Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil): Hoje é meu aniversário.

É is the third-person singular form of the verb ser, which means to be. In this sentence, it connects the subject (the day) to the complement (my birthday), functioning similarly to the English is.

Why do we use meu before aniversário instead of a different possessive form?

Portuguese possessive adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. Aniversário is a masculine singular noun, so the correct possessive form is meu (masculine “my”) rather than minha (feminine “my”).

Is the word order in Hoje é meu aniversário similar to English, and what’s its structure?

Yes, the word order is quite similar. In both Portuguese and English, the sentence essentially follows an adverb (time) + verb + complement pattern. While English might sometimes rearrange the sentence (e.g., It is my birthday today), the structure in Portuguese emphasizes the time element by placing hoje at the beginning.

How might the sentence change if I wanted to say, “Today is her birthday”?

To say “Today is her birthday,” you need to adjust the possessive. A common way is: Hoje é o aniversário dela. Here, dela means “her,” and the definite article o is added before aniversário to fit the possessive construction in Portuguese.

Can the sentence be rearranged without changing its meaning?

Yes, you might also say É meu aniversário hoje. Although the emphasis may slightly shift, the overall meaning remains the same—indicating that today is the speaker’s birthday.