Noun gender and common endings

In brief

In Brazilian Portuguese, every noun has a grammatical gender: masculine or feminine. This applies to things as well as people. Unlike English, where a book or a house is simply ‘it’, Portuguese treats livro as masculine and casa as feminine. Learn the gender along with each new noun.

Form

Nouns ending in -o are often masculine (livro); nouns ending in -a are often feminine (casa). These are useful clues, not fixed rules: dia is masculine, and mão is feminine.

Usage

• Use the final letter as a first clue, then check the noun’s gender rather than guessing from its meaning.
• For nouns denoting people, gender often matches the person: amigo (male friend), amiga (female friend). Other nouns have a fixed grammatical gender.

Examples

• O livro está aqui. — The book is here.
• A casa é bonita. — The house is beautiful.
• O dia está lindo. — It’s a beautiful day.

Common mistake

❌ a dia

✅ o dia

The ending -a is only a clue: dia is a masculine noun. Learn it as o dia.

Remember

The -o/-a pattern helps, but exceptions like o dia and a mão must be learned individually.