PORTUGUESE GRAMMAR
(random notes)
Portuguese has a number of grammatical features that distinguish it from most other Romance languages, such as a synthetic pluperfect, a future subjunctive tense, the inflected infinitive, and a present perfect with an iterative sense. A rare feature of Portuguese is mesoclisis, the infixing of clitic pronouns in some verbal forms.
Portuguese classifies most of its lexicon into four word classes: verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs. These are “open” classes, in the sense that they readily accept new members, by coinage, borrowing, or compounding. Interjections form a smaller open class.
There are also several small closed classes, such as pronouns, prepositions, articles, demonstratives, numerals, and conjunctions.
Personal pronouns are declined with three main types of forms: subject, object of verb, and object of preposition.
Most nouns and many adjectives can take diminutive or augmentative derivational suffixes, and most adjectives can take a so-called “superlative” derivational suffix. Adjectives usually follow their respective nouns.
Verbs are highly inflected:
- there are three tenses (past, present, future),
- three moods (indicative, subjunctive, imperative),
- three aspects (perfective, imperfective, and progressive),
- three voices (active, passive, reflexive),
- and an inflected infinitive.
Most perfect and imperfect tenses are synthetic, totaling 11 conjugational paradigms, while all progressive tenses and passive constructions are periphrastic. As in other Romance languages, there is also an impersonal passive construction, with the agent replaced by an indefinite pronoun. Portuguese is basically an SVO language, although SOV syntax may occur with a few object pronouns, and word order is generally not as rigid as in English. It is a null subject language, with a tendency to drop object pronouns as well, in colloquial varieties. It has two main copular verbs: ser and estar.
A few grammatically peculiar words are difficult to categorize; these include cad (“where is”—Braz., colloq.), tomara (“let’s hope”), oxalá (“let’s hope that”), and eis (“here is”; cf. Latin ecce and French voilà).
Within the four main classes there are many semi-regular mechanisms that can be used to derive new words from existing words, sometimes with change of class; for example, veloz (“fast”) → velocíssimo (“very fast”), medir (“to measure”) → medição (“measurement”), piloto (“pilot”) → pilotar (“to pilot”). Finally, there are several phrase embedding mechanisms that allow arbitrarily complex phrases to behave like nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.
Subject, Object, and Complement
The central element of almost any Portuguese clause is a verb, which may directly connect to one, two, or (rarely) three nouns (or noun-like phrases), called the subject, the object (more specifically, the direct object), and the complement (more specifically, the object complement or objective complement). The most frequent order of these elements in Portuguese is subject–verb–object (SVO, as in examples (1) and (2) below), or, when a complement is present, subject–verb–object-complement (SVOC — examples (3) and (4)):
- (1) {A Maria}S {ama}V {o Paulo}O, “Maria loves Paulo.”
- (2) {O pedreiro}S {construiu}V {a casa}O, “The mason has constructed the house.”
- (3) {O presidente}S {nomeou}V {Pedro}O{ministro}C, “The president appointed Pedro (as) minister.”
- (4) {Ela}S {achou}V {o livro}O {uma chatice}C, “She found the book a bore.”
Any of the three noun elements may be omitted if it can be inferred from the context or from other syntactic clues; but many grammatical rules will still apply as if the omitted part were there.
A clause will often contain a number of adverbs (or adverbial phrases) that modify the meaning of the verb; they may be inserted between the major components of the clause. Additional nouns can be connected to the verb by means of prepositions; the resulting prepositional phrases have an adverbialfunction. For example:
- Ele carregou {sem demora} a mala {para ela} {do carro} {até a porta}, “He carried {without delay} the bag {for her} {from the car} {to the door}.”
Null subject language
As with several other modern Romance languages, Portuguese is a null subject language, i.e., a language whose grammar permits and sometimes mandates the omission of an explicit subject.
In Portuguese, the grammatical person of the subject is generally reflected by the inflection of the verb. Sometimes, though an explicit subject is not necessary to form a grammatically correct sentence, one may be stated in order to emphasize its importance. Some sentences, however, do not allow a subject at all and in some other cases an explicit subject would sound awkward or unnatural:
- “I’m going home” can be translated either as Vou para casa or as Eu vou para casa, where eu means “I”.
- “It’s raining” is Está a chover in European Portuguese, or Está chovendo in Brazilian Portuguese, neither of which occurs with an explicit subject.
- In European Portuguese, only in exceptional circumstances would “I’m going home; I’m going to watch TV” be translated as Eu vou para casa; eu vou ver televisão. At least the second eu (“I”) would normally be omitted. Meanwhile, in Brazilian Portuguese, the subject pronoun is more likely to be repeated.
As in other null subject SVO languages, the subject is often postponed, mostly in existential sentences, answers to partial questions and contrast structures:
- Existem muitos ratos aqui! (“There are many mice here”)
- Quem é que foi? Fui eu. (“Who was it? It was me.”)
- Ela não comeu o bolo, mas eu comi-o(European Portuguese) or …mas eu comi(Brazilian Portuguese) (“She didn’t eat the cake, but I did.”)
Types of sentences
Portuguese declarative sentences, as in many languages, are the least marked ones.
Imperative sentences use the imperative mood for the second person. For other grammatical persons and for every negative imperative sentence, the subjunctive is used.
Yes/no questions have the same structure as declarative sentences, and are marked only by a different tonal pattern (mostly a raised tone near the end of the sentence), represented by a question mark in writing.
Wh- questions often start with quem (“who”), o que (“what”), qual (“which”), onde (“where”), aonde (“where… to”), quando (“when”), por que (“why”), etc. The interrogative pronouns quem, o que and qual can be preceded by any preposition, but in this case o que will usually be reduced to que. Frequently in oral language, and occasionally in writing, these words are followed by the interrogative device é que (literally, “is [it] that”; compare Frenchest-ce que in wh-questions).
Wh- questions sometimes occur without wh-movement, that is, wh-words can remain in situ. In this case, o que and por que are replaced by their stressed counterparts o quêand por quê. [1] For example:
- O que/Que é que ela fez? or O que/que fez ela?
- “What did she do?”
- Ela fez o quê?
- “What did she do?” or, if emphatic, “She did what?”
- Por quê?
- “Why?”
- Em que dia é que isso aconteceu?
- “On what day did that happen?”
- Isso aconteceu em que dia?
- “On what day did that happen?”
In Brazilian Portuguese, the phrase é que is more often omitted.
Replying
Não (“no”) is the natural negative answer to yes/no questions. As in Latin, positive answers are usually made with the inflected verb of the question in the appropriate person and number. Portuguese is one of the few Romance languages keeping this Latin peculiarity. The adverbs já (“already”), ainda(“yet”), and também (“too”, “also”) are used when one of them appears in the question.
- Q: Gostaste do filme? A: Gostei. / Não.
- Q: “Did you like the movie?” A: “Yes.”, literally, “I liked.” / “No.”
- Q: Eu não tinha deixado aqui uma chave? A: Tinhas!
- Q: “Didn’t I leave here a key?” A: “Yes, you did!”
- Q: Já leste este livro? A: Já. / Ainda não.
- Q: “Have you already read this book?” A: “Yes”, literally, “Already.” / “Not yet.”
The word sim (“yes”) may be used for a positive answer, but, if used alone, it may in certain cases sound unnatural or impolite. In Brazilian Portuguese, sim can be used afterthe verb for emphasis. In European Portuguese, emphasis in answers is added with the duplication of the verb. In both versions of Portuguese, emphasis can also result from syntactical processes that are not restricted to answers, such as the addition of adverbs like muito (“much”) or muitíssimo(“very much”).
It is also acceptable, though sometimes formal, to use yes before the verb of the question, separated by a pause or, in writing, a comma. The use of sim before the verb does not add emphasis, and may on the contrary be less assertive.
- Q: Gostou do filme? A: Gostei, sim!
- Q: “Did you like the movie?” A:”Yes, I did!” (Brazilian Portuguese)
- Q: Gostaste do filme? A: Gostei, gostei!
- Q: “Did you like the movie?” A:”Yes, I did!”; literally, “I Liked, I liked!” (European Portuguese)
- Q: Há comboios a esta hora? A: Há, há!
- Q: “Are there any trains at this time?” A:”Yes, there are!” (European Portuguese)
- Q: Ele gostou do filme? A: Sim, gostou…
- Q:”Did he like the movie?” A:”Yes…” (Both Brazilian and European Portuguese)
Articles
Portuguese has a definite article and an indefinite one, with different forms according to the gender and number of the noun to which they refer:
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singular plural meaning masculine feminine masculine feminine definite article o a os as the indefinite article um uma uns umas a, an; some
The written form of the Portuguese articles is the same, independently of the next word. The noun after the indefinite article may be elided, in which case the article is equivalent to English “one” (if singular) or “ones” (if plural): quero um também (“I want one too”), quero uns maduros (“I want ripe ones”).
The definite article may appear before a noun in certain contexts where it is not used in English, for example before certain proper nouns, such as names of countries or organizations:
- Ele visitou o Brasil, a China e a Itália, “He visited Brazil, China, and Italy”
- Ele visitou o Rio, “He visited Rio”
- A IBM patrocinou o MoMA, “IBM sponsored MoMA”
- Ele foi para o São Paulo, “He went to the São Paulo (soccer team)”.
However:
- Ele visitou Portugal e Moçambique, “He visited Portugal and Mozambique”
- Ele foi para São Paulo, “He went to São Paulo (city or state)”.
The article is never used with Portugal, Angola, Cabo Verde, Moçambique and Timor. In general, article usage for proper nouns is largely determined by tradition, and it may vary with dialect.
Article before Personal Names
In many varieties of the language, including all European varieties, personal names are normally preceded by a definite article, a trait which Portuguese shares with Catalan. This is a relatively recent development, which some Brazilian dialects (e.g. those of the Northeast) have not adopted. In those dialects of Portuguese that do regularly use definite articles before proper nouns, the article may be omitted for extra formality, or to show distance in a literary narrative.
- A Maria saiu, “Maria left” (informal)
- A Sr.ª Maria saiu, “Ms. Maria left” (formal)
However:
- Maria Teixeira saiu, “Maria Teixeira left” (used in newspapers and books) means that neither the writer nor the readers have a personal relationship with the person.
Nouns
Nouns are classified into two grammatical genders (“masculine” and “feminine”) and are inflected for grammatical number (singular or plural). Adjectives and determiners (articles, demonstratives, possessives, and quantifiers) must be inflected to agree with the noun in gender and number. Many nouns can take diminutive or augmentative suffixes to express size, endearment, or deprecation.
Portuguese does not inflect nouns to indicate their grammatical function or case, relying instead on the use of prepositions (simple and phrasal), on pleonastic objects, or on the context or word order. Personal pronouns, on the other hand, still maintain some vestiges of declension from the ancestor language, Latin.
Gender and Number
Most adjectives and demonstratives, and all articles must be inflected according to the gender and number of the noun they reference:
- esta linda casa branca (“this lovely white house”)
- este lindo carro branco (“this lovely white car”)
- estas lindas aves brancas (“these lovely white birds”)
- estes lindos gatos brancos (“these lovely white cats”)
The agreement rules apply also to adjectives used with copulas, e.g. o carro é branco (“the car is white”) vs. a casa é branca (“the house is white”).
Gender Determination
The grammatical gender of inanimate entities is quite arbitrary, and often different from that used in sister languages: thus, for example, Portuguese árvore (“tree”) and flor (“flower”) are feminine, while Spanish árbol and Italian fiore are masculine; Portuguese mar (“sea”) and mapa (“map”) are masculine, while French mer and mappe are feminine; and so on.
In many cases, the gender and number of a noun can be deduced from its ending: the basic pattern is “-o” / “-os” for masculine singular and plural, “-a” / “-as” for feminine. And, indeed, casa (“house”), mala (“suitcase”), pedra (“stone”), and inteligência (“intelligence”) are all feminine, while carro (“car”), saco (“bag”), tijolo (“brick”), and aborrecimento (“annoyance”) are all masculine. However, the complete rules are quite complex: for instance, nouns ending in -ção are usually feminine, except for augmentatives like bração (“big arm”). And there are many irregular exceptions. For words ending in other letters, there are few rules: flor (“flower”), gente (“folk”), nau (“ship”), maré (“tide”) are feminine, while amor (“love”), pente (“comb”), pau (“stick”), café (“coffee”) are masculine.
