portuguese noun masculine feminine

Gender in Portuguese: top rules to know if a noun is masculine or feminine

How to know if a noun is masculine or feminine? In this video you’ll learn the top rules to determine gender in Brazilian Portuguese.

Identifying the gender of words is one of the most confusing things in Portuguese. Even intermediate students struggle with that.

Why do we say a cama, but we say o dilema if both end with “a”?

Why do we say o coração, but we say a mão if both end with “ão”?

It’s confusing, right? But, did you know that there are rules that help us to identify the gender of nouns?

Yeah. There are! And today you’re gonna learn these rules.

There are things that only Ricardo teaches you!

 

 

Your life will never be the same after you watch this lesson. Take your pen and notebook. And let’s begin!

1 – Most words ending in -O are masculine:
O caderno
O carro
O vaso
O teclado

 

2 – Most words ending in -AL are masculine:
O ritual
O jornal
O sal
O canal
O avental
O festival
O musical
O sinal
Exception: a vogal.

 

3 – Most words ending in -R are masculine:
O jantar
O açúcar
O amanhecer
O lar
O hambúrguer
O sabor
O lugar
O amor
O calcanhar
O vapor
O calor
O lazer
O fedor
O cadáver
O câncer
O revólver
All verbs with noun function: o olhar, o fazer, o amanhecer, o andar etc.
Exceptions: a colher, a mulher, a dor, a flor, a cor.

If you dont know how to pronounce these and other portuguese sounds take a look at my pronunciation series.

4 – Words ending in stressed are usually masculine:
O maracujá
O sofá
O chá
O Canadá
O tamanduá
O vatapá
O crachá

 

5 – Most concrete nouns ending in -ÃO are masculine:
O pão
O coração
O sabão
O chão
O balão
O vagão
O corrimão

 

6 – The majority of nouns ending in -EMA, -OMA are masculine:
O cinema, o sistema, o problema, o dilema…
O idioma, o sintoma, o coma, o diploma…
Exceptions: a goma, a soma.

 

7 – Most nouns ending in -A are feminine.
A mala
A janela
A luva
A causa
A fruta
A blusa
A roupa
A bota

Some exceptions: o dia, o samba, o tapa, o planeta, o cometa, o mapa,  etc.

 

8 – Most words ending in -GEM are feminine:
A bagagem
A viagem
A maquiagem
A mensagem
A tatuagem

Exception: o/a personagem.

 

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9 – Most words ending in -DADE are usually feminine:
A cidade
A liberdade
A idade
A oportunidade
A gravidade
A maldade
A sanidade
A saudade

  

10 – Most nouns ending in -ÇÃO, -SÃO are feminine. They correspond to English nouns ending in -tion, -sion:
A emoção
A educação
A imigração
A poluição
A imersão
A ilusão
A visão
A missão
A noção
A nação

 

11 – Words with the ending -TUDE are feminine:
A juventude
A plenitude
A altitude
A amplitude
A atitude

 

12 – Words ending in -ISTA can be masculine or feminine, most indicate an occupation:
O jornalista / a jornalista
O dentista / a dentista
O motorista / a motorista
O massagista / a massagista
O manobrista / a manobrista
O esteticista / a esteticista
O artista / a artista
O malabarista / a malabarista

 

13 – Words ending in -ANTE, -ENTE can be masculine or feminine:
O estudante / a estudante
O viajante / a viajante
O assaltante / a assaltante

O gerente / a gerente
O assistente / a assistente
O vidente / a vidente

 

14 – Some words can be masculine or feminine depending on the meaning. Examples:  

O capital: money / A capital: the capital (city);
O cara: the guy / a cara: the face;
O rádio: the radio, radium / o rádio chemical element / a rádio: the radio station.
O moral: morale, morality / a moral (of a story);
O grama, gram (measure) / a grama, the grass;
O guia, the guide (man or book). O guia turístico / a/o guia, the guide (person): o/a guia de turismo.