IV. ADJECTIVES
Reading edition
(See Exercise XII, page 132)
39. The adjectives have gender, number, and degree of comparison.
a. They agree in gender and number with their nouns; mulher sensata, a sensible woman, homens velhos, old men.
b. When mesmo and proprio are used in connection with a pronoun they must agree with the noun so represented. Eu mesmo or eu mesma according as the speaker is masculine or feminine.
c. When there is more than one noun, the adjective usually agrees with the last one: desejos e virtudes puras, pure aims and (pure) virtues.
d. When the nouns have different numbers the adjective is generally plural: os soldados e o seu chefe cheios de coragem, the soldiers and their leader, full of courage.
e. There may be a plural noun with singular adjectives expressing parts as, as grammaticas portugueza, franceza e ingleza.
PLURAL
40. Adjectives form their plurals like nouns: bonito, handsome (f. bonita), pl. bonitos (f. bonitas); facil, easy, pl. faceis. (For the various plural endings see § 20.)
FEMININE
41. Adjectives have the feminine in a, or remain unchanged according to the following rules:
a. Adjectives with the masculine ending in o change that vowel to a: bello, fine, f. bella.
b. Adjectives ending in ão either drop the o: as são, f. sã, or change the ão to ona as chorão, chorona; sabichão, sabichona; valentão, valentona.
c. Adjectives ending in r (except particular, singular, and comparatives which are unchanged) add a: encantador, charming, f. encantadora.
d. Proper adjectives ending in z and l add a: francez, f. franceza, French; hespanhol, f. hespanhola, Spanish.
e. Those ending in eu change to ea: hebreu, f. hebrea, Hebrew (but judeu becomes judia and sandeu becomes sandia). Those ending in u add a: cru, f. crua; nu, f. nua.
f. Other adjectives have the same form in both genders: facil, m. f., easy; feliz, m. f., happy; azul, m. f., blue; melhor, m. f., better; cortez, m. f., courteous; prudente, m. f., prudent; ruim, m. f., bad.
g. The following, however, are irregular:
MASCULINE FEMININE MEANING
bom boa good
mau má bad
COMPARISON
(See Exercise XIII, page 133)
42. The regular comparative adjectives are formed by placing mais, more, or menos, less, before the positive: escuro, dark, mais escuro, darker, or menos escuro, less dark.
43. The relative superlative is formed by placing the definite article before the comparative form: o mais escuro, the darkest.
44. The absolute superlative is derived directly from the Latin and has the termination imo. The precise formation varies according to the termination of the positive from which it is derived:
I. When the positive ends in al, il, r, or u, add issimo: natural, naturalissimo; habil, habilissimo; singular, singularissimo; cru, cruissimo.
II. When the positive ends in vel, that ending becomes bilissimo: notavel, notabilissimo.
III. When the positive ends in om or um, the m is changed to n before the final issimo: bom, bonissimo; commum, communissimo.
IV. When the positive ends in ão, that termination becomes anissimo: são, sanissimo; but christão, christianissimo.
V. When the positive ends in az, iz, oz, the final z is changed to c before the issimo: audaz, audacissimo; feliz, felicissimo; veloz, velocissimo.
VI. When the positive ends in e or o these terminations change to issimo: excellente, excellentissimo; alto, altissimo.
a. Positives ending in co and go change those letters to qu and gu before issimo in order to retain the hard sounds: rico, riquissimo; vago, vaguissimo.
b. The following are exceptional absolute superlative forms derived from Latin roots:
acre acerrimo
amigo amicissimo
aspero asperrimo
celebre celeberrimo
christão christianissimo
cruel crudelissimo
difficil difficillimo
doce dulcissimo
facil facillimo
fiel fidelissimo
frio frigidissimo
livre liberrimo
misero miserrimo
nobre nobilissimo
pobre pauperrimo (coll. pobrissimo)
sabio sapientissimo
sagrado sacratissimo
salubre saluberrimo
similhante simillimo
Table of Comparison
POSITIVE COMPARATIVE ABSOLUTE SUPERLATIVE RELATIVE SUPERLATIVE
alto, high mais alto,[25] higher altissimo, highest o mais alto, the highest
grande, great mais grande[26] grandissimo o mais grande
secco, dry mais secco sequissimo o mais secco
c. In colloquial Portuguese certain superlative forms are used to strengthen an expression or statement, as mesmissima cousa, precisely the same thing. (See § 93.) One even hears such expressions as coisissima nenhuma, not the slightest thing, though, strictly speaking, a noun does not admit of such comparison. Portuguesissimo is sometimes used to mean very thoroughly Portuguese.[27]
d. The absolute superlative may also be expressed by the use of various adverbs, mui or muito, very, bastante, quite, or summamente, exceedingly.