The gender of animate beings often matches the biological sex, but there are many exceptions: autoridade (“authority”), testemunha (“witness”), and girafa (“giraffe”), for example, are always feminine regardless of their sex; whereas peixe fêmea (“female fish”) is usually treated as masculine.
aquela estudante é nova, mas aquele estudante é velho (“this (female) student is new, but that (male) student is old”
Eu sou brasileiro (“I am Brazilian”, said by a man)
Eu sou brasileira (“I am Brazilian”, said by a woman).
Honorific forms of address such as Vossa Excelência (“Your Excellency”) exhibit noun/adjective agreement internally, but require agreement according to the sex of the referent for other modifiers, as in Vossa Excelência está atarefado (“Your Excellency is busy”).
Many animate masculine nouns have specific feminine derivative forms to indicate female biological sex: lobo (“wolf” or “male wolf”, masculine gender) → loba (“she-wolf”, feminine), conde (“count”, m.) → condessa(“countess”, f.), doutor (“doctor” or “male doctor”, m.) → doutora (“female doctor”, f.), ator (“actor”, m.) → atriz (“actress”, f.), etc. The feminine noun derivations should not be confused with the adjectival gender inflections, which use different (and more regular) rules.
Diminutives and Augmentatives
The Portuguese language makes abundant use of diminutives, which connote small size, endearment or insignificance. Diminutives are very commonly used in informal language. On the other hand, most uses of diminutives are avoided in written and otherwise formal language.
The most common diminutive endings are -inho and -inha, replacing -o and -a, respectively. Words with the stress on the last syllable generally have -zinho or -zinha added, such as café “coffee” and cafezinho “coffee served as a show of hospitality”. In writing, a c(but not a ç) becomes qu in some words, like pouco (“few”) and pouquinho (“very few”), in order to preserve the [k] pronunciation.
Possible endings other than -inho(a) are:
| -ito(a), e.g. copo/copito (“glass”) -ico(a), e.g. burro/burrico (“donkey”) -(z)ete, e.g. palácio/palacete (“palace”) |
-ote, e.g. saia/saiote (“skirt”) -oto, e.g. lebre/lebroto (“hare/leveret”) -ejo, e.g. lugar/lugarejo (“place”) |
-acho, e.g. rio/riacho (“river”) -ola, e.g. aldeia/aldeola (“village”) -el, e.g. corda/cordel (“rope”) |
It is also possible to form a diminutive of a diminutive, e.g. “burriquito” (burro + -ico + -ito).
Portuguese diminutive endings are often used not only with nouns but also with adjectives, e.g. tonto/tontinho (“silly” / “a bit silly”), or verde/verdinho (“green” / “nicely green”) and occasionally with adverbs, e.g. depressa/depressinha (“quickly”) and some other word classes, e.g. obrigadinho—diminutive for the interjection obrigado“thanks”. Even the numeral um (one) can informally become unzinho.
The most common augmentatives are the masculine -ão and the feminine -ona, although there are others, like -aço(a) e.g. mulher/mulheraça (“woman”); or -eirão, e.g. voz/vozeirão (“voice”), less frequently used. Sometimes the masculine augmentative can be applied to a feminine noun, which then becomes grammatically masculine, but with a feminine meaning, e.g. a mulher / o mulherão(“the woman” / “the big woman”).
Adjectives
Adjectives normally follow the nouns that they modify. Thus “white house” is casa branca, and “green fields” is campos verdes; the reverse order (branca casa, verdes campos) is generally limited to poetic language.
However, some adjectives—such as bom(“good”), belo (“nice”), and grande (“great”, “big”)—often precede the noun. Indeed, some of these have rather different meanings depending on position: compare um grande homem “a great man”, vs. um homem grande“a big man”.
Adjectives are routinely inflected for gender and number, according to a few basic patterns, much like those for nouns, as in the following table:
-
masc. sing. fem. sing. masc. pl. fem. pl. meaning branco branca brancos brancas “white” francês francesa franceses francesas “French” verde verde verdes verdes “green” feliz feliz felizes felizes “happy” superior superior superiores superiores “superior” motor motriz motores motrizes “motorised” azul azul azuis azuis “blue” grandão grandona grandões grandonas “rather big” conservador conservadora conservadores conservadoras “conservative” central central centrais centrais “central” europeu europeia europeus europeias “European”
Although, some adjectives are invariable, usually the ones whose singular form ending is -s, and a few colour adjectives, generally the compound ones, as in the table below:
-
masc. sing. fem. sing. masc. pl. fem. pl. meaning simples simples simples simples “simple” reles reles reles reles “lousy” azul-claro azul-claro azul-claro azul-claro “light blue” laranja laranja laranja laranja “orange” verde-oliva verde-oliva verde-oliva verde-oliva “olive green” ultravioleta ultravioleta ultravioleta ultravioleta “ultraviolet”
The adjectives for “good” and “bad” are irregular:
-
masc. sing. fem. sing. masc. pl. fem. pl. meaning bom boa bons boas “good” mau má maus más “bad”
mais: mais alto (do) que = “higher than”, o mais alto “the highest”.
Most adjectives have—in addition to their positive, comparative, and superlative forms—a so-called “absolute superlative” form (sometimes called “elative”), which enhances the meaning of the adjective without explicitly comparing it (lindo, “beautiful”; lindíssimo, “very beautiful”).
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Positive Comparative Superlative Absolute superlative belo“pretty” mais belo“prettier” o mais belo“the prettiest” belíssimo“very pretty” caro“expensive” mais caro“more expensive” o mais caro“the most expensive” caríssimo“very expensive”
A few adjectives (besides mais itself) have suppletive comparative/superlative forms:
-
Positive Comparative Superlative Absolute superlative bom“good” melhor“better” o melhor“the best” ótimo “very good” mau“bad” pior “worse” o pior “the worst” péssimo“very bad” pequeno“small” menor“smaller” o menor“the smallest” mínimo“very small” grande“big” maior“bigger” o maior“the biggest” máximo“very big”
Prepositions
Simple prepositions consist of a single word, while compound prepositions are formed by a phrase.
Simple prepositions
|
Compound prepositions
|
The English possessive case for nouns (apostrophe s, or “Saxon genitive”) has no systematic counterpart in Portuguese (nor, for that matter, in any other Romance language except Romanian). Portuguese generally uses de (“of”) to indicate possession (possession is one of several relationships that can be indicated by de).
Several prepositions form contractions with the definite article.
-
preposition article o a os as de do da dos das em no na nos nas por pelo pela pelos pelas a ao à aos às para1 prò, pro prà, pra pròs, pros pràs, pras
- 1 Contractions with para are colloquial only.
The contractions with de, em, por, and a are mandatory in all registers. The grave accent in à / às has phonetic value in Portugal and African countries, but not in Brazil (see Portuguese phonology). In Brazil, the grave accent serves only to indicate the crasis in written text. The contractions with para are common in speech, but not used in formal writing. They may, however, appear when transcribing colloquial speech, for example in comic books. In the latter case, the grave accent is often omitted in Brazil, and it is also often mistakenly replaced with an acute accent elsewhere.
The prepositions de and em form contractions with the third-person pronouns, as, for example, dele (“of him, his”), nelas (“in them [fem.]”), as well as with the demonstrative adjectives (thus desta “of this [fem.]”, naqueles “in those [masc.]”).
These two prepositions may also contract with the indefinite article:
- de + um/uma/uns/umas = dum/duma/duns/dumas (“of a”, “from a”)
- em + um/uma/uns/umas = num/numa/nuns/numas (“in a”, “on a”, “at a”)
These contractions with the indefinite article are common in the spoken language, formal or informal, and are also acceptable in formal writing in Portugal. In Brazil, they are avoided in writing, especially those of the preposition de with the indefinite article.
Across clause boundaries, contractions may occur in colloquial speech, but they are not done in writing:
- Fui, apesar da loja estar fechada. (informal only)
- Fui, apesar de a loja estar fechada. (formal or informal)
- “I went, even though the shop was closed.”
The English concept of phrasal verb (like “set up”, “get by”, “pick out”, etc.) does not exist in Portuguese: as a rule, prepositions are attached to the noun more strongly than to the verb.
For more contracted prepositions in Portuguese, see this list on the Portuguese Wikipedia.
Personal Pronouns and Possessives
Pronouns are often inflected for gender and number, although many have irregular inflections.
Personal pronouns are inflected according to their syntactic role. They have three main types of forms: for the subject, for the objectof a verb, and for the object of a preposition. In the third person, a distinction is also made between simple direct objects, simple indirect objects, and reflexive objects.
Possessive pronouns are identical to possessive adjectives. As in other Romance languages, they are inflected to agree with the gender of the possessed being or object.
There are major differences in personal pronoun usage and forms between EP and BP, especially in spoken BP. Some of the more notable differences:
- Spoken BP tends to reduce or eliminate the use of the familiar second-person singular tu in favor of você; even when forms of tu are used, they generally co-occur with third-person singular verbs.
- Correspondingly, original third-person possessive forms seu/sua shift to mean “your”, while postposed dele/dela (literally “of him/her”) are co-opted as third-person possessives.
- Colloquially, first-plural verb forms are often substituted by the pseudo-pronominal a gente (originally “the people”), along with third-person singular verbs.
- The above changes tend to trigger a much stronger use of subject pronouns in non-emphatic contexts (i.e. BP is moving away from being a null-subject language).
- Unstressed object pronouns are always placed before the verb in BP, while in EP they often come after the verb (or even between the verb stem and its ending, in the case of the future and conditional tenses), with various associated phonological adjustments.
- Unstressed third-person object pronouns (o/a/os/as) are rare in BP (eu tenho “I have it”; eu vi or eu vi ela “I saw her”).
Deictics
Place Adverbs
Adverbs of place show a three-way distinction between close to the speaker, close to the listener, and far from both:
- aqui, cá = “here”
- aí = “there” (near you)
- ali, lá (also acolá and além) = “over there” (far from both of us)
The difference between aqui and cá tends to be that between stationary location (“in this place”) and movement to a destination (“to this place”), respectively: e.g. estamos aqui“we are here” vs. vem para cá “come here”. The meanings of ali and lá tend to separate between places visible to the interlocutors vs. places out of the range of visibility, respectively. Além is usually followed by de to form a compound preposition meaning “beyond”. Acolá is infrequent.
Demonstratives
Demonstratives have the same three-way distinction as place adverbs:
- este lápis – “this pencil” (near me)
- esse lápis – “that pencil” (near you)
- aquele lápis – “that pencil” (over there, away from both of us)
In colloquial Brazilian Portuguese, esse is often used interchangeably with este when there is no need to make a distinction. This distinction is usually only made in formal writing or by people with more formal education, or simply to emphasize the fact that it is near, as in esta sexta! (“next Friday!”).
The noun after a demonstrative can be elided: quero esse também (“I want that one too”), vendi aqueles ontem (“I sold those yesterday”).
In the demonstratives, not only the vowel of the ending, but also the stressed vowel is different for masculine (este/esse/aquele with /e/), feminine (esta/essa/aquela with /ɛ/), and neuter (isto/isso/aquilo with /i/). (A similar variation occurs in the personal pronouns between masculine ele /eli/ and feminine ela /ɛla/.)
The demonstratives, like the articles, form contractions with certain preceding prepositions: de + este = deste (“of this”), de + esse = desse (“of that”), em + aquilo = naquilo(“in that thing”), a + aquela = àquela (“to that”).
Demonstrative adjectives are identical to demonstrative pronouns: e.g. aquele carro“that car”, and aquele “that one.”
Indefinite Pronouns
The indefinite pronouns todo, toda, todos, todas are followed by the definite article when they mean “the whole”. Otherwise, articles and indefinite pronouns are mutually exclusive within a noun phrase.
