Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil): O valor é maior do que ontem.

Why is there a definite article in O valor? In English we’d usually just say “Value is higher than yesterday” or “The price is higher than yesterday”.

In Portuguese, definite articles (o, a, os, as) are used more often than in English.

O valor literally means “the value” / “the price”.
Portuguese tends to put an article before most singular countable nouns, especially when you are talking about something specific and known in context.

So if both speaker and listener know which value/price is being discussed (for example, the price of a product, a bill, an exchange rate), Portuguese naturally uses O valor…, whereas English can often omit “the”.

What exactly does valor mean here: “value”, “price”, or something else?

The word valor is flexible, and the exact translation depends on context:

value – in a general sense (numerical value, worth, measurement)
price – very commonly, when talking about how much something costs
amount – for bills, payments, transfers, etc.

In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, if someone says O valor é maior do que ontem, it will often be understood as:

“The price is higher than yesterday.” or
“The amount is higher than yesterday.”

So valor is often used where English might choose “price” or “amount”, not just “value”.

Why is it é and not está? Can I say O valor está maior do que ontem?

Both are possible, but there is a nuance:

O valor é maior do que ontem.
- More neutral or “factual” tone.
- Sounds like a simple comparison: “The value is higher than yesterday.”
O valor está maior do que ontem.
- Emphasizes a temporary or changed situation:
  “The value is higher (now) than it was yesterday.”
- Common when talking about prices that change: está mais caro, está maior, etc.

In real Brazilian speech, Está maior is very common because prices and values are seen as things that change over time. But É maior is grammatically fine and may sound a bit more formal or neutral.

Why do we use maior instead of mais grande?

Portuguese has irregular comparative forms, similar to English:

grande → maior (big → bigger / greater)
pequeno → menor (small → smaller)
bom → melhor (good → better)
ruim/mau → pior (bad → worse)

So instead of mais grande, the correct form is maior:

O valor é maior do que ontem. = “The value is bigger/greater/higher than yesterday.”

Using mais grande is grammatically wrong in standard Portuguese (it sounds like “more big”).

What is do que? Why not just que in maior do que ontem?

Do que is a combination of:

de (preposition) + o (masculine singular article) → do
plus que → do que

But here, in everyday grammar, you don’t really “feel” the article o; you can treat do que as a fixed comparative link meaning “than”.

In comparisons, Portuguese can often use either:

maior do que
maior que

So you can say:

O valor é maior do que ontem.
O valor é maior que ontem.

Both are correct and widely used. Maiores do que is sometimes considered a bit more formal or “textbook”, but maior que is extremely common in speech.

If do is de + o, where is the o in do que ontem? I don’t see a masculine noun after it.

Historically, do que comes from de + o + que, but in modern usage in this sentence, speakers don’t think of it as “de + o” referring to any visible noun.

Practically, you can think of do que here as a fixed comparative chunk:

maior do que ontem ≈ “greater than yesterday”

There is no visible noun after do (like o valor), and you don’t need to supply one.
You could mentally expand it to:

maior (do valor) do que (o valor de) ontem

…but nobody actually says that. In real usage, maior do que ontem is perfectly natural and idiomatic.

Could I say O valor é maior que ontem instead of maior do que ontem? Is there any difference?

Yes, you can say both:

O valor é maior do que ontem.
O valor é maior que ontem.

In modern Brazilian Portuguese:

Both are grammatical.
Both are very common.
Any difference is mostly a matter of style or personal preference.

Some style guides try to give rules about when to use que vs do que, but everyday Brazilians alternate between them freely, especially in speech. You can safely treat them as equivalent for sentences like this.

Why is maior the same for masculine and feminine? Shouldn’t it agree with valor?

Maior is an invariable comparative in terms of gender:

masculine singular: o valor é maior
feminine singular: a conta é maior
masculine plural: os preços são maiores
feminine plural: as contas são maiores

It does change in number (maior → maiores), but not in gender.

So you don’t say maiora. You always use maior for singular, and maiores for plural, regardless of masculine or feminine.

Can valor be replaced with another noun, and the structure stay the same?

Yes. The structure is:

[article] + [noun] + é + maior do que + ontem

Examples:

A conta é maior do que ontem.
“The bill is higher than yesterday.”
O preço é maior do que ontem.
“The price is higher than yesterday.”
O gasto é maior do que ontem.
“The expense is higher than yesterday.”

The comparative part (é maior do que ontem) stays the same; only the noun (and its article) changes.

Where else can ontem go in the sentence? Can I change the word order?

You have some flexibility, but not every position sounds natural.

All of these are acceptable:

O valor é maior do que ontem.
O valor, hoje, é maior do que ontem.
Hoje o valor é maior do que ontem.

Less natural, or needing a comma/extra context:

O valor ontem é maior – sounds odd by itself; more natural as:
O valor de ontem é maior (do que o de hoje). (“Yesterday’s value is higher (than today’s).”)

So for the meaning “The value is higher than yesterday,” the most natural options are:

O valor é maior do que ontem.
O valor é maior que ontem.
Hoje o valor é maior do que ontem. (adds “today” explicitly)

In speech, would Brazilians say something like O valor tá maior que ontem? Is that natural?

Yes, that’s very natural in informal spoken Brazilian Portuguese.

tá = colloquial pronunciation of está
O valor tá maior que ontem. ≈ “The price is higher than yesterday.”

In informal contexts, people often prefer:

tá instead of está
maior que instead of maior do que

So in everyday conversation you’ll frequently hear:

O valor tá maior que ontem.
O preço tá maior que ontem.

Your original sentence, O valor é maior do que ontem, is perfectly correct and a bit more neutral/formal.