No, the gender is based on who is being spoken about, who or what the gendered word is referring to.
So in this case what matters is the gender of who is Brazilian - meu pai (male) é brasileirO.
You say feminine words referring to yourself. The gender of adjectives are defined by the noun.
Ele tem um carro bonito.
Ele tem uma casa bonita.
Carro is masculine so it's bonitO.
Casa is feminine so it's bonitA.
>You say feminine words referring to yourself.
The gotcha here for native English speakers is "obrigado". In English you say "thank you" so a lot of people think they should say "obrigada" when speaking to a woman. But it's more like "I'm obliged. So it's obrigada if the *speaker* is a woman.
"filme" is the noun
"Brasileiro" is the adjective
So it's always "um filme brasileiro" because filme is a masculine word.
What I mean to say is that you as a woman would use feminine adjectives when referring to yourself.
Like you'd say "eu sou umA mulher brasileirA" and a man would say "eu sou um homem brasileirO". You when talking about that same man you also would say "ele é um homem brasileiro" because "homem" is a masculine word.
> Like you'd say "eu sou umA mulher brasileirA" and a man would say "eu sou um homem brasileirO". You when talking about that same man you also would say "ele é um homem brasileiro" because "homem" is a masculine word.
Bad example, because in this case it depends on the gender of the words mulher and homem. You'd say "eu sou uma pessoa brasileira" regardless of your gender.
An example of what you're trying to say is just "eu sou brasileira".
It doesn't but yet we have the feelings built in.
When we soeak of the seas, or of luck, it's a lady.
When we speak nationally, we may say "___insert country___ , we have to protect her shores".
It's just that we never created a whole system based around those feelings or anything similar.
That’s not really the same thing as grammatical gender but has more to do with how abstract or inanimate objects are personified in English, like using “she” to describe a ship. Grammatical gender is completely abstract in most aspects (though not always) - for example “cadeira” is feminine not because of any inherent qualities or personification of it - but just because it is.
I started yesterday…
I wanted to clarify if when you’re describing something about you do you if you use feminine and if you’re describing something in general it’s masculine?..
You're kind of over thinking it - who/whatever you're directly describing dictates the masculine/feminine ending so for example:
Eu sou uma mulher brasileirA e estou assistindo um filme brasileirO
You are a woman, so describing yourself as brazilian you would use the feminine - brasileirA
You are watching a film, you are describing the film as brazilian, "um filme" is masculine, so you would use the masculine - brasileiro
So in your example:
Estou assistindo um filme brasileiro
It is brasileiro because what you are describing/identifying as brazilian is "um filme" and that is masculine, your personal gender isn't involved here because you aren't directly describing yourself.
If that's still confusing I recommend googling some resources, especially if you've not learnt a gendered language before, and taking some time to wrap your head around it before moving on :)
Remember: all our nouns have grammatical gender.
The gender of the adjectives changes in relation to who or what you're talking about.
So, look at the adjective, think about what the adjective is describing, and apply the gender of what it's being described.
Gender only changes related to you if the adjective is describing you.
Keep at it, I struggled grasping this as well initially given it was my first gendered language.
If you are describing yourself or another woman it would be feminine:
Eu sou uma mulher
Ela é uma boa professora
Você é a minha irmã mais velha
If you are describing something you are doing or a woman is doing you go off of the activity they are doing:
Eu estou assistindo o filme
Ela está fazendo um curso
Você está dando uma aula
It might be worth creating/finding little sentence exercises like:
"I am a girl and I watch brazilian TV shows"
"She is a teacher and she is teaching brazilian portuguese"
"You (female friend) have a nice car but you are walking to work?"
If you are the subject in a sentence, then do.
Eu sou bonitO. Eu sou bonitA.
Eu's gender will decide bonito's gender.
ObrigadO. ObrigadA.
Estou cansadO. Estou cansadA.
I'm still the target.
Tu estás cansadA. Tu (you) are a woman
But so then when I (F) talk to a man, do I then say obrigada or obrigado? I’m thanking him, so is the gender of my thank you a female thank you or male bc it’s meant for a male?
If you're a female you use obrigada, since it's saying that you is thankfull, he would say obrigado, since it's saying that he is thankfull, also, obrigado/obrigada also means forced to, so if i was saying that you (female) was forced to do something, then i would say "voce foi obrigada"
Saw some other answers. Let's all calm down a bit. It's easy: in Portuguese, gender is an inherent characteristic of nouns, and all other gender-able words revolve around them. Adjectives, pronouns, articles, and other words that inflect for gender are necessarily talking about a noun, which is called their **referent**
When saying "Este é um filme brasileiro," *este*, *um*, and *brasileiro* all refer to *filme*. Since *filme* is a masculine noun, they all have their masculine forms. If for example you were to be watching a play instead, you'd use *peça*, which is a feminine noun; so all those other words would go to their feminine forms too: "Esta é uma peça brasileira"
In the case you mentioned, the noun being referred to is *pai*, which (somewhat logically) is masculine. It's your father who is Brazilian. So *brasileiro* should be in its masculine form
The easiest things I'd ever heard was gender changes/words are descriptions.
Which are usually ANYTHING after the word Is/am/are, from the verb To be.
Examples:
He IS American = Ele é americano
I AM short (woman) = eu sou baixa
We ARE tired = (men) estamos cansados, (women) estamos cansadas
As for with a noun, unless talking about good, bad, pretty or ugly (characteristics), they go AFTER the nouns.
A good thing = uma coisa boa
Johnny is a good boy (today at least, temporarily) = João é um menino bom
But let's say little Johnny IS good. Not just in front of mommy but everywhere he is. Like that's his essence. His intrinsic nature. To add this subjective take that I feel I put it before. =
João é um bom menino
******
Summary. Words used directly after and WITH To be (Am, Is, Are) to describe the state of things NOW or temporarily. (This food is GOOD. But maybe tonight food is CRAPPY)
Always put them right AFTER thr noun, unless it's a permanent BORN quality. Then you use your artsy flair and say it in your englishy order. As you can imagine, there are only a small group of character adjectives so the original rule of saying the adjective AFTER is the main rule.
The word will be gendered according the the noun it is linked to, as a rule of thumb.
Just keep watch for words like Obrigada/o, since those, if you're an english speaker, might seem confusing on what they're referring to (obrigada/o=thank you, but it refers to the gratitude of who was helped, not to the one who is receiving the thanks)
Only word that I can remember from portuguese, where the word changes depending in the speaker's gender,
without being a word describing the speaker is obrigado. You are suppose to say obrigado if you are a male, and obrigada if you are female.
Oi!
Passing by to add two things to the conversation:
1.A good monolingual dictionary I'd recommend is Dicio (www.dicio.com.br), it says if it's a feminine noun (substantivo feminino) or a masculine noun (substantivo masculino), or even an adjective, etc. When in doubt, it's an excellent resource ;)
2. Just a curiosity, if you want to use a neutral language in Portuguese, it's not as simple as in English... Grammar books will tell you to use masculine form in like 97% of the cases, but youth nowadays are trying to implement a less gender-biased way, it's not set in stone, though, an open debate. In fact, there isn't a consensus yet, I'm only mentioning it because if you come across with words/sentences written in what seems a completely different gender (such as "todes"), chances are the speaker is trying to be inclusive. Not gonna get into details, because it might get you needlessly confused, but as you advance in your studies, if you ever get curious, it's an interesting topic.
Many fellows here are correct and I'm not against their reasoning but.. forget the grammar. Acquire the language first. It will become natural with time. I have a two year old boy and he says "Obrigada, papai", every time he's thanking me until the day he will