In the demonstratives and in some indefinite pronouns, there is a trace of the neuter genderof Latin. For example, todo and esse are used with masculine referents, toda and essa with feminine ones, and tudo and isso when there is no definite referent. Thus todo livro “every book” and todo o livro “the whole book”; toda salada “every salad” and toda a salada “the whole salad”; and tudo “everything”; etc.:
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Indefinite pronouns masc. sing. fem. sing. masc. pl. fem. pl. neuter1 “this”, “these” este esta estes estas isto (“this thing”, “this idea”) “that”, “those” (near) esse essa esses essas isso (“that thing”, “that idea”) “that”, “those” (far) aquele aquela aqueles aquelas aquilo (“that thing”, “that idea”) “some” algum alguma alguns algumas algo(“something”) “no”, “none” nenhum nenhuma nenhuns nenhumas nada(“nothing”) “every”, “all” todo toda todos todas tudo(“everything”)
- 1 For purposes of agreement, these neuter pronouns take masculine modifiers (except for tudo isto, tudo isso, and tudo aquilo).
Verbs
The Portuguese verb is usually inflected to agree with the subject’s grammatical person (with three values, 1 = I/we, 2 = thou/you, 3 = he/she/it/they) and grammatical number (singular or plural), and to express various attributes of the action, such as time (past, present, future); aspect (completed, interrupted, or continuing); subordination and conditionality; command; and more. As a consequence, a regular Portuguese verb stem can take over 50 distinct suffixes. (For comparison, regular verbs have about 40 distinct forms in Italian and about 30 in modern French.)
Copulae
Portuguese, like some other Romance languages, has two main linking verbs: serand estar (both translated “to be”). They developed from Latin SUM and STŌ, respectively (although the infinitive form seractually comes from SEDĒRE). Most forms of ser come from SUM (infinitive ESSE), the only exceptions being the future indicative, the present subjunctive and the imperative.
Ficar is also used as a secondary copula, being variously translatable as (1) “to become” or “to get (to be)” (e.g. Fiquei rico. = “I got rich”; Fica quieto! = “Be still!”); (2) “to stay” (e.g. Fica aí! = “Stay there!”); or (3) “to be (permanently) located” (e.g. Coimbra fica na Beira = “Coimbra is in Beira”). Compare Spanish quedar.
The distinction between ser and estar tends to be oriented along a permanent-versus-temporary axis, rather than one of essence versus state. In this respect, Portuguese is more similar to Catalan than to Spanish.
- A cadeira é [feita] de madeira = “The chair is made of wood”
In this example the word feita (“made”) is in square brackets, as it is usually omitted.
- Sou casado. = “I’m married.”
- Estou casado. = “I’m married now.”
The same applies in sentences that use ser to form the passive voice, such as the following:
- É proibido fumar neste voo = “No smoking on this flight” (lit. “It is forbidden to…”)
Portuguese counts location as either fundamental or incidental, and accordingly uses ser or ficar for the former, and estar for the latter:
- Onde é/fica a casa dela? = “Where is her house?”
- Onde está o carro dela? = “Where is her car?”
Change of adjective meaning
- Estou tonta = “I’m dizzy”
- Sou tonta = “I’m silly”
- É sujo = “It’s dirty” (i.e. “It’s a dirty place” — characteristic)
- Está sujo = “It’s dirty” (i.e. “(right now) The place is dirty” — state)
- É aberta = “She’s open” (i.e. “She’s an open sort of person” — characteristic)
- Está aberta = “It’s open” (probably referring to a door or window — state)
- Ele é triste = “He is sad” (i.e. gloomy — characteristic)
- (Ele) Está triste = “He is sad” (i.e. feeling down — state)
- Como és? = “What are you like?” (i.e. “describe yourself” — characteristics)
- Como estás? = “How are you?” (i.e. “how are you doing?” — state)
With adjectives of appearance (“beautiful”, etc.), ser means “to be”, and estar means “to look”.
- Que linda ela é! = “Wow, she’s so beautiful” (characteristic)
- Que linda ela está! = “Wow, she’s looking so beautiful” (state)
As in Spanish, the states of life and death are expressed with estar: Está vivo (“He is alive”). Está morto (“He is dead”).
Ser is used with adjectives of fundamental belief (Não sou católico, “I’m not Catholic”), nationality (És português, “You are Portuguese”), sex (É homem, “He’s a man”), intelligence (Somos espertos, “We are smart”), etc.
Católico can also be used with estar, in which case it takes on a figurative meaning:
- Eu não estou muito católico = “I’m not feeling very dependable/trustworthy” (possibly ill or drunk).
- O tempo hoje não está muito católico = “The weather’s not very nice today.”
Adjectives in -ado derived from adjectives of nationality are used with estar: Estou abrasileirado (“I’m Brazilian-influenced” — state, result of a change); Estás americanizado (“You are, have become, Americanised”).
Infinitive form
The infinitive is used, as in English, as a nominal expression of an action or state at an unspecified time, and possibly with an indefinite or implicit subject, e.g. queremos cantar (“we would like to sing”), cantar é agradável (lit. “to sing is pleasant”). Many of its uses would be translated into English by the “-ing” nominal form, e.g. mesa para cortar(“cutting table”), cantar é bom (“singing is good”), trabalhe sem parar (“work without pausing”).
European Portuguese has the distinct feature of preferentially using the infinitive preceded by the preposition “a” in place of the gerund as the typical method of describing continuing action:
- Estou lendo.
- “I am reading.” (Brazilian Portuguese)
- Estou a ler.
- “I am reading.” (European Portuguese)
- Estavam dormindo.
- “They were sleeping.” (Brazilian Portuguese)
- Estavam a dormir.
- “They were sleeping.” (European Portuguese)
The gerund “-ndo” form is still correct in European Portuguese and it is used colloquially in the Alentejo region, but relatively rare (although its adverbial uses and the other participle forms are not uncommon). On the other hand, the “a + infinitive” form is virtually nonexistent in Brazil, and considered an improper use in Brazilian Portuguese.
A distinctive trait of Portuguese grammar (shared with Galician and Sardinian) is the existence of infinitive verb forms inflected according to the person and number of the subject:
- É melhor voltar, “It is better to go back” (impersonal)
- É melhor voltares, “It is better that you go back”
- É melhor voltarmos, “It is better that we go back”
Depending on the context and intended sense, the personal infinitive may be forbidden, required, or optional.
Personal infinitive sentences may often be used interchangeably with finite subordinate clauses. In these cases, finite clauses are usually associated with the more formal registers of the language.
Conjugation Classes
All Portuguese verbs in their infinitive form end in the letter r. Verbs are divided into three main conjugation classes according to the vowel in their infinitive ending:
- First conjugation: -ar
- Second conjugation: -er (also includes pôrand prefixed verbs in -por; see below)
- Third conjugation: -ir
The exceptional verb pôr (“to put”) is placed by many grammarians in the -er conjugation class, for historical reasons: in older language the infinitive was poer, derived from Latin PONERE. It is the basis for several derived, prefixed verbs, most of which correspond to English verbs in -pose (although some differ in meaning):
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The unprefixed pôr has the circumflex accent to distinguish it from the preposition por.
The -ar conjugation class is the largest of the three classes, and it is the only one open to neologisms, such as clicar (“to click” with a mouse).
Each conjugation class has its own distinctive set of some 50 inflectional suffixes: cant/ar → cant/ou (“he sang”), vend/er → vend/eu (“he sold”), part/ir → part/iu (“he left”). Some suffixes undergo various regular adjustments depending on the final consonant of the stem, either in pronunciation, in spelling, or in both. Some verbal inflections also entail a shift in syllable stress: ‘canto (“I sing”), can’tamos(“we sing”), canta’rei (“I will sing”). See Portuguese verb conjugation.
Verbs with some irregular inflections number in the hundreds, with a few dozen of them being in common use. Some of the most frequent verbs are among the most irregular, including the auxiliaries ser (“to be”), haver(“there to be” or “to have”), ter (“to possess”, “to have”, “there to be” – in Brazilian Portuguese), ir (“to go”).
Gerund and participle forms
The gerund form of a verb always ends with -ndo. It is used to make compound tenses expressing continuing action, e.g. ele está cantando (“he is singing”), ele estava cantando(“he was singing”); or as an adverb, e.g. ele trabalha cantando (“he works while singing”). It is never inflected for person or number.
In European Portuguese, the gerund is often replaced by the infinitive (preceded by “a“) when used to express continuing action.
The participle of regular verbs is used in compound verb tenses, as in ele tinha cantado(“he had sung”). It can also be used as an adjective, and in this case it is inflected to agree with the noun’s gender and number: um hino cantado (“a sung anthem”, masculinesingular), três árias cantadas (“three sung arias”, feminine plural). Some verbs have two distinct forms (one regular, one irregular) for these two uses. Additionally, a few verbs have two different verbal participles, a regular one for the active voice, and an irregular one for the passive voice. An example is the verb matar (to kill): Bruto tinha matado César(“Brutus had killed Cesar”), César foi morto por Bruto (“Cesar was killed by Brutus”).
Synthetic Moods and Tenses
Grammarians usually classify the verbal inflections (i.e. the synthetic verb forms) into the following moods, tenses, and non-finite forms:
- indicative mood, used in the main clausesof declarative sentences:
- present tense: cantamos, “we sing”
- past tenses:
- preterite: cantámos (EP), cantamos(BP) “we sang”
- imperfect: cantávamos, “we were singing”
- pluperfect: cantáramos, “we had sung”
- future tense: cantaremos, “we will sing”
- conditional mood:
- conditional tense: cantaríamos, “we would sing”
- subjunctive mood used in certain subordinate clauses:
- present subjunctive: que cantemos, “that we sing”
- preterite subjunctive: se cantássemos, “if we sang/would sing”
- future subjunctive: se cantarmos, “if we sing/should sing”
- imperative mood: used to express a command, advice, encouragement, etc.:
- positive: canta! “sing!”
- negative: não cantes!” “don’t sing!”
- verbals
- infinitives:
- impersonal: cantar, “to sing”
- personal: cantarmos, “for us to sing”, “that we sing” or “our singing”
- participles:
- present participle: cantando “singing”
- past (or passive) participle: cantado“sung”
- infinitives:
The conditional tense is usually called “future of the past” in Brazilian grammars, whereas in Portugal it is usually classified as a separate “conditional mood”. Portuguese grammarians call subjunctive “conjuntivo”; Brazilians call it “subjuntivo”.
Note that the synthetic future and conditional have largely disappeared from Brazilian speech. The synthetic future is generally replaced by ir + infinitive (e.g. vou cantar “I will sing”), while the conditional is replaced either by the imperfect (especially in its modal use; se você me desse dinheiro, eu cantava “if you gave me money, I would sing”) or by the imperfect of ir + infinitive (in its non-modal, “future of the past” usage; ele disse que ia cantar “he said that he would sing”). However, the synthetic future subjunctive is still in common use (e.g. se você for “if you should go”). The synthetic future and conditional of verbs with one-syllable infinitives also sometimes occur (e.g. será/seria “it will/would be” or in the compound tenses terá/teria sido “it will/would have been”).
In regular verbs, the personal infinitive is identical to the subjunctive future tense; but they are different in irregular verbs: quando formos (“when we go”, subjunctive) versus é melhor irmos (“it is better that we go”).
There are also many compound tenses expressed with inflected forms of the auxiliary verbs ser and estar (variants of “to be”), haverand ter (variants of “to have”).
Compound Forms
Like all Romance languages, Portuguese has many compound verb tenses, consisting of an auxiliary verb (inflected in any of the above forms) combined with the gerund, participle or infinitive of the principal verb.
The basic auxiliary verbs of Portuguese are ter (originally “to hold”, from Latin tenere, but nowadays meaning “to have”), haver (“to have”, from Latin habere; tends to be replaced with ter in most constructions), ser (“to be”, from Latin esse), estar (“to be”, from Latin stare “to stand”), and ir (“to go”, Latin ire), which have analogues in most other Romance languages. Thus, for example, “he had spoken” can be translated as ele havia faladoor ele tinha falado. The verb ficar (“to remain”, “to become”) also has an auxiliary-like use in combination with the past participle or gerund of another verb.
