When you are locked in an immersive escape room watching the countdown tick away, your experience is rarely neutral. Sometimes a puzzle isn't just "good" or "bad"—it's "great" or "terrible".
Irregular Absolute Superlatives
In Portuguese, you typically express an extreme degree (an absolute superlative) by adding -íssimo to the end of an adjective. However, four of the most common adjectives have special, irregular forms that you must memorize.
| Adjective | Irregular Superlative | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bom (good) | ótimo | great, excellent |
| mau (bad) | péssimo | terrible, awful |
| grande (large) | máximo | maximum, greatest |
| pequeno (small) | mínimo | minimum, least |
Gender and Number Agreement
Even though they express extreme degrees, these words still act like regular adjectives. This means they must change their endings to agree in gender and number with the noun they describe (e.g., ótimo, ótima, ótimos, ótimas).
| The immersive puzzle was great. | O quebra-cabeças imersivo foi ótimo. |
| Adrenaline is great during the game. | A adrenalina é ótima durante o jogo. |
When describing an action or a general situation (like deducing an answer) rather than a specific noun, default to the masculine singular form:
| Deducing the answer to the riddle was terrible. | Deduzir a resposta da charada foi péssimo. |
Máximo and Mínimo
Máximo and mínimo follow the exact same rules of agreement when modifying a noun.
| The clever girl used logic with minimal effort. | A rapariga astuta usou a lógica com um esforço mínimo. |
You will also frequently see máximo used as a noun, such as in the expression ao máximo (to the maximum / to the limit).
| The countdown took the adrenaline to the maximum! | A contagem levou a adrenalina ao máximo! |