Learning Portuguese is no easy task. Thank god you have a Portuguese language school like us to help you out! And the topic of today is no child’s play – we’ll be talking about how to change the meaning of a word with just the article in Portuguese. But wait up! What does that even mean?
Remember how we learned about masculine and feminine words in Portuguese? What if I told you the same word could be both masculine and feminine? No, it’s not just a matter of it referring to the same thing but with a different gender, like estudante or artista. Today we’ll be talking about words that mean completely different things depending on the article used: is it going to be o or a? Let’s take a look!
A cabeça: head (part of the body), mind.
O cabeça: leader, or the smartest/most intelligent in a group.
Durante a Copa de 2010, Lúcio foi o cabeça da Seleção Brasileira.
O futebol não sai da cabeça dos brasileiros.
During the World Cup of 2010, Lúcio was the captain of the Brazilian team.
Soccer is always in the minds of Brazilians.
O capital: capital, assembly of material goods, money, property.
A capital: capital city, city where the government is based/located.
Para criar uma empresa, o capital precisa ser muito bom.
A capital do estado do Rio de Janeiro é a cidade do Rio de Janeiro.
In order to build a company, the capital needs to be very good.
The capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro is the city of Rio de Janeiro
A caixa: box, square or rectangular recipient.
O caixa: place where you pay for services/goods, where the cashier is at.
Ele foi para o caixa pagar a conta.
Ele trouxe a caixa do aeroporto.
He went to the check-out counter to pay the bill.
He brought the box from the airport.
O guia: guide, book or person that guides you.
A guia: document, form; or the rope part of a leash.
Eu pedi informações sobre a cidade para o guia turístico.
O senhor precisa assinar a guia antes de receber o pacote.
Minha cachorra sempre morde a guia, por isso tenho que comprar uma nova.
I asked the tourist guide for information about the city.
You must sign the form before receiving the package.
My dog always bites the leash, that’s why I need to buy a new one.
A moral: set of moral rules, morality.
O moral: morale, mood, state of mind, spirit.
A moral é um campo muito interessante da filosofia.
O moral da equipe está muito baixo. Devem todos acabar pedindo demissão.
Morality is a very interesting branch of philosophy.
The teams’ morale is very low. They might all resign.
O guarda: guard, watchman, person who protects something.
A guarda: act of guarding, level of attentiveness (guard), surveillance, vigilance.
A grama: grass.
O grama: gram, measurement of weight.
O rádio: radio, electronic device.
A rádio: radio station, radio channel.
O nascente: orient, direction from which the sun rises.
A nascente: a spring, natural source of water where rivers spring from.
A banana: banana, fruit.
O banana: someone who’s idiotic, an imbecile.
A cabra: female goat, animal.
O cabra: man, person, used to refer to anyone.
Read the sentences below and figure out whether you should use the article o or a according to the meaning. Remember, these articles can vary according to number (singular/plural) too!
Well, that’s it guys! Those are probably the most common words where you’ll find the article changes the meaning entirely. Let us know if you found any new ones!
See you guys!
Click in the links below to see more related Dicas
Artigos Indefinidos
Artigos Definidos
Masculino e Feminino
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