Compound Perfect
In other Romance languages, the compound perfect is usually constructed with a verb derived from Latin habēre “to have”. This used to be the case in Portuguese also, but in recent centuries the verb ter (from Latin tenēre “to hold”) has been steadily overtaking haver in both functions—to mean “to have”, and as the auxiliary for perfect tenses—although haver is still used with some frequency in writing and in formal spoken registers. In colloquial European Portuguese, haver is only used impersonally (with the sense of “there to be”) and in the construction haver-de with the effect of a future tense, often with an implication of promise (hei-de voltar “I will return”). In spoken Brazilian Portuguese even the impersonal haver is replaced with ter, as in Tem muito peixe no mar “There are plenty of fish in the sea” (although the latter use is not endorsed by official grammar).
Tenses with ter/haver + past participle (compound tenses):
- Preterite perfect indicative – temos falado(“we have been speaking”; see “Preterite vs. present perfect” below). Haver is not used nowadays. This tense may also be equivalent to the simple preterite for some fixed expressions, such as Tenho dito/concluído)
- Pluperfect indicative – tínhamos/havíamos falado (“we had spoken”)
- Anterior pluperfect indicative – tivéramos/houvéramos falado (“we had spoken”, literary use only)
- Future perfect indicative – teremos/haveremos falado (“we will have spoken”)
- Conditional perfect – teríamos/haveríamos falado (“we would have spoken”)
- Preterite perfect subjunctive – desde que tenhamos/hajamos falado (“provided that we have spoken”)
- Pluperfect subjunctive – se/que tivéssemos/houvéssemos falado (“if/that we had spoken”)
- Future perfect subjunctive – se/quando tivermos/houvermos falado (“if/when we have spoken”)
- Personal perfect infinitive – termos/havermos falado (“for us to have spoken”)
With no inflection:
- Impersonal perfect infinitive – ter/haver falado (“to have spoken”)
- Perfect gerund – tendo/havendo falado(“having spoken”)
Compound vs. simple pluperfect
In addition to the compound forms for completed past actions, Portuguese also retains a synthetic pluperfect: so, ele tinha falado and ele havia falado (“he had spoken”) can also be expressed as ele falara. However, the simple (one-word) pluperfect is losing ground to the compound forms. While pluperfect forms like falara are generally understood, their use is limited mostly to some regions of Portugal and to written language. In Brazilian Portuguese their use is even less frequent.
Preterite vs. present perfect
The simple past (or pretérito perfeito simplesin Portuguese) is widely used, sometimes corresponding to the present perfect of English (this happens in many dialects of American Spanish, too).
A present perfect also exists (normally called pretérito perfeito composto), but it has a very restricted use, denoting an action or a series of actions which began in the past and are expected to continue into the future, but will stop soon. For instance, the meaning of “Tenho tentado falar com ela” may be closer to “I have been trying to talk to her” than to “I have tried to talk to her”, in some contexts. This iterative sense of the present perfect is exceptional among Romance languages. It seems to be a recent construction, since it only allows the verb ter as auxiliary, never haver, and is absent from Galician.
Progressive Tenses
Portuguese originally constructed progressive tenses with a conjugated form of the verb “to be”, followed by the gerund of the main verb, like English: e.g. Eu estou trabalhando “I am working” (cf. also the corresponding Italianphrase: (Io) sto lavorando). However, in European Portuguese an alternative construction has appeared, formed with the preposition a followed by the infinitive of the main verb: e.g. Eu estou a trabalhar. This has replaced the ancient syntax in central and northern Portugal. The gerund may also be replaced with a followed by the infinitive in less common verb phrases, such as Ele ficou lá, trabalhando / Ele ficou lá, a trabalhar “He stayed there, working”. However, the construction with the gerund is still found in southern and insular Portugal and in Portuguese literature, and it is the rule in Brazil.
- estou falando or estou a falar (“I am speaking”)
- estava falando/ a falar (imperfective: “I was speaking” [at the moment])
- estive falando/ a falar (perfective: “I was speaking [for a while]” / “I have been speaking” [for a while])
- estivera falando/ a falar (“I had been speaking”)
- estarei falando/ a falar (“I will be speaking”)
- esteja falando/ a falar (“[that] I/he/she be speaking”; or “am” or “is speaking”)
- se estivesse falando/ a falar (“if I were speaking”)
- quando estiver falando/ a falar (“when you are speaking” [in the future])
- estar falando/ a falar (“to be speaking”)
Periphrastic construction with haver
As in most Romance languages, the simple future indicative and the conditional are formed by appending the present or the imperfect of the verb haver, respectively, to the infinitive. In Portuguese, the form of havercan also be used before the verb, together with the proposition de. This is usually limited to spoken language.
Examples:
- Eu disse que havia de voltar for Eu disse que voltaria (“I said I would return”)
- Vós haveis de (or “heis-de”) vencer for Vós vencereis (“You will win”)
Infrequently, other tenses of haver are used, as in Quem houver de ficar com a casa, há-de vir para aqui “Whoever might stay at the house will/should come here”.
The monosyllabic forms of haver (hei, hás, há, heis, hão) are no longer joined to the following de with a hyphen.
The periphrastic construction with haverusually conveys a sense of obligation or necessity, rather than simple futurity. Examples in EP:
- Hei-de lá ir amanhã (promise, “I will go there tomorrow”) versus Irei lá amanhã (less emphatic, almost an expectation, “I’m going there tomorrow”).
- Havemos de cá voltar (promise, but in an uncertain future, “We will return here”) versus Voltaremos cá (prediction or statement of an arrangement). Depending on the context, it can also be an invitation: Gostei de te ter aqui, hás-de cá voltar (“I’ve enjoyed having you here, you should return”).
- Havias de ter visto a reacção dela (“You should have seen her reaction”) versus Terias visto a reacção dela (“You would have seen her reaction”). The meaning here is quite different.
- Que havia eu de fazer? (“What should I (was I to) do?”) versus Que faria eu? (“What would I do?”). The latter is merely a hypothetical question, while the former could be asking for advice or an opinion about what ought to have been done.
The haver de + infinitive construction has also acquired other meanings, including one of supposition, as in O que está cá dentro? Dinheiro! O que havia de ser?! “What is in here? Money! What else?!”
In Brazil, the meaning is stronger, e.g. hei de ir lá amanhã implies strong determination (“I willgo there tomorrow!”).
Other compound tenses
Tenses with ir + infinitive
- vamos falar (“we will speak”, “we are going to speak”)
- íamos falar (“we were going to speak”)
- iríamos falar (“we would speak”, “we would be going to speak”)
In spoken BP, the construction ir + infinitive almost completely replaces the use of the synthetic future (e.g. vamos falar rather than falaremos).
Tenses with multiple auxiliaries:
- teríamos estado falando/a falar (“we would have been speaking”)
- tenho estado falando/a falar (“I have been speaking [until now]”)
Passive Voice
An active clause with a transitive verb and direct object can be transformed into a passive clause much the same as is done in English: the original object becomes the subject; the verb is replaced by ser (in the same mood and tense) followed by the past participle of the original verb; and the original subject may become an adverbial complement with the preposition por (“by”):
- O rato comeu o queijo (“The mouse ate the cheese”)
- O queijo foi comido pelo rato (“The cheese was eaten by the mouse”)
- Aquela senhora cantará a ária (“That lady will sing the aria”)
- A ária será cantada por aquela senhora(“The aria will be sung by that lady”)
- Se você cantasse a aria, ele ficaria (“If you were to sing the aria, he would stay”)
- Se a ária fosse cantada por você, ele ficaria(“If the aria were to be sung by you, he would stay”)
As in Spanish, there is also—for third-person objects, and when the agent is not expressed—a “reflexive” passive, which uses the pronoun se:
- Fizeram-se planos e criaram-se esperanças.(“Plans were made and hopes were created.”)
The same construction extends to some intransitive verbs, in which case they are rendered “impersonal”, in the sense that their subject is not expressed:
- Comeu-se, bebeu-se e bailou-se. (“There was eating, drinking, and dancing.”)
Subjunctive Mood
Portuguese subjunctive mood is used mainly in certain kinds of subordinate clauses. There are three synthetic subjunctive inflections, conventionally called “present”, “past” and “future”. The rules of usage, in broad terms, are the following:
- The present subjunctive is used in clauses, often introduced with que (“that”), which express generally non-assertive notions, such as wishes, orders, possibilities, etc.:
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- quero que cante, “I want her/him to sing”
- supondo que cante, “assuming that he/she will sing”
- ele será pago, cante ou não, “he will be paid, whether he sings or not”
- The past subjunctive is used for adverbial subordinate clauses, introduced with se (“if”) or equivalent, that are conditions for a main cause in the conditional tense.
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- se cantasse, seria famoso (“if he/she sang [if he/she were a singer], he/she would be famous”)
- se cantasse, teríamos aplaudido (“if he/she had sung, we would have applauded”)
It is also used for noun clauses, introduced with que, that are the object of past wishes or commands:
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- esperávamos que cantasse (“we hoped that he would sing”)
- eu mandei que cantassem (“I ordered them to sing”)
- The future subjunctive is an uncommon feature among Indo-European languages. It is used in adverbial subordinate clauses, usually introduced by se (“if”) or quando (“when”), or in adjectival subordinate clauses that express a neutral or expected condition for a present- or future-tense main clause:
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- se cantarmos, seremos pagos (“If we (should) sing, we will be paid”)
- se cantarmos, ele fica (“If we (should) sing, he stays”)
- quando cantarmos, ele escutará (“When we (should) sing, he will listen”)
- Often, the option between indicative and subjunctive depends on whether the speaker does or does not endorse the propositionexpressed by the subordinate clause:
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- Admito que ele roubou a bicicleta. (“I admit that he stole the bicycle.”)
- Admito que ele possa ter roubado a bicicleta. (“I admit that he could have stolen the bicycle.”)
- In relative clauses, the option between indicative and subjunctive depends on whether the speaker does or does not identify a single object with the property expressed by the relative clause:
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- Ando à procura de um cão que fala! (“I’m looking for a certain dog which can speak!”)
- Ando à procura de um cão que fale! (“I’m looking for any dog that speaks!”)
More on the subjunctive mood in Portuguese can be found at Wikibooks: Variation of the Portuguese Verbs.
Verbal Derivatives
Portuguese has many adjectives that consist of a verbal stem plus an ending in -nte, which are applied to nouns that perform the action of the verb; e.g. dançar (“to dance”) ~ areia dançante (“dancing sand”), ferver (“to boil”) ~ água fervente (“boiling water”).
However, those adjectives were not always derived from the corresponding Portuguese verbs. Most of them were directly derived from the accusatives of the present participles of Latin verbs, a form which was not retained by Portuguese. Thus, for example, Portuguese mutante (“changing”, “varying”) does not derive from the Portuguese verb mudar (“to change”), but directly from the Latin accusative present participle mutantem (“changing”). On the other hand, those pairs of words were eventually generalized by Portuguese speakers into a derivational rule, that is somewhat irregular and defective but still productive. So, for example, within the last 500 years we had the derivation pï’poka (Tupi for “to pop the skin”) → pipoca (Portuguese for “popcorn”) → pipocar (“to pop up all over”) → pipocante(“popping up all over”).
Similar processes resulted in many other semi-regular derivational rules that turn verbs into words of other classes, as in the following examples:
- clicar (“to click”) → clicável (“clickable”)
- vender (“to sell”) → vendedor (“seller”)
- encantar (“to enchant”) → encantamento(“enchantment”)
- destilar (“to distill”) → destilação(“distillation”)
The latter rule is quite productive, to the point that the pervasive -ção ending (derived from Latin -tione) is a visually striking feature of written Portuguese.
Mesoclisis
Another specific feature of Portuguese is mesoclisis, the placement of clitic pronouns between stem and ending in future and conditional verb forms.[4] In Brazilian Portuguese it is limited to extremely formal and mostly written style, but European Portuguese still allows clitic object pronouns to be positioned as mesoclitics in colloquial language:[5]
- Ela levá-lo-ia (“She take-it-would” – “She would take it”).
- Eles dar-no–lo-ão (“They give-us–it-will” – “They will give it to us”).
Causatives
The verb fazer is used to express the causative, as in Eu fiz José comer os bolos. Note that this is different from other Western Romance languages in that, like English, the causee can come between the causative verb fazer and the infinitive lexical verb. Other languages, such as French, do not permit such a construction (compare Je ferai manger les gâteaux à Jean, I make.FUT eat the cakes PREP Jean, “I will make Jean eat the cakes”.[6]
Notes
- ^ “Why” is translated as por que, except in sentence-final position, when it becomes por quê. Compare the conjunction porque‘because’ and the noun o porquê ‘the reason why’.
- ^ Gilmar Ferreira Mendes and Nestor José Forster Júnior, Manual de redação da Presidência da República (2nd ed., Brasília: Presidência da República, 2002), Sec. 2.1.2.
- ^ The Latin ancestor of this ending, -issimus, had a literally superlative meaning, “the most + [adjective]”. The term “superlative” has been retained without its literal meaning.
- ^ Mesoclisis, which occurs at a word-internal morpheme boundary, differs from infixing in that the latter occurs within a single morpheme.
- ^ Gadelii, Karl Erland (2002). “Pronominal Syntax in Maputo Portuguese (Mozambique) from a Comparative Creole and Bantu Perspective” (PDF). Africa & Asia. 2: 27–41. ISSN 1650-2019. Retrieved 2006-09-20.
- ^ Dixon (2000:35)
Portuguese words of Arabic origin
bombordo= port side of a ship: from French babord “portside”, from Dutch bakboord “left side of a ship”, literally “back side of a ship” (from the fact that most ships were steered from the starboard side), from bak “back, behind”, (from Germanic (*)bakam) + boord “board, side of a ship”, see borde below (in Germanic section). Also see estibordo’ “starboard” below in the Germanic section
berbequim= carpenter’s brace: from regional French veberquin (French vilebrequin), from Dutch wimmelken, from wimmel “auger, drill, carpenter’s brace” + -ken, a diminutive suffix, see maniquí below in Middle Dutch section.
English
bar (the beverage establishment)
basquetebol or basquete(Brazil) = basketball
bit, byte, and many other computing terms
Champô, shampoo or xampu (Brazil) = shampoo
cheque = Cheque (US English check)
choque = shock
clicar = to click
clique = click
clube = club
cocktail or coquetel(Brazil) = cocktail
cowboy
deletar = to delete
estandarte = standard
faroeste = far west, Western,
fashion = adj., fashionable
futebol = football
hamburguer = cheeseburger, hot dog, hamburger, fast food
interface = interface
marketing = marketing
mesmerizar = mesmerize
mouse = computer mouse
Nylon or náilon (Brazil) = nylon
revolver = revolver
realizar = to realize
sanduiche, sanduíche, sandes = sandwich
show = adj., something with showlike qualities, spectacular
telemarketing, know-how
teste = test
turista = tourist
vagão, vagonete = wagon
voleibol = volleyball
Frankish
aguentar = to endure, bear, resist: from Italian agguantare “to retain, take hold of” (originally “to detain with gauntlets”), from a- + guanto “gauntlet”, from Frankish (*)want (see guante below) + verbal suffix -are (suffix changed to -ar in Spanish).
alojar= to lodge, to house, to provide hospitality: from Old French loge, see lonja below.
alojamento = lodging (hospitality): from Old French logo “dwelling, shelter”, from Frankish (*)laubja “covering, enclosure”, from Germanic (*)laubja “shelter” (implicit sense “roof made of bark”)
loja= market, building where merchants and sellers gather: from Old French logo “dwelling, shelter”, from Frankish (*)laubja “covering, enclosure”, from Germanic (*)laubja “shelter” (implicit sense “roof made of bark”), from the IE root (*)leup- “to peel.”
bordar= to embroider: from Frankish (*)bruzdon (source of Old French brouder, brosder and French broder), from Germanic (*)bruzd- “point, needle”, from the IE root (*)bhrs-dh-, from (*)bhrs-, from (*)bhar-, “point, nail.”
crossa or croça= crosier (religion): from Frankish *krukkja (stick with a bent extremity) akin to French crosse, Dutch kruk, German Krücke, English crutch”, Norwegian krykkja.
destacar, destacamento= to detach troops: from French détachar (influenced by Spanish atacar), from Old French destachier “to unattach”, from des- “apart, away” + atachier, a variation of estachier, from estaca, from Frankish stakka, see estaca below in Germanic section.
destacar= to stand out, to emphasize: from Italian staccare “to separate”, from Old French destacher, destachier, see destacar above.
estandarte= a military standard: from Old French estandart, probably from Frankish (*)standhard “standard that marks a meeting place”, (implicit sense: “that which stands firmly”), from (*)standan “to stand”, (from Germanic (*)standan, from the IE root (*)sta- “to stand” [1]) + (*)hard “hard, firm”, see ardid below in Germanic section.
guante= glove, gauntlet: from Catalan guant “gauntlet”, from Frankish (*)want “gauntlet.”
loja= market, building where merchants and sellers gather: from Old French logo “dwelling, shelter”, from Frankish (*)laubja “covering, enclosure”, from Germanic (*)laubja “shelter” (implicit sense “roof made of bark”), from the IE root (*)leup- “to peel.”
German
acordeon
apfelstrudel
Báltico
benzina
burgomestre = (City)mayor from Bürgermeister
chic or chique = Chic from Schick
chope = draft beer from shoppen
chucrute = coleslaw from sauerkraut
cobalto = cobalt from Kobold
estilístico = stylistic from Stylistik
faustebol = faustball
kaput, caputar = broken from kaputt
kitsch = kitsch from Kitsch
land = subdivision of a country, e.g. Germany, or Austria
Leitmotiv = leitmotiv from Leitmotiv
LSD (alucinogénio) = LSD from Lysergsäurediethylamid
metapsicológico, metapsicologia = metapsychology from Metapsychologie (S. Freud)
plancton = plancton from Plankton
poltergeist = poltergeist from Poltergeist
pragmatismo = pragmatism from Pragmatismus
propedêutico = introductory from Propädeutik
protoplasma = protoplasm from Protoplasma
Quartzo = quartz from Quarz
Rösti (culinária) = rösti from Rösti (Swiss Swiss dish of grated potatoes formed into a small flat cake and fried)
sabre = sabre from Sabel
social-democrata = social democrat from Sozialdemokrat
valsa = waltz from Walzer, walzen
vampiro = vampire from Vampir
Vermouth or Vermute = vermouth from Vermut (drink)
Zinco = zinc from Zink
Latin words in Portuguese of Germanic origin
bisonte (from L bisont-,bison from Gmc, akin to OHG wisant, aurochs)
feudal (from Latin feodum, feudum of Gmc origin, akin to OE feoh, cattle, property)
filtro; filtrar= “filter; to filter” from ML filtrum felt from Gmc, akin to OE felt, felt
instalar (from ML installare from stallum of Gmc origin, akin to OHG stal, stall)
sabão= “soap” from Latin sapon-, sapo, soap from Gmc
Langobardic
palco= a balcony, balcony of a theater: from Italian palco, from Langobardic palko “scaffolding”, from Germanic (*)balkōn “beam, crossbeam”, see balcão below in Germanic section.
Middle Dutch
baluarte= bulwark: from Old French boloart “bulwark, rampart, terreplein converted to a boulevard”, from Middle Dutch bolwerc “rampart”,
amarrar= to moor a boat, to tie, to fasten: from French amarrer, “to moor”, from Middle Dutch aanmarren “to fasten”, from aan “on” (from Germanic (*)ana, (*)anō, from the IE root (*)an-[3]) + marren “to fasten, to moor a boat.”
Derivatives: amarra ‘mooring’, amarração ‘binding, strong emotional bond, emotional relationship, mooring’, amarrado ‘determined, obstinate, bound, moored’, amarradura ‘mooring place, knot or tool’
manequim= a mannequin, dummy, puppet: from French mannequin, from (probably via Catalan maniquí) Dutch manneken, mannekijn “little man”, from Middle Dutch mannekijn, from man “a man” (see alemán below in Germanic section) + the diminutive suffix -ken, -kin, -kijn, from West Germanic (*)-kin (cf. Modern German -chen)
rumo= direction, course, route, pomp, ostentation: from Old Spanish rumbo “each of the 32 points on a compass”, from Middle Dutch rume “space, place, rhumb line, storeroom of a ship”, from Germanic rūmaz “space, place”, from the IE root (*)reu- “space, to open”.
Old English
arlequim= harlequin: from Italian arlecchino, from Old French Herlequin “mythic chief of a tribe”, probably from Middle English Herle king, from Old English Herla cyning, Herla Kyning literally King Herla, a king of Germanic mythology identified with Odin/Woden. Cyning “king” is from Germanic (*)kunjan “family” (hence, by extension royal family), from the IE root (*)gen- “to birth, regenerate”.
bote= a small, uncovered boat: from Old French bot, from Middle English bot, boot, from Old English bāt, from Germanic (*)bait-, from the IE root (*)bheid- “to split”.
caneco= jug: from Old English *can- derived from cunnan
caneca= mug: *see above ‘can’
este= east: from French est, from Middle English est, from Old English ēast, from Germanic (*)aust-, from the IE root (*)awes-, aus “to shine”.
norte= north: from Old French nord, from Old English north, from Germanic (*)north-, from the IE root (*)nr-to “north”, from (*)nr- “wiktionary:under, to the left” [8]
oeste= west: from Middle English west, from Old English west, from Germanic (*)west-, from (*)wes-to-, from (*)wes-, from (*)wespero- “evening, dusk” [9]
sul= south (combining form): from Old French sud “south”, from Old English sūth, from Germanic (*)sunthaz, from the IE root (*)sun-, swen-, variants of (*)sāwel- “sun”
sudeste= ‘southeast’ *see above sud+est
sudoeste= ‘southwest’ *see above sud+west
Old High German
banca= bench: see banco= bench below
banco= bench: from Old High German banc “bench, board”
banco= bank: from French banque “bank”, from Italian banca “bench, money changer’s table”, from Old High German banc, see banco= bench above
Old Norse
bife= steak, beefsteak: from English beefsteak, from beef (ultimately from Latin bōs, bovis “cow”, from the IE root (*)gwou- “ox, bull, cow” [11]) + steak, from Middle English steyke, from Old Norse steik “piece of meat cooked on a spit”, from Germanic (*)stik-, see estaca below in the Germanic section.
Visigothic
- agasalhar= perhaps from Latin *ad-gasaliare, from Visigothic *gasalja (partner, colleague)
- broa= ‘corn and rye bread’ from Visigothic *brauth
- guarda= guard, bodyguard, protection: from Visigothic wardja “a guard”, from Germanic
- wardaz, from the IE root (*)wor-to-, see guardar below in Germanic section.
- guardião= guardian: from Visgothic wardjan accusative of wardja, see guardia above.
- atacar= to attack: Old Italian attaccare “to fasten, join, unite, attack (implicit sense: to join in a battle)”, changed from (*)estacar (by influence of a-, common verbal prefix) “to fasten, join”, from Visigothic stakka “a stick, stake”, from Germanic (*)stak-, see estaca in Germanic section.
- faísca= spark, from Visigothic or Suebian *falwiskan. From medieval ‘falisca’, cognate of Swedish falaska, Mid-High German valwische (*falwiskō), Norse fọlski.
- gavião= hawk,from Visigothic *gabila, akin to German Gabel ‘fork’.
Germanic
abandonar= to abandon: from Old French a bandon, from a + bandon “control” from ban “proclamation, jurisdiction, power”, from Germanic (*)banwan, (*)bannan “to proclaim, speak publicly”
abandono= abandonment, solitude
abandonado= abandoned, rejected, derelict
abordar= to board a ship, to approach, to undertake: from a- + bordo “side of a ship”, variation of borde, see borde below
abotoar: to button: from a- + botão “button”, see botão below
abrasar= to burn, to parch: from a- + brasa “a coal, ember” (see brasa below) + the verbal suffix -ar
aguentar= “to put up with” (< maybe It agguantare, from guanto “gauntlet” < Old Provençal < OFr guant < Frankish *want)
aguardar= to wait, wait for: from a- + guardar, see guardar below.
alemão= of Germany (adjective), the German language: from Late Latin Alemanni, an ancient Germanic tribe, from Germanic (*)alamanniz (represented in Gothic alamans), from ala- “all” + mannis, plural of manna-/mannaz “man” (Gothic manna) from the IE root (*)man- “man”
ardil= trick, scheme, ruse: from Old Spanish ardid “risky undertaking in war”, from Catalan ardit (noun) “risky undertaking, strategy”, from ardit (adjective) “daring, bold”, from a Germanic source represented in Old High German harti “daring, bold” and hart “hard”, both from the IE root (*)kor-tu-
arenque= herring: possibly via French hareng, from Germanic (compare Old High German hārinc).
harpa= a harp: from French: harpe, from Germanic (*)harpōn-.
arrimar= to approach: possibly from Old French arrimer, arimer “to arrange the cargo in the storeroom of a ship”, from Germanic (*)rūmaz “room”
atrapar= to trap, to ensnare: from French attraper, from Old French a- + trape “trap”, from Germanic (*)trep- (seen in the Old English træppe) from the IE root (*)dreb-, from (*)der- “to run.”
bala= a bullet: Italian balla/palla, from Germanic (*)ball-, see beisebol above in Old English section.
balear= “to shoot”
balcão== a balcony: from Italian balcone, from Old Italian balcone “scaffold”, from Germanic (*)balkōn “beam, crossbeam”, from the IE root (*)bhelg- “beam, board, plank.”
balão= a large ball: from Italian ballone, pallone, balla (see bala above) + -one, an augmentive suffix, related to and possibly the source of Spanish -ão (in balão). see here.
banda= ribbon, band, sash: from Old French bande “knot, fastening”, from Germanic ‘*band-‘, from the IE root (*)bhondh-, from (*)bhendh-[16]
banda= band, troop, musical group: from Germanic ‘*bandwa-‘, “standard, signal”, also “group” (from the use of a military standard by some groups), from the IE root (*)bha- “to shine” (implicit sense “signal that shines”).
bandeira= banner: from Vulgar Latin (*)bandaria “banner”, from Late Latin bandum “standard”, from Germanic (*)bandwa, see banda= group below
bandido= bandit, gangster: from Italian bandito “bandit”, from bandire “to band together”, from Germanic ‘*banwan’, see abandonar above
banco “bench; bank” (OFr bank < Germanic *banki)
banqueiro “banker, financier”
banca “bench, seat”
bancada “row of seats, stall”
Abancar “to settle somewhere”
banquete= a banquet: rom Old French banquet, diminutive of banc “bench, long seat”, of Germanic origin, of the same family as the Old High German banc, see banco= bench above in Old High German section.
banquetear “to feast, to have a banquet”
barão, baronesa, baronato “baron, baroness, baronet”
bisonte== Bison bison: from Latin bisontem (accusative of bison) “wisent (Bison bonasus)”, from Germanic (*)wisand-, wisunt- (Old High German wisant, wisunt).
branco= white, white person, blank: from Vulgar Latin (*)blancus, from Germanic (*)blank- “to shine”, from the IE root
briga= fight, scuffle: from Gothic *Brika-, Old High German Brech-en, Anglo-Saxon break. :Derivatives: brigar [v] ‘to fight’
bloco= a block, a bloc: from French bloc, from Middle Dutch blok “trunk of a tree”, from a Germanic source represented in the Old High German bloh.
bloqueio= “roadblock, blockade”
bloquear= “to block, to veto, to stop”
bloqueado= “something or someone which is blocked, halted, trapped”
boémio or boêmio(Brazil)= a bohemian, of Bohemia, vagabond, eccentric, Gitano, Gypsy: from bohemio/Bohemia (from the belief that the Gitanos came from Bohemia), from Latin bohemus, from Boihaemum, literally “place of the Boi/Boii (from Celtic, see bohemio here) + Latin -haemum “home”, from Germanic (*)haima “home”, from the IE root (*)koi-mo-
bola= ball from Proto-Germanic *balluz, *ballô (“ball”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰoln- (“bubble”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow, inflate, swell”)
bolas= colloquial bollocks, coward, popular interjection idiom ‘ora bolas!’ oh my! or damn it!, to express frustration or disapproval. From Proto-Germanic *balluz
borda= border, edge: from Old French bord “side of a ship, border, edge”, from Frankish
bordar= “to knit”
bordado= “knit work”
bosque= forest, woods: from Catalan of Provençal of Old French bosc, from Germanic (*)busk- “brush, underbrush, thicket” (source of Old High German busc).
bosquejo= a sketch, outline, rough draft: from Spanish bosquejar “to sketch, to outline”, probably from Catalan bosquejar from bosc, see bosque above.
bota= a boot: from or simply from the same source as French botte “boot”, from Old French bote “boot”, probably from the same source as Modern French pied bot “deformed foot” in which bot is from Germanic (*)būtaz, from the IE root (*)bhau- “to strike”, see botar below.
botar= to throw, to bounce, to jump: from Old French boter, bouter “to open, to hit, to strike, to perforate”, from Romance bottare “to strike, to push, to shove”, from Germanic (*) buttan “to hit, to strike” from the IE root (*)bhau- [18]
botão= button: from Old French boton, bouton “button”, from boter, bouter “to open, perforate”, see botar above
bóia= a buoy: probably from Old French boie, from Germanic, possibly from Old High German bouhhan, from Germanic (*)baukna- “signal”, from the IE root (*)bha- “to shine” [19]
brasa= a coal, ember: from Old French brese “a coal” (Modern French braise), probably from Germanic (*)bres-, (*)bhres-, from the IE root (*)bhreu- [20]
chouriço, choiriça= Latinezed SAURICIUM, from Suebian/Gothic SAURAZ ‘dried, smoked’
churrasco, churrasqueira, churrascaria, churrascar[v]= from Suebian/Gothic SAURUS[21]
estaca= a stake: from Germanic (*)stak-, from the IE root (*)steg- “pale, post pointed stick” [22].
estibordo= starboard side of a ship: from Old French estribord “starboard”, (Modern French tribord), from a Germanic source (confer Old English stēorbord). From Germanic (*)stiurjō “to steer”, + Germanic
faca= knife from a Germanic source, uncertain if Old German happa (hatchet, sickle) or Frankish *happja, cognate of French hache, Spanish hacha, English hatchet or axe
Derivatives: facalhão ‘eustace’, faqueiro ‘cutlery or cutlery cabinet’, facada ‘stabbing’, colloquial facada nas costas ‘to stab (someone) behind the back’
gaita= bagpipe Uncertain, but likely from Old Suebian , akin to Visigothic *agaits- ‘goat’ from Proto Indo-European *ghaido-. Most logical origin as bagpipes were traditionally made from goats skin.
Derivatives: gaiteiro ‘(bag)piper’, gaita ‘penis, or swearword akin to “cock”‘(colloquial), gaita-de-foles, gaita-de beiços, ‘different types or names for bagpipes, gaitar ‘to sob or to fail an exam’ (colloquail).
grupo= group: rom Italian gruppo, from a Germanic word represented by Old High German kropf “beak.”
Derivatives: agrupar ‘to group, to organise into a section’, agrupado ‘part of a group’, agrupamento ‘act of grouping, a team’.
guardar= to guard, watch over, keep, observe (a custom): from Germanic (*)wardōn “to look after, take care of”, from the IE root (*)wor-to-, “to watch”, from (*)wor-, (*)wer- “to see, watch, perceive” [23]
oboé= an oboe: from French hautbois from haut (ultimately from Latin altus “high”) + bois “wood”, see bosque above.
roca= roc, spindle: from Gothic *rukka
Derivatives: enrocar[v], rocar[v], ‘to spindle’, enrocamento ‘riprap’
saco, sacola= bag, sack, rucksack
sacar = to snap, to extract, to snatch, to withdraw (i.e. money from an ATM or account)
saque= withdrawal, theft
ressaque, ressacar= money order, to collect a money order (i.e. Forex)
saxónico, saxão= Saxon
sala, salinha, saleta= a room: from Germanic sal- “room, house”, from the IE root (*)sol- “hamlet, human settlement.”
suisso, suíço= Swiss
suíno= swine, pig from Proto-Germanic *swinan ‘pig’
suinicultor, suinocultor= pig farmer from Proto-Germanic swinan + Latin cultor
suinicultura= porcine breeding from Proto-Germanic swinan + Latin colere
suinicídio= pig killing from Proto-Germanic swinan + Latin cidium
tacho= pot, pan
taco= stick, chalck
tacão = heel
talo, talão= stem, branch, heel
tampa= “top, lid”
tapar= to cover, to hide
teta, tetinha, tetona, tetão= tit, breast
teutónico= teutonic, powerful
trampa= a trap: possibly from Germanic, from the same derivation as trampolín (see below) and atrapar (see above).
trampolim= a trampoline
toalha= towel
toalhete= “handtowel”
toalhinha= “small towel”
toldo= tarpaulin, cover
toldar= to mist up, to darken, to sadden
trepar= to climb, to copulate
trepada= (informal) shag
trombone= trombone
tromba= snout, face
trombudo= someone unfriendly looking
tromba d’água= gusty showers
trombão, trompão= thicker part of a fishing rod
trombar= to sip down food, to scoff up
tropa= troop
atropar= to gather troops
trupe= group, band, gang, student group, artistic group
trupar= to knock someone’s door
varão, varonil “male, manly”
Names
Forenames
Alberto, Adalbert: from the Germanic name Adalbert, composed of the elements adal “noble” and beraht “bright”
Albertina, Alberta: same as above
Albina= Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Slovene, Polish, German, Ancient Roman form of ‘ALBINUS’
Adelaide= from Germanic Adalheidis, which was composed of the elements adal “noble” and heid “kind, sort, type”. It was borne in the 10th century by Saint Adelaide, the wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto the Great.
Adelardo, Abelardo= from the ancient Germanic name Adalhard, composed of the elements adal “noble” and hard “brave, hardy
Adélia, Adelina, Adele, Aline= Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, German, Ancient Germanic *ADELA (Latinized)
Adelino= from Germanic “Athal-win”, meaning of noble birth
Ademar=
Adolfo=
Adosinda= from a Visigothic name derived from the Germanic elements aud “wealth” and sinþs “path”.
Adriano= Portuguese for Adrian in English, Romanian, Polish, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Russian, form of ‘Hadrianus’
Afonso= from Ancient Germanic Adalfuns, Alfons, Hadufuns, Hildefons.
Afonsina
Agildo
Agnaldo
Aldo
Alda, Aldina= originally a short form of Germanic names beginning with the element ald “old”, and possibly also with adal “noble”
Alfredo=
Aloísio=
Álvaro= cognate of Nordic ALVAR. From Ancient Germanic Alfher, Alfarr, name composed of the elements alf “elf” and hari “army, warrior”. Mainly Nordic= Alvar (Estonian), Elvar (Icelandic), Alvar (Swedish), Alvaro (Spanish)
Alzira= relatively rare name. ‘Alzira’ or ‘Alzire’ is a Germanic name meaning `Beauty, Ornament`
Amalia, Amália, Amélia, = Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, Dutch, German, from Latinized form of the Germanic name ‘Amala’, a short form of names beginning with the element amal meaning “work”.
Amaro= from the Germanic name ‘Audamar’, derived from the elements aud “wealth, fortune” and meri “famous”. Variants: Otmar (Czech), Othmar, Otmar, Ottmar, Ottomar (German), Amaro (Spain, specially Galicia and Asturias)
Américo= Portuguese form of Ancient German ‘Emmerich’.
Anselmo= from the Germanic elements ans “god” and helm “helmet, protection”. Used in Western Europe
Arlete= variation of French Arlette, from Germanic ‘Herleva’ possibly a derivative of hari “army”, era “honour”, or erla “noble” (or their Old Norse cognates). This was the name of the mother of William the Conqueror, who, according to tradition, was a commoner.
Armando, Armindo= a derivation of Herman, from Ancient Germanic Hariman, Herman, Hermanus
Armanda, Arminda= same as above
Arnaldo= from Proto-Germanic Arnold, used in Western Europe= Arnau (Catalan), Arnoud, Aart, Arend (Dutch), Arnold, Arn, Arnie (English), Arnaud (French), Ane, Anne (Frisian), Arnold, Arend, Arndt, Arne (German), Nöl, Nölke (Limburgish)
Arnaldina=
Anselmo: Germanic ans “god” and helm “helmet, protection”
Astolfo=
Ataúlfo=
Aubri= from the Germanic Alberich, derived from the elements alf “elf” and ric “power”.
Austragésilo=
Baldemar, Baldomero= from Ancient Germanic Baldomar, derived from the elements bald “bold, brave” and meri “famous
Balduíno=
Belmiro=
Beltrão= from the Germanic element beraht “bright” combined with hramn “raven. Used in Western Europe: Beltran (Catalan) Bertrand (English), Bertrand (French) Bertram (German), Bertrando (Italian)
Barbara= Portuguese, English, Italian, French, German, Polish, Hungarian, Slovene, Croatian, Late Roman derived from Greek βαρβαρος (barbaros) meaning “foreign”
Bernardo= from the Germanic name Bernard, derived from the element bern “bear” combined with hard “brave, hardy”
Bernardino, Bernardim=
Bernardina, Bernadete, Bernardete=
Branca, Bianca= from the Germanic word “blanc” (white, fair).
Bruno= Portuguese, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Croatian, Polish, from Ancient Germanic element brun “armour, protection” or brun “brown”
Brunilde= from Ancient Germanic variant of ‘BRÜNHILD’
Carlos, Carlo= from the Germanic name Karl, which was derived from a Germanic word meaning “man”. An alternative theory states that it is derived from the common Germanic element hari meaning “army, warrior”.
Carolina, Carla, Carlota= female versions of the Germanic name ‘Karl’ above
Clodoaldo
Clodomir
Clodovil
Clotilde= form of the Germanic name Chlotichilda which was composed of the elements hlud “fame” and hild “battle”. Saint Clotilde was the wife of the Frankish king Clovis, whom she converted to Christianity. Used in France, Portugal, Italy, Spain
Clóvis=
Conrado= from the Germanic elements kuoni “brave” and rad “counsel”.
Cremilde=
Deolinda= from the Germanic name Theudelinda, derived from the elements theud “people” and linde “soft, tender”. In decline, mainly used in Portugal, Brazil and Galicia
Duarte= from Germanic Ead “rich” and Weard “guardian”
Dieter= from ancient Germanic Theudhar, derived from the elements theud “people” and hari “army”
Djalma=
Eberardo=
Edgar=
Edite, Edith= from the Old English name Eadgyð, derived from the elements ead “wealth, fortune” and gyð “war”. It was popular among Anglo-Saxon royalty, being borne for example by Saint Eadgyeth;, the daughter of King Edgar the Peaceful.
Edmar=
Edmundo= Portuguese form of EDMUND. In other European languages: Eadmund (Anglo-Saxon), Edmund, Ed, Eddie, Eddy, Ned (English), Edmond, Edmé (French), Edmund (German), Ödön, Ödi (Hungarian), Éamonn, Eamon, Éamon (Irish), Edmondo (Italian), Edmao, Mao (Limburgish), Edmund (Polish)
Edna=
Eduardo= see ‘Duarte’ above
Eduarda=
Eduvigis=
Edvaldo=
Edvino= Portuguese form of Edwin, from the Old English elements ead “wealth, fortune” and wine “friend”
Egil= from the Old Norse name Egill, a diminutive of names that began with the element agi “awe, terror”
Elba=
Elder=
Elgar= from Old English ælf “elf” and gar “spear”
Elmar, Elmer= from the Old English name ÆÐELMÆR
Elvira=
Elsa=
Elza=
Eurico, Érico, Eric, Erik= From Old High German êwa “time, age, law” combined with rîcja “powerful, strong, mighty.” The second element is also closely related to Celtic rîg or rix and Gothic reiks, which all mean “king, ruler.” However, this name can also be a short form of Eburic. Euric was the name of a 5th-century king of the Visigoths.
Ermenegildo=
Ermelindo=
Ernesto= Portuguese form of Ancient Germanic ‘ERNST’
Ernestina=
Etelvina=
Evaldo= from the ancient Germanic name Ewald, composed of the elements ewa “law, custom” and wald “rule”
Evelina, Ivelina, Avelina, Evelyne= from the Norman French form of the Germanic name Avelina, a diminutive of AVILA.
Francisco, Francisca= FRANCISCUS, FRANZISKA from Ancient Germanic form of Franciscus (see FRANCIS, Franz, Frans, François, Francisque, Francesco, Francesc, Pranciškus)
Fernando, Fernão, Fernandino= from a Germanic name composed of the elements fardi “journey” and nand “daring, brave”. The Visigoths brought the name to the Iberian Peninsula, where it entered into the royal families of Spain and Portugal. From there it became common among the Habsburg royal family of the Holy Roman Empire and Austria, starting with the Spanish-born Ferdinand I in the 16th century. A notable bearer was Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521), called Fernão de Magalhães in Portuguese, who was the leader of the first expedition to sail around the earth. Variants: Fernand (French), Ferdinand, Ferdi (German), Ferdinand, Ferdi (Dutch), Ferdie, Ferdy (English), Veeti, Vertti (Finnish), Ferran (Catalan), Ferdinánd, Nándor (Hungarian), Ferdinando (Italian), Ferdynand (Polish), Fernando, Hernando, Hernán, Nando (Spanish)
Fernanda= same as above
Frederico, Fred= form of a Germanic name meaning “peaceful ruler”, derived from frid “peace” and ric “ruler, power”
Genival=
Geraldo=
Germano=
Germana
Gilberto, Gil=
Gildo=
Gilmar=
Giraldo=
Gisele, Gisela=
Godiva=
Godofredo= from Germanic Godafrid, which meant “peace of god” from the Germanic elements god “god” and frid “peace”
Gonçalo= from Ancient Germanic Gundisalvus. See Gonçal (Catalan), Gonzalo (Spanish)
Gualberto= from the Germanic name Waldobert, composed of the elements wald “rule” and beraht “bright”. Variants: Gaubert (French), Wob, Wubbe (Dutch), Wob, Wobbe, Wubbe (Frisian)
Gualter= see also Valter/Walter
Guido=
Guilherme= Portuguese equivalent of William in English, from Ancient Germanic Wilhelm or n Willahelm. See Breton: Gwilherm. Used all over Europe in numerous variations
Guilhermina=
Guiomar= from the Germanic name Wigmar, which is formed of the elements wig “war, battle” and meri “famous”
Gumercindo=
Gustavo= from Gundstaf, possibly means “staff of the Goths”, derived from the Old Norse elements Gautr “Goth” and stafr “staff”. Used all over Europe
Haroldo= from Old Norse Haraldr derived from the elements here “army” and weald “power, leader, ruler”. Variants: Hariwald (Ancient Germanic), Hereweald (Anglo-Saxon), Harald (Danish), Harold (English), Harri (Finnish), Harald (German), Haraldur (Icelandic), Aroldo (Italian), Harald (Norwegian), Haroldo (Spanish), Harald (Swedish), Harri (Welsh)
Hedda=
Hélder, Helder, Elder= maybe from the name of the Dutch town of Den Helder (meaning “hell’s door” in Dutch) or derived from the Germanic given name HULDERIC; elments hulda “merciful, graceful” and ric “power, rule”.
Helga=
Hélmut= from the Germanic name Helmut, formed of the elements helm “helmet” and muot “spirit, mind”
Heloísa=
Henrique=
Henriqueta=
Heraldo= from the Old English name Hereweald, derived from the elements here “army” and weald “power, leader, ruler”. The Old Norse cognate Haraldr was also common among Scandinavian settlers in England. This was the name of five kings of Norway and three kings of Denmark. See also Harold and Harald.
Herberto, Heriberto=
Herman, Hermano= from the Germanic elements hari “army” and man “man”. Used in English, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Slovene
Hermenegildo= from a Visigothic name which meant “complete sacrifice” from the Germanic elements ermen “whole, entire” and gild “sacrifice, value”. It was borne by a 6th-century saint, the son of Liuvigild the Visigothic king of Hispania. Used in Western Europe: Erminigild (Ancient Germanic), Ermenegilde (French), Hermenegild (German), Ermenegildo (Italian), Hermenegildo (Spanish)
Hermínio=
Herminia=
Hilda, Ilda= From Proto-Germanic Hildr (Ancient Scandinavian), Hild, Hilda (Anglo-Saxon), used in Western Europe= Hilda (Danish), Hilda, Hilde (Dutch), Hilda (English), Hilda, Hilde (German), Hildur (Icelandic), Hildr (Norse Mythology), Hilda, Hilde, Hildur (Norwegian), Hilda (Spanish), Hilda, Hildur (Swedish)
Hildeberto, Hildiberto= Portuguese variant of Hildebert, Hilbert, from the Germanic elements hild “battle” and beraht “bright”
Hildebrando=
Hildegardo=
Hugo=
Humberto=
Idália, Idalina, Ida= Originally a medieval short form of names beginning with the Old Frankish element idal, extended form of Old Frankish id meaning “work, labour” (cf. Ida). Used in Western Europe
Ildefonso= from Ancient Germanic Hildefons
Inga=
Ingrid=
Isilda= * possibly Germanic, perhaps from a hypothetic name like Ishild, composed of the elements is “ice, iron” and hild “battle”. Could be an early version of Isolda.
Isnard=
Ivo= Germanic name, originally a short form of names beginning with the Germanic element iv meaning “yew”. Alternative theories suggest that it may in fact be derived from a cognate Celtic element. This was the name of several saints (who are also commonly known as Saint Yves or Ives). Variants: Yvo (German), Yvo (Dutch), Erwan, Erwann (Breton), Yves, Yvon (French), Ives (History), Iwo (Polish)
Ivone= female version of Ivo
Juscelino, Joscelino= from a Germanic masculine name, variously written as Gaudelenus, Gautselin, Gauzlin, along with many other spellings. It was derived from the Germanic element Gaut, which was from the name of the Germanic tribe the Gauts, combined with a Latin diminutive suffix.
Lars=
Leonardo=
Leonildo=
Leonor, Eleonor, Eleonora= from Occitan Aliénor derived from Ancient Germanic Eanor
Leopoldo= from the Germanic elements leud “people” and bald “bold”. The spelling was altered due to association with Latin leo “lion”. Used in Western Europe
Liduína= female form derived from Ludwin, Leutwin or Liutwin. There are instances where the first element of the name can also be derived from Old High German hlûd “famous”
Lindolfo=
Lorelei=
Lotário=
Luís, Luiz, Aloisio, Aloysio, Ludovico= from Ancient Germanic Chlodovech, Clodovicus, Ludovicus, Clovis, Hludowig. Used all over Europe
Luisa=
Mafalda=
Manfred=
Matilde=
Nivaldo=
Norberto= from the Germanic elements nord “north” and beraht “bright”. Variants: Norberto (Italian), Norbaer, Baer, Bèr, Nor (Limburgish), Norberto (Spanish)
Odorico=
Olavo= from Old Norse Áleifr meaning “ancestor’s descendant”, derived from the elements anu “ancestor” and leifr “descendant”. This was the name of five kings of Norway, including Saint Olaf (Olaf II).
Orlando=
Osmar=
Osvaldo, Oswaldo= Portuguese variant of Oswald, from the Old English elements os “god” and weald “power, ruler”. See also Old Norse name Ásvaldr.
Osvalda, Osvaldina= female form of Osvaldo
Oto, Otto= short form of various names beginning with the Germanic element aud meaning “wealth, fortune”.
Raimundo= from Proto-Germanic *raginaz («council») and *mundō («protection»), Raymund
Ramiro= Latinized form of the Visigothic name ‘Ramirus’ (Raginmar) derived from the Germanic elements ragin “advice” and meri “famous”. Rare, mainly in Portugal and Spain.
Raul=
Reginaldo=
Reinaldo, Ronaldo, Reynaldo= from the Germanic name Raginald, made of elements ragin “advice” and wald “rule”. Used in Western Europe: Ragnvald (Danish), Reinoud, Reinout (Dutch), Reino (Finnish), Renaud, Reynaud (French), Reinhold (German), Raghnall (Irish), Rinaldo (Italian), Ragnvald (Norwegian), Raghnall, Ranald, Ronald (Scottish), Reynaldo (Spanish), Ragnvald (Swedish), Rheinallt (Welsh)
Ricardo= from the Germanic elements ric “power, rule” and hard “brave, hardy”. Used all over Europe: Ricard (Catalan), Richard (Czech), Rikard (Danish), Richard (Dutch), Richard, Dick, Rich, Richie, Rick, Rickey, Ricki, Rickie, Ricky, Ritchie (English), Rikhard, Riku (Finnish), Richard (French), Richard (German), Richárd, Rikárd (Hungarian), Risteárd (Irish), Riccardo (Italian), Rihards (Latvian), Ričardas (Lithuanian), Rikard (Norwegian), Ryszard (Polish), Rihard (Slovene), Rikard (Swedish), Rhisiart (Welsh)
Roberto=
Roberta=
Rodrigo= from Germanic Hrodric/Hrēðrīc/Rørik/Hrœrekr (Roderick, Rodrick, Roderich; a compound of hrod ‘renown’ + ric ‘power(ful)’), from the Proto-Germanic *Hrōþirīk(i)az; it was borne by the last of the Visigoth kings and is one of the most common Lusophone personal names of Germanic origin.[[1]]
Rodolfo= Portuguese variation from Ancient Germanic ‘Hrodulf’, ‘Hrolf’, ‘Hrólfr’, Hróðólfr (Ancient Scandinavian), Hrothulf, Hroðulf (Anglo-Saxon), Rudolf (Armenian), Rudolf (Croatian), Rudolf (Czech), Rolf, Rudolf (Danish), Roelof, Rudolf, Rodolf, Roel, Ruud (Dutch), Rolf, Rollo, Rudolph, Rodolph, Rolph, Rudy (English), Rodolphe, Rodolph (French), Rolf, Rudolf, Rodolf, Rudi (German), Ruedi (German (Swiss)), Rudolf, Rudi (Hungarian), Roul (Medieval English), Roul (Medieval French), Rolf, Rudolf (Norwegian), Rudolf (Polish), Rudolf (Russian), Rudolf (Slovene), Rolf, Rudolf, Roffe (Swedish)
Rogério= from Proto-Germanic Hrodger, Hróarr, Hróðgeirr (Ancient Scandinavian), Hroðgar (Anglo-Saxon), used in Western Europe= Roger (Danish), Roger, Rogier, Rutger (Dutch), Roger, Rodge, Rodger (English), Roger (French), Roger, Rüdiger (German), Ruggero, Ruggiero (Italian), Ruth (Limburgish), Roar, Roger (Norwegian), Roger (Swedish)
Rolando, Orlando, Roldão= from Proto-Germanic Hrodland used all over Europe= Roeland, Roland, Roel (Dutch), Roland, Rolland, Roly, Rowland, Rowley (English), Roland (French), Roland (German), Loránd, Lóránt, Roland (Hungarian), Orlando, Rolando (Italian), Rolan (Russian), Rolando, Roldán (Spanish), Roland (Swedish)
Romildo
Ronaldo
Rosalina, Rosalinda= from Ancient Germanic Roslindis. Used in Western Europe
Rui= Equivalent to English Roy (Roderick) from Ancient Germanic Hroderich. Used in Western Europe: Roderic (Catalan), Roderick, Rod, Roddy (English), Rodrigue (French), Rodrigo, Roi (Galician), Rodrigo (Italian), Rodrigo, Ruy (Spanish)
Ubaldo=
Ulrico=
Valkyria=
Wagner=
Waldemar, Valdemar=
Waldevino, Balduíno = from Proto-Germanic Baldovin, Baldwin, used in Western Europe= Boudewijn (Dutch), Baldwin (English), Baudouin (French), Baldovino, Baldo (Italian), Balduino (Spanish), Maldwyn (Welsh)
Waldir
Waldo
Walfredo=
Walter, Valter=
Wanda, Vanda=
Wania, Vânia=
Wilfried, Vilfredo= from Proto-Germanic Willifrid, Wilfrith, Wilfrið (Anglo-Saxon), used in Western Europe= Guifré (Catalan), Vilfred (Danish), Wilfred, Wilfrid, Wil, Wilf (English), Wilfried (German), Vilfredo (Italian) Wilfredo (Spanish)
Wolfgang
Surnames
Abreu= toponymic, from “Avredo” (avi + redo) derived from Gothic ‘avi’ grace and ‘redo’ to give, to offer. See Norman-French Évreux
Afonso= patronymic of the same name
Antunes= patronymic form of Antonio
Aires= Germanic hypocorism of ‘Hari’ or ‘Hêri’ meaning army
Araújo, Araujo= toponymic, from Gothic ‘Ruderic’ [2]
Arouca= toponymic, derived from Frankish or Gaulish *rusk (iris) maybe via old French ‘rouche’
Alencar, Alenquer= toponymic, derived from Ancient Germanic “Alankerk” (Alan + kerk, temple of the Alans) referring to the Alans
Alves, Álvares= patronymic form of Álvaro
Bandeira= from Ancient Germanic *bandwa, band-
Beltrão= patronymic of the same name
Berenguer, Beringer, Berengar= derived from Ancient Germanic ‘Geir’, ‘Ger’ meaning bear and spear (see Geraldo= Gerald)
Bernardes= patronymic form of Bernardo
Branco= from Germanic ‘blank’ (white, fair)
Esteves= patronymic form of Estêvão
Fernandes= patronymic form of Fernando, archaic Fernão
Geraldes, Giraldes= patronymic form of Geraldo
Gonçalves= patronymic form of Gonçalo
Guarda, Guardão= from Germanic ‘wardon’ (to guard, watch)
Guerra= from Gothic ‘wirro’ (war)
Guerrinha= from Gothic ‘wirro’ (war)
Guerreiro= from Gothic ‘wirros’ (warrior)
Gusmão= from Gothic ‘gutsman’ (goodman)
Guterres= patronymic form of Guterre
Henriques= patronymic form of Henrique
Martins= patronymic form of Martim, Martinho
Mendes= patronymic form of Menendo (short form of Hermenergildo)
Moniz= patronymic form of archaic Moninho or Munio
Norberto= patronymic of the same name, from Germanic Nordberctus, elements ‘nort’ (north)+ berth (illustrious)
Nunes= patronymic form of Nuno
Resende, Rezende= toponymic of Resende, from Suebian ‘sinde’ and ‘sende’, derived from the Germanic “sinths” (military expedition)
Ródão= from ancient Germanic H1reiH- ‘flow, river’
Rodrigues= patronymic form of Rodrigo
Roldão= patronymic form of the same name, variant of Roland
Sá= from Germanic ‘sal’ (room, building)
Saavedra= combination of Germanic ‘sal’ + Latin ‘vetus< vetera (old)
Salas= from Germanic ‘sal’ (room, building)
Sousa, Souza= Visigothic toponymic, from archaic ‘Souza’
Velêz, Velez= from Visigothic baptismal name ‘vigila’, also possible patronymic of Vela (Pre-Roman ‘bela’)
Viegas= patronymic form of Egas
abandonar; abandono= “to abandon” ; “abandon”
atacar= “to attack”
abordar= “to attack (a problem)”
bala
balcão= “balcony”
bandeira
bandoleiro= “bandit”
banquete
barão
bébé or bebê(Brazil)= “baby”
bife= “beefsteak”
bigode= “moustache” (from German Bei Gott, “By God”)
bisonte
branco; branca= “white”
bloco; bloquear= “block; to block”
bordar=”to embroider”
bote= “boat”
bramar= “to bellow, roar”
brecha= “breach, opening”
brinde= “toast(with drinks)”
brio= “spirit”, “brio” (Celtic???)
brisa= “breeze” (Old Spanish briza from East Frisian brisen, to blow fresh and strong)
brocha
brotar= “to sprout”
buganvília = “bougainvillea”
burguês= “bourgeoisie”, “member of the middle class”
busca; buscar=”search, find, look for”
carpa “carp”
chocar “to crash, collide”
clube “club, association”
cobalto “cobalt”
comarca “region”
correia= “strap, belt, leash”
dália= dahlia (named for Swedish 18th century botanist Anders Dahl)
dinamarquês= “a Dane, a citizen of the Kingdom of Denmark”
dança; dançar= “dance; to dance”
dardo= “a dart”
debute
dique= “a dikewall”
dólar= “a dollar”
edredão/edredom= “eiderdown”
emboscar= “to ambush”
embraiagem= “clutch”
enriquecer= “get rich”
estampar= “to stamp”
estampida=same as “estampido” bang, beat, blow (sound like a shot)
estandarte
este= “east”
estuco; estuque
feudal
feudo
flibusteiro
filme= movie, picture
filtro; filtrar
flutuar; frota; flotilha
folclore (from English Folklore)
fornido; fornecido
forragem
forrar
framboesa
francês
franco (candid)
franco (money)
franquear=free, no charge, no cost, for free,
frasco=bottle, urn, pot, vase, container
fresco=chilly, icy,freesing, cold
futebol=soccer
gabardine; gabardina
gaita
galante
galardão
galope
gado
ganhar
ganso; gansa
garagem
garantia
garbo
gardênia
garrote
gavião
gravar
gripe, gripa
grisalho
groselha
grupo
gadanha
guarida
guarnição
guerra, germ. warra, lat. bellum
guerrilha
gueto
guia= “a guide”
guiar
guilhotina
guião
grinalda
guisa
guisar
falar
heraldo
inglês
instalar
jardim
lastro
lata
lista
lote
lotaria
lua-de-mel (calque)
maleta
maqui(l)agem
marcar
marcha
marchar
marechal
marquês
marquesa
marta
mascote
mação
mastro
nórdico
normando
norte
oeste= “west”
orgulho = pride
palco
paquete
placa
queque= “cake”
quinquilharia= “old junk”, “cheap antiques shop”
rancho
raça= “race (lineage)” from Italian raza of Gmc origin, akin to OHG rīga, line; OE ræw, row
raspar
rata
ratão
refrescar
refutar (Gmc origin???)
reno
retaguarda
rico
rifa
rifle
riqueza
roubar
roubo
rum
roupa
rufião
rumba
russo
sala
salão
saxofone
sopa
sud- /sul
sueco
suíço
tacha
taco
tacão
talar
tampão
tapa
tapar
tarjeta
teta
teutônico
toalha
toldo
tope
trampa
trégua
trepar
trombone
trompa
trompeta
tropa
trotar
tungstênio (Tungsten)
ufano
vagão
valquíria
valsa
vadio
vandalismo
vândalo
varão
venda
vermute
wagneriano
zinco
aldeia “village” from alḍai`a (or from Edictum Rothari: aldii, aldias)
alface “lettuce” from alkhass
armazém “warehouse” from almakhzan
azeite “olive oil” from azzait
catana “cutlass” from Japanese katana
chá “tea” from Chinese chá.
From Kimbundu came kifumate > cafuné “head caress” (Brazil), kusula > caçula “youngest child” (Brazil), marimbondo “tropical wasp” (Brazil), and kubungula > bungular “to dance like a wizard” (Angola)
From South America came batata “potato”, from Taino;
ananás and abaci from Tupi–Guarani naná and Tupi ibá cati, respectively (two species of pineapple)
pipoca “popcorn”
from Tupi and tucano “toucan” from Guarani tucan.
colchete/crochê: bracket/crochet
paletó “jacket
batom “lipstick
filé/filete “steak”/”slice”,
rua: street
bife: steak
futebol
revólver
estoque: stock
folclore
macarrão: pasta
piloto
carroça: carriage
barrack: barrack
melena: hair lock
fiambre: wet-cured ham (in Portugal, in contrast with presunto “dry-cured ham” from Latin prae-exsuctus “dehydrated”) or “canned ham” (in Brazil, in contrast with non-canned, wet-cured presunto cozido and dry-cured presunto cry)
castelhano: Castilian”, from Spanish melena “mane”, fiambre and castellano.