Portuguese Plural

What’s up! Tudo bem? In today’s free Portuguese lesson we are going to talk about the Portuguese plural. 

Plural in Portuguese

The Portuguese plural can be a little tricky, but don’t worry because we are here to help you! Studying Portuguese with us will make sure you understand how to speak in the plural form. For every plural word there are different rules, so we will be looking at each one of them. But first take a look at this table:

Plural for words ending with a vowel

Let’s start with plural words ending in a, e, i, o, u. The rule is simple: If the word ends in a vowel and it’s singular, just adding an S at the end of the word makes it plural. 

Plural for words ending in R

If a word ends in R, just add -ES at end.

Plural for words ending in Z

Similarly to the rules previously mentioned, if a words ends with a -Z, then we must add -ES at the end.

Portuguese plural for words ending in -M

When a word ends with an -M, to make it plural we must replace -M with -NS.

Portuguese plural for words ending in L

There are two types of plurals for words ending with an L. If the word ends in -al, -el, -il, -ol, -ul and the tonic syllable is in the end then we switch -L for -is.

For words ending in -il that have a previous syllable with an accent mark, then there is change between -il to -eis.

Plural for words ending in S

We also have two rules for words ending with the letter S. If the word has an accent in the first syllable, nothing happens, basically the word stays the same.

If the words have an accent in the ending syllable, then we add an -ES. After becoming a plural word, the accent mark is taken away.

To help you a little more, here’s a tip: if the word ends in -S and is a monosyllable, to make the plural you’ll just add -ES.

Portuguese plural for words ending in -X

The words ending in -X also don’t vary in the plural form, they stay the same.

Portuguese plural for words ending in -ÃO

In the past we are explained to you about the plural os words ending in -ão. The words are made plural in various ways, depending on the rules that apply. Check all the rules in our old Dica about this. 

Portuguese plural for words ending in -zinho/a

The words that end in -zinho/a are diminutive forms of some word. To turn them into the plural form you just add -S at the end too. Don’t remember your Portuguese lesson about diminutive? Check out our Dica about this and see that the diminutives don’t express only little things.

Portuguese plural for compound nouns

When we have compound nouns the plural form can vary too. The compound words that don’t have a hyphen follow the same rules as the simple nouns.

However, if the compound word has an hyphen, the rules change. If the word if formed by a noun+adjective or noun+number both of them are going into the plural form.

If the compound form has a preposition with it, to form the plural you put only the first word in the plural.

Água-de-colônia	Águas-de-colônia	Cologne	Cologne
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