e. The relative superlative takes de, of: o mais valente de todos, the bravest of all.
f. Comparatives of superiority or inferiority take que, de que and do que, than: mais bello do que a rosa, more beautiful than the rose. Certain other comparatives take de: ha mais de vinte annos, menos de uma legua, more than twenty years ago, less than a league.
g. The forms maior, greater, menor, smaller, peior, worse, melhor, better, are followed by que: maior que a serra, bigger than the mountain; but the forms superior, inferior, interior, and exterior take a, to, instead of que: elle é inferior a seu irmão, he is inferior to his brother.
IRREGULAR COMPARISONS
45. Several irregular adjectives derive their comparative and their absolute superlative forms directly from the Latin, but the relative superlative is formed in the usual way by placing o, the, before the comparative.
POSITIVE COMPARATIVE ABSOLUTE SUPERLATIVE RELATIVE SUPERLATIVE
bom, good melhor[28] optimo o melhor
mau, bad peior[28] pessimo o peior
grande, great maior[29] maximo o maior
alto, high superior supremo o superior
baixo, low inferior infimo o inferior
muito, much mais o mais
pequeno, small menor[29] minimo o menor
pouco, little menos o menos
AUGMENTATIVE AND DIMINUTIVE ADJECTIVES
46. Augmentative and diminutive adjectives are formed like augmentative and diminutive nouns: novo, new, novinho, quite new. (For rules, see § 35, 36.) The adjectives, like the nouns, are often used as terms of endearment. Bonitinho from bonito, pretty, is often used to mean quite pretty, very pretty, or pretty little dear.
SYNTAX OF NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES
47. In general the noun precedes the adjective: homem trabalhador, a working man.
48. This order may be inverted: mau signal or signal mau, a bad sign. This inversion, however, is not arbitrary, but is determined by emphasis, the rule for which cannot be fully stated but must be acquired by observation and practise.
49. In general the adjective precedes when it denotes a quality which necessarily belongs to the noun, and when the adjective and noun might almost be regarded as a compound word.
50. The adjective follows when it denotes a quality to which especial attention is directed; but when the attention is to be directed to the noun, and the adjective is of minor importance, the adjective precedes the noun.
51. The following cases illustrate the difference in meaning due to the position of the adjective:
boa noite, good night noite boa, a fine night
certo dia, a certain day dia certo, a fixed day
certo relogio, a certain clock relogio certo, a clock that keeps good time
pobre homem, poor man! homem pobre, a man who is poor
bom anno, a prosperous year anno bom, New Year
santa casa, a hospital casa santa, a sacred house
nosso padre, our priest padre nosso, the Lord’s prayer
simples homem, a mere man homem simples, a plain man
grande homem, an eminent man homem grande, a large man
a. In the cases cited the expressions are readily translatable, but in many instances the distinctions do not admit of such brief definitions. In the following cases the English translation given is inadequate and explanations are required that cannot be given briefly:
altos ceos and ceos altos, high heavens; santos padres and padres santos, holy fathers; primeira causa and causa primeira, first cause; longos dias and dias longos, long days.
52. In certain cases inversions are not allowed. In the following instances, for example, the words must be in the order given as if they were compounds:
Deus padre, God the father; estrella fixa, a fixed star; mão direita, the right hand; deputado federal, federal deputy (congressman); Illustrissimo Senhor, Most illustrious Mr. ——; codigo civíl, the civil code.
53. The words pouco, little, and muito, many, much, when used as adjectives usually precede their nouns: poucas cousas, a few things; ha poucos dias, a few days ago; muito barulho, much noise.
54. The adjectives hungry, thirsty, sleepy, and cold, are expressed by the use of estar com and the nouns meaning hunger, etc.: estou com fome, sede, somno, frio, I am hungry, thirsty, sleepy, cold.