Breakdown of Meu irmão é mais novo do que eu.
Questions & Answers about Meu irmão é mais novo do que eu.
Literally, mais novo = more new.
In practice:
- novo = new; when applied to people, it can also mean young.
- mais + adjective forms the comparative: mais novo = more new / younger.
So in family contexts, mais novo is the idiomatic way to say younger (sibling), and o mais novo means the youngest.
Yes, you can say Meu irmão é mais jovem do que eu. It is grammatically correct.
Nuance:
mais novo
- Extremely common in family age comparisons.
- Very natural and default in Brazilian Portuguese for younger (sibling).
mais jovem
- Also means younger, but feels a bit more “neutral” and less family-specific.
- Often used for people in general:
- Ela é mais jovem do que parece. – She is younger than she looks.
In the specific “brother/sister” context, Brazilians overwhelmingly say mais novo / mais velha rather than mais jovem / mais velha.
Portuguese uses different structures for exact age and relative age:
- To say someone’s age, you use ter:
- Meu irmão tem 20 anos. – My brother is 20 years old.
- To compare ages, you use ser with mais novo / mais velho:
- Meu irmão é mais novo do que eu. – My brother is younger than me.
So:
- ter X anos = to have X years (literal) = to be X years old.
- ser mais novo / mais velho = to be younger / older.
That’s why the sentence uses é (from ser) rather than tem.
This has to do with subject vs. object pronouns.
- eu is the subject form (I).
- mim is the object form (me).
In mais novo do que eu, there is an implicit verb after eu:
- Meu irmão é mais novo do que eu (sou).
- …than I (am).
Because eu is the subject of the implied verb sou, Portuguese uses eu, not mim.
- do que eu – standard / correct in formal Portuguese.
- do que mim – very common in everyday speech in some regions, but considered non‑standard in writing and more formal contexts.
So for learners, it is safest to stick with do que eu.
Yes, absolutely.
- Meu irmão é mais novo do que eu.
- Meu irmão é mais novo que eu.
Both are correct and widely used. In Brazilian Portuguese:
- que (without do) is extremely common in speech and writing.
- do que can sound a bit more careful or formal, but the difference is small.
So you can safely use que: mais novo que eu.
Yes, if the comparison is clear from context.
- Meu irmão é mais novo. – My brother is younger.
- This only makes sense if people already know you are talking about you or about another sibling.
If you want a complete, standalone sentence that clearly means “My brother is younger than me”, keep do que eu / que eu. Without it, the listener might think “Younger than what / whom?” unless it was established earlier in the conversation.
Adjectives in Portuguese agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.
- irmão = masculine, singular → novo (masculine, singular).
- irmã = feminine, singular → nova.
Examples:
- Meu irmão é mais novo do que eu. – My (male) sibling is younger than me.
- Minha irmã é mais nova do que eu. – My (female) sibling is younger than me.
- Meus irmãos são mais novos do que eu. – My brothers / siblings are younger than me.
- Minhas irmãs são mais novas do que eu. – My sisters are younger than me.
So novo changes to nova / novos / novas depending on the noun.
They are different structures and mean slightly different things:
Meu irmão é mais novo do que eu.
- Full sentence with a verb.
- Explicit comparison: My brother is younger than me.
Meu irmão mais novo
- Noun phrase (no verb).
- Means my younger brother (as a description, like a label).
- Used when you identify which brother you are talking about:
- Meu irmão mais novo mora em São Paulo. – My younger brother lives in São Paulo.
So:
- Use é mais novo do que eu when you are making a comparison with you.
- Use meu irmão mais novo when you are naming which brother.
In Brazilian Portuguese, with singular family members, it is very common (and slightly more standard) to omit the article:
- Meu irmão é mais novo do que eu.
However, using the article is also possible and common in many regions:
- O meu irmão é mais novo do que eu.
Both are correct in Brazil. Notes:
- In European Portuguese, the article is almost always present: O meu irmão…
- In Brazil, for basic learner Portuguese, you can safely use Meu irmão… without the article, especially in writing.
Yes, caçula is a very common word.
- irmão caçula = the youngest brother (the youngest child in the family).
But there is a difference:
- mais novo (do que eu): only says that he is younger than you, not necessarily the youngest in the whole family.
- caçula: specifically the youngest child among all the siblings.
Examples:
- Meu irmão é mais novo do que eu, mas não é o caçula.
- My brother is younger than me, but he is not the youngest.
- Meu irmão caçula é 10 anos mais novo do que eu.
- My youngest brother is 10 years younger than me.
Approximate Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation (neutral accent):
- Meu – like “may-oo” fused: [meu].
- irmão – ir = like “eeʁ”, with a guttural r.
- mão = nasal ão, similar to nasal “own” said through your nose.
- é – short “eh” sound.
- mais – [majz], like “maiz” (rhymes with “wise”).
- novo – [ˈnovu], “NOH-voo”.
- do que – [du ke], roughly “doo keh”.
- eu – [ew], similar to English “eh-oo” blended.
All together (very approximate to an English ear):
- Meu irmão é mais novo do que eu ≈ “may-oo ir-MAOWN eh maiz NOH-voo doo keh eh-oo”
The ã in irmão is nasal because of the tilde, and eu at the end is a single vowel glide, not two separate vowels.