O meu namorado adora novelas, mas a minha namorada prefere documentários.

My boyfriend loves soap operas, but my girlfriend prefers documentaries.

Breakdown of O meu namorado adora novelas, mas a minha namorada prefere documentários.

• minha: my
• meu: my
• mas: but
• preferir: to prefer
• adorar: to love
• o documentário: the documentary
• a novela: the soap opera
• o namorado: the boyfriend
• a namorada: the girlfriend

Questions & Answers about O meu namorado adora novelas, mas a minha namorada prefere documentários.

Why do we say O meu namorado and a minha namorada with articles before the possessives?

In European Portuguese, it is very common to use a definite article before possessive adjectives:

• o meu namorado = my boyfriend
• a minha namorada = my girlfriend

The article (o / a / os / as) agrees with the gender and number of the noun, not with the owner.

This article + possessive + noun pattern is the default in Portugal in most situations. So:

• o meu carro – my car
• a minha casa – my house
• os meus amigos – my (male/mixed) friends
• as minhas amigas – my (female) friends

There are contexts where the article is dropped (headlines, more formal/poetic language, some fixed expressions), but for everyday speech in Portugal, using the article is the norm.

Can I just say meu namorado without the article? Is it wrong?

In European Portuguese, meu namorado without the article is not wrong, but it sounds:

• more formal, written, or literary, or
• more typical of Brazilian Portuguese.

In everyday spoken Portuguese in Portugal, people almost always say:

• O meu namorado…
• A minha namorada…

You will see meu namorado (without o) in things like song lyrics, poetry, or very formal writing. If you want to sound natural in Portugal, keep the article in normal conversation.

Why is it meu namorado but minha namorada? When do I use meu vs minha?

The possessive agrees with the thing possessed, not with the person who owns it.

• namorado is masculine → meu namorado
• namorada is feminine → minha namorada

More examples:

• meu irmão (my brother), minha irmã (my sister)
• meu livro (my book), minha mesa (my table)

Plural forms:

• meus namorados – my boyfriends
• minhas namoradas – my girlfriends

So you always look at the noun after the possessive to choose meu / minha / meus / minhas.

What exactly does namorado / namorada mean in European Portuguese?

Namorado / namorada is normally a steady romantic partner: boyfriend/girlfriend.

Nuances:

• It is more serious than just going on a date once or twice.
• It is not the same as noivo / noiva (fiancé/fiancée), which implies an engagement.
• For someone you are just dating casually or starting to see, you might say estou a sair com alguém (I’m going out with someone) instead.

So in this sentence, we are talking about a proper boyfriend and a proper girlfriend, not just random dates.

Does adorar here mean “to love” or “to adore”? How strong is it compared with gostar de and amar?

In everyday Portuguese:

• gostar de = to like
• gostar muito de = to really like / to love (for things/activities)
• adorar = to love / to adore (very strong liking)
• amar = to love (very strong, especially for people)

In the sentence:

• O meu namorado adora novelas = My boyfriend really loves soap operas.

For hobbies, food, films, etc., adorar is very common and doesn’t sound exaggerated:

• Adoro chocolate. – I love chocolate.

With people, amar is usually stronger and more intimate:

• Eu amo-te. – I love you (romantic, deep feeling).
• Eu adoro-te. – I adore you / I’m crazy about you (still strong, but a bit lighter or more playful).

Why is there no preposition after adora or prefere? I’m used to gostar de.

Portuguese has two patterns:

1. Verb + de + noun/verb

   • gostar de: Ele gosta de novelas.

2. Verb + direct object (no preposition)

   • adorar: Ele adora novelas.
   • preferir: Ela prefere documentários.

So:

• adorar and preferir take a direct object, no de.
• gostar almost always needs de before the thing you like.

You cannot say:

• ✗ Ele adora de novelas.
• ✗ Ela prefere de documentários.

Those are incorrect.

Why are novelas and documentários in the plural?

Here the plural is used to talk about a type of thing in general:

• adorar novelas = to love soap operas (as a category)
• preferir documentários = to prefer documentaries (as a category)

Portuguese often uses the plural for this generic meaning:

• Gosto de cães. – I like dogs (in general).
• Ele lê romances históricos. – He reads historical novels.

You could use the singular if you’re talking about one specific item:

• Ele está a ver uma novela. – He is watching a (specific) soap opera.
• Ela prefere ver um documentário hoje. – She prefers to watch a documentary today.

In Portugal, does novelas mean written novels or TV soap operas?

In European Portuguese:

• novela most commonly means a TV soap opera / telenovela, especially daily serialized dramas (often Brazilian).
• A written novel is usually um romance.

So:

• Ele adora novelas. – He loves TV soap operas.
• Ele adora romances. – He loves (written) novels.

Context can sometimes decide, but in everyday speech in Portugal, novelas almost always refers to TV shows, not books.

Could I say séries instead of novelas? Is there a difference?

Yes, there is a difference:

• novelas = soap operas / telenovelas, usually daily, long-running, melodramatic, often on generalist channels.
• séries = TV series in general (Netflix shows, HBO dramas, crime series, etc.).

So:

• Ele adora novelas. – He loves soap operas.
• Ele adora séries. – He loves TV series.

They’re not interchangeable, because they refer to different types of TV shows.

Why is there a comma before mas?

There are two clauses:

1. O meu namorado adora novelas
2. a minha namorada prefere documentários

They are joined by mas (but), a coordinating conjunction that contrasts them.

In standard Portuguese punctuation, you normally put a comma before mas when it links two clauses:

• Gosto de cinema, mas ela prefere teatro.
• Queria sair, mas está a chover.

So the comma in the sentence is following this normal rule.

Do I need to repeat the possessive in a minha namorada? Could I say O meu namorado adora novelas, mas a namorada prefere documentários?

If you say:

• …mas a namorada prefere documentários,

it sounds like “but the girlfriend prefers documentaries”, and it’s not clear whose girlfriend that is. It could even be someone else’s girlfriend already mentioned in the wider context.

By repeating the possessive:

• …mas a minha namorada prefere documentários,

you clearly say my girlfriend, mirroring o meu namorado in the first clause.

So yes, in this sentence it is much more natural and clear to repeat minha.

Why don’t we use subject pronouns like ele and ela in this sentence?

Portuguese is a pro-drop language: you can omit subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the person.

• (Ele) adora novelas. – He loves soap operas.
• (Ela) prefere documentários. – She prefers documentaries.

In the original sentence, the subjects are clearly the nouns:

• O meu namorado → adora
• a minha namorada → prefere

Adding ele or ela would sound redundant or would change the focus:

• O meu namorado adora novelas, mas ela prefere documentários.
  Here ela would usually refer back to the last feminine noun mentioned earlier in context, not necessarily to a minha namorada.

So the version without ele/ela is the most natural.

How do you pronounce documentários, and what does the accent mark do?

documentários is pronounced roughly:

• doo-koo-men-TÁR-ee-oosh (European Portuguese)

Key points:

• The á in -tá- carries the stress: do-cu-men-TÁ-rios.
• The acute accent (´) shows:
  • that this syllable is stressed, and
  • that the a is open /a/ (not a reduced or different quality vowel).

Without the accent, in a different word, the default stress might fall on another syllable. The accent here tells you exactly where to put the stress.