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

Plurals ending in -ões

Most Portuguese nouns and adjectives ending in -ão form their plural by changing the ending to -ões. There is no strict rule to predict the exact plural of every -ão word, so you will need to learn them as you encounter them. Luckily, -ões is by far the most common!

I buy lemons at the supermarket.
Eu compro limões no supermercado.
The airplanes leave today.
Os aviões partem hoje.
The televisions are very expensive.
As televisões são muito caras.

This pattern applies to a wide variety of words, whether they are masculine or feminine.

Your opinions are good.
As tuas opiniões são boas.
They have good professions.
Eles têm boas profissões.

Plurals ending in -ãos

For some words ending in -ão, you simply add an -s to the end, forming -ãos. This group includes certain common everyday words and categories of people.

Your hands are small.
As tuas mãos são pequenas.
They are American citizens.
Eles são cidadãos americanos.

Plurals ending in -ães

Finally, a smaller group of words changes the -ão to -ães in the plural. You will often see this ending used for nationalities and titles.

Do the Germans speak English?
Os alemães falam inglês?
The captains are tired today.
Os capitães estão cansados hoje.

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