Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

Portuguese (Portugal)

### The -vel suffix

In Portuguese, you can rapidly expand your vocabulary by learning a few common suffixes that turn verbs and nouns into adjectives. One of the most frequent is **-vel** (often matching the English *-able* or *-ible*). It expresses the capacity for something or an inherent quality.

Adjectives ending in **-vel** are gender-neutral, meaning they use the exact same form whether describing a masculine or a feminine noun.

{{item:1005815}}

{{item:1005822}}

{{item:1005825}}

### The -al suffix

Another essential suffix is **-al**, which works just like its English counterpart. It means "relating to" the base noun. Like words ending in *-vel*, adjectives ending in **-al** are also gender-neutral.

{{item:1005827}}

### The -oso suffix

The suffix **-oso** (which often translates to *-ous*, *-ful*, or *-y*) is added to nouns to describe someone who is "full of" or characterized by that specific trait.

Unlike the previous two suffixes, adjectives ending in **-oso** must agree with the gender of the noun they describe. For feminine nouns, the ending changes to **-osa**.

{{item:1005834}}

{{item:1005836}}

### Combining traits and forming plurals

When analyzing interpersonal dynamics, you will often mix and match these descriptive traits to talk about personality.

{{item:1005821}}

When describing multiple people or things, adjectives ending in **-oso** simply take an **-s** (*-osos*, *-osas*). However, to form the plural of adjectives ending in **-vel** or **-al**, you must drop the final **-l** and add **-is**.

{{item:1005844}}

Adjective suffixes (-vel, -al, -oso)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prefix

prep

preposition

pron

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstratives and the verb to be (isto é, o, a)

Subject pronouns and negation (eu, não)

Yes/no questions and question words (quem, o que)

Plural pronouns, articles, and verbs (somos, são, os, as)

Origin and possession (de, do, da)

Introductions (chamar-se)

Indefinite articles (um, uma, uns, umas)

The verb to be for locations (estar)

Contrasting the two verbs to be (ser vs. estar)

Preposition for locations (em, no, na)

Numbers 0 to 10 (zero, um, dois)

The verb to have (tenho, tem)

Regular -ar verbs (falar, trabalhar)

Regular -er verbs (comer, beber)

Regular -ir verbs (abrir, partir)

My, your, and our (o meu, a nossa)

His, hers, and theirs (dele, dela)

Adjective agreement and placement

Days of the week (segunda-feira)

Months of the year (janeiro)

Counting by tens to 100 (trinta, quarenta...)

Telling time (é uma, são...)

Asking about time (quando, a que horas)

The verb to go (ir)

Prepositions of direction (a, para)

Preposition a contractions (ao, à, aos, às)

Prepositions of place (ao lado de, em frente de...)

Demonstratives (este, esse, aquele)

Contractions with demonstratives (neste, desse, daquele)

Asking which and how many (qual, quanto)

Plurals ending in -ão (-ões, -ãos, -ães)

Plurals ending in consonants (-ns, -is, -es)

The verb to like (gostar de)

The verb to need (precisar de)

The verb to want (querer)

The verb can or may (poder)

Expressing obligation (ter de)

Adverbs of degree (muito, pouco)

Quantifiers (muito, pouco)

Comparatives (mais... do que, menos... do que)

Equality comparisons (tão... como)

The preposition com (comigo, contigo)

Coordinating conjunctions (e, mas, ou, porque)

The preposition por (pelo, pela)

Double negation (nunca, nada, ninguém)

Present continuous (estar a)

Near future (ir)

Past tense of regular -ar verbs

Past tense of regular -er and -ir verbs

Past tense of ser and ir (fui, foi)

Direct object pronouns (me, te, o, a, nos, os, as)

Pronoun placement with negatives and questions

Greetings and courtesy (bom dia, obrigado)

Physical states with ter (ter fome, ter frio)

Asking the way (à direita, sempre em frente)

Colours (vermelho, amarelo, cor-de-rosa)

Money and shopping (custar, a moeda)

Getting around (o motorista, a paragem de autocarro)

Weather and seasons (faz calor, o inverno)

Omitting the subject pronoun

Where things are: ficar (Onde fica...?)

Richer questions: que + noun and é que

Numbers above 100 (cento e vinte, mil)

First-person sound changes (durmo, prefiro)

Advice and ability: dever and saber

Asking why: porquê and porque

When one thing happens: quando-clauses

Here and there: aqui, aí, ali (cá e lá)

Formal and plural possessives: o seu, o vosso

Irregular presents: ver, vir, dar

Present irregulars

Reflexive verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Stem-changing reflexives

Attached object pronouns (-lo, -la, -los, -las)

Nasal attached pronouns (-no, -na, -nos, -nas)

Pronoun placement with adverbs

Past tense of fazer, dizer, and trazer

Past tense of ter, estar, poder, and saber

Past tense of querer and vir

Past tense of ver, dar, and ler

Past tense reflexive verbs (-se)

Time elapsed in the past (há)

Question	Answer
friendly	amigável
The new neighbor is very friendly.	O novo vizinho é muito amigável.
pleasant	agradável
He became friendly and pleasant.	Ele tornou-se amigável e agradável.
The environment here is always very pleasant.	O ambiente aqui é sempre muito agradável.
adorable	adorável
affectionate	carinhoso
They fell in love because he is adorable and affectionate.	Eles apaixonaram-se porque ele é adorável e carinhoso.
The girl is an adorable child.	A menina é uma criança adorável.
responsible	responsável
A responsible father is also affectionate, isn't he?	Um pai responsável também é carinhoso, não é?
When you are responsible, you will avoid the mistake.	Quando fores responsável, vais evitar o erro.
emotional	emocional
She was very emotional, but he was rational.	Ela foi muito emocional, mas ele foi racional.
The emotional impact is huge.	O impacto emocional é enorme.
It is important to be rational during a crisis.	É importante ser racional durante uma crise.
stubborn	teimoso
I am not stubborn, I am just tired.	Não sou teimoso, só estou cansado.
careful	cuidadoso
The careful boy is not stubborn.	O menino cuidadoso não é teimoso.
They trust him because he is careful.	Eles confiam nele porque ele é cuidadoso.
vain	vaidoso
The actor is vain and loves the applause.	O ator é vaidoso e adora o aplauso.
He has lived here for two years and is very vain.	Ele vive aqui há dois anos e é muito vaidoso.
sensitive	sensível
The girl has just cried because she is very sensitive.	A rapariga acabou de chorar porque é muito sensível.
ambitious	ambicioso
loyal	leal
The new manager is not only ambitious, but also loyal.	O novo gerente não só é ambicioso, mas também leal.
The leader is very responsible and careful.	O líder é muito responsável e cuidadoso.
Dogs are loyal and very friendly animals.	Os cães são animais leais e muito amigáveis.
The ambitious boy is very sensitive.	O rapaz ambicioso é muito sensível.

Contributors