Absolute Superlative (-íssimo)

The absolute superlative says something is extreme — caríssimo ("crazy expensive"), fortíssimo ("incredibly strong"), boníssimo ("absolutely great") — without comparing it to anything or anyone else. Where the relative superlative picks out one member of a group (o mais alto da turma), the absolute superlative simply amplifies the quality itself. In English we usually reach for an intensifying adverb ("very," "extremely," "incredibly"); Portuguese gives you the same option, but also offers a morphological shortcut: a suffix, -íssimo/-íssima, that fuses the intensifier into the adjective itself.

The tricky part is not forming the suffix — that's mostly mechanical — but knowing when to use it. In everyday European Portuguese, -íssimo is noticeably more formal or emphatic than plain muito. Using it in the wrong register makes you sound like you are reading from a novel.

Three ways to intensify an adjective

European Portuguese has three main strategies for the absolute superlative. You should learn to recognise all three and know which one fits which situation.

All three sentences mean essentially the same thing. The difference is tone: muito caro is neutral, caríssimo sounds more emphatic and slightly bookish, and supercaro is youthful and casual.

The -íssimo suffix: how to form it

The basic rule is simple. Drop the final vowel of the adjective and add -íssimo (masculine) or -íssima (feminine). Do not forget the acute accent on the í — without it the word is spelled wrong.

Adjectives ending in a consonant simply add -íssimo to the full form:

Notice two spelling adjustments that catch learners off guard:

• rico → riquíssimo. The c is hardened to qu before i so the /k/ sound is preserved. The same happens with pouco → pouquíssimo and louco → louquíssimo.
• amigo → amicíssimo. The g becomes c (or, in a regularised spelling, stays as amiguíssimo in more colloquial use).

The plural and feminine forms inflect normally: caríssimos, caríssimas, fortíssimos, fortíssimas.

Learned (Latinate) forms

A cluster of adjectives — mostly those inherited directly from Latin — take a learned superlative that replaces the regular ending. These are often the forms preferred in writing and careful speech, though the regularised -íssimo alternatives are increasingly common in conversation.

Irregular absolute superlatives

A small but important group of adjectives have irregular absolute superlative forms — many of them inherited from Latin suppletive stems. You must learn these individually.

Note the spelling: post-1990 orthography writes ótimo without the old p. You will still see óptimo in older books, but current standard European Portuguese spells it ótimo.

These irregular forms often function almost as separate words — ótimo and péssimo in particular are among the most frequent adjectives in everyday Portuguese. Children learn them long before they ever encounter a rule about -íssimo.

Prefixed intensifiers: super-, mega-, ultra-, hiper-

Modern colloquial Portuguese — especially among younger speakers — is flooded with Greek-derived intensifying prefixes borrowed from advertising and internet language.

Spelling note: when the prefix ends in a vowel and the adjective starts with s- or r-, the consonant doubles under the post-1990 orthography: ultra + secreto → ultrassecreto, super + rico → superrico, anti + racista → antirracista.

Intensifying adverbs: the everyday choice

For ordinary conversation, intensifying adverbs do 90% of the work:

-íssimo with adverbs: mostly avoided

In theory, some adverbs also take -íssimo: muito → muitíssimo, pouco → pouquíssimo, cedo → cedíssimo, tarde → tardíssimo, longe → longíssimo, perto → pertíssimo. In practice, only a handful of these are in active use.

For most adverbs, though, an intensifier like muito or bastante is what you'll actually hear: depressíssimo exists in dictionaries but sounds very marked; muito depressa is what people say.

Register: when to use which

This is the subtle part. Although -íssimo is taught early and is technically always grammatical, European Portuguese speakers deploy it more sparingly than Brazilian Portuguese speakers, and much more sparingly than Italian -issimo (where it is the default spoken form).

General guidelines for PT-PT:

• In everyday conversation, muito
  • adjective is by far the most common intensifier. O café está muito bom beats o café está boníssimo almost every time.
• -íssimo is more at home in written contexts, in emphatic speech, or with a small set of lexicalised adjectives: caríssimo, chatíssimo, lindíssimo, velhíssimo, rapidíssimo.
• A handful of -íssimo forms have become so frequent that they sound completely natural in speech: caríssimo, chatíssimo, lindíssimo, ótimo, péssimo.
• For young speakers, super- and mega- prefixes are often preferred over -íssimo: superfixe, megabom, supercaro.
• Irregular superlatives like ótimo, péssimo, máximo, mínimo are universal across registers.

When it doesn't make sense

Not all adjectives accept intensification at all. Adjectives that are already absolute in meaning — "dead," "married," "Portuguese," "round," "mathematical" — normally resist -íssimo or muito:

• morto ("dead") is binary; muito morto is absurd except ironically.
• grávida ("pregnant") is binary; you don't say gravidíssima in normal prose (you might say super grávida jokingly).
• português ("Portuguese") describes a fact; portuguesíssimo is used only humorously ("so Portuguese") to describe stereotypically Portuguese things.

Many learners over-apply -íssimo to every adjective in sight. Stick to gradable, evaluative adjectives — bonito, caro, forte, chato, rico, bom, mau, feliz, cansado, pequeno.

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Three strategies: muito + adjective (neutral), -íssimo/-íssima (emphatic/formal), super-/mega-/ultra- (colloquial).
• The suffix -íssimo drops the adjective's final vowel, adds -íssimo/-íssima, keeps the acute accent on the í, and inflects normally for gender and number.
• Learn the irregular forms: bom → ótimo, mau → péssimo, grande → máximo, pequeno → mínimo.
• Some adjectives have learned (Latinate) superlatives: fácil → facílimo, pobre → paupérrimo, antigo → antiquíssimo. These are mostly used in writing.
• In everyday PT-PT, muito and imenso do most of the work. Reserve -íssimo for emphatic or slightly formal use.
• Don't pair -íssimo forms with muito (muito ótimo is ungrammatical) — the intensifier is already built in.