.
I'll travel in July, on a Monday.
❌ Eu falo Português e estou aprendendo Espanhol.
Incorrect — language names are lowercase.
✅ Eu falo português e estou aprendendo espanhol.
I speak Portuguese and I'm learning Spanish.
❌ Os Brasileiros gostam de comida Italiana.
Incorrect — nationalities and origin adjectives are lowercase.
✅ Os brasileiros gostam de comida italiana.
Brazilians like Italian food.
❌ A casa fica ao Norte da cidade.
Incorrect — a plain compass direction is lowercase; capitalize only a named region.
✅ A casa fica ao norte da cidade.
The house is to the north of the city.
❌ Conversei com o Doutor Silva ontem.
Incorrect — a title mid-sentence is lowercase, even before a name.
✅ Conversei com o doutor Silva ontem.
I talked to Dr. Silva yesterday.
Key takeaways
- Capitalize proper nouns and the first word of a sentence — same as English.
- Lowercase months (março), weekdays (segunda-feira), languages (português), nationalities and origin adjectives (os brasileiros, comida italiana), religions (catolicismo), and compass directions (ao norte).
- Capitalize a compass word only when it names a region (o Nordeste).
- Titles before names (doutor Silva) and pronouns like você stay lowercase mid-sentence.
- Work titles use sentence-style capitalization, not English title case.
Now practice Portuguese
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Proper Nouns and CapitalizationA2 — What Brazilian Portuguese capitalizes and — crucially — what it lowercases: months, days, languages, nationalities, and religions that English would capitalize.
- Noun Gender BasicsA1 — The core of Brazilian Portuguese gender: the -o (masculine) / -a (feminine) tendency, the article as the real gender marker, and how gender follows biology for people and animals — plus why you must always learn the article with the noun.
- BR Spelling: OverviewA1 — A map of the Brazilian Portuguese writing system: the 26-letter alphabet, the five diacritics and what each one does, sound-to-spelling regularity, the 2009 Acordo Ortográfico, and the main trouble spots.
- Common Spelling ErrorsA2 — The Brazilian Portuguese spelling traps that catch learners — the many spellings of /s/, the four 'porquê's, mas vs mais, mau vs mal, and s vs z.
- BR AlphabetA1 — The 26-letter Brazilian Portuguese alphabet, the name of each letter for spelling aloud, the readmitted K/W/Y, the digraphs (ch, lh, nh, rr, ss, qu, gu, sc), and why 'ç' is not a separate letter.