Question 1

How do you form the "less ... than" comparison in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

To say someone is "less [adjective] than" someone else, we use the structure menos + adjective + do que. Here, we have menos (less), preguiçoso (lazy), and do que (than). You might sometimes hear people just say que instead of do que, which is also correct, but do que is very common and natural in European Portuguese.

Question 2

Would the word preguiçoso change if we were talking about a woman?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Adjectives must match the gender of the person they describe. Because Ele (He) is masculine, we use the masculine form preguiçoso. If the sentence started with Ela (She), it would change to match her: Ela é menos preguiçosa.

Question 3

Why do we need the word o before teu irmão?

Accepted Answer

In European Portuguese, you almost always put a definite article like o (the) before a possessive word like teu (your). So, you literally say "the your brother" (o teu irmão). Because irmão is a masculine singular noun, we use the masculine singular article o.

Question 4

Why does the sentence use é instead of está for the verb "is"?

Accepted Answer

We use é (from the permanent "to be" verb ser) because being lazy is described here as a core personality trait. If we used está (from the temporary "to be" verb estar), it would mean he is just acting lazy right now in this specific moment.

Ele é menos preguiçoso do que o teu irmão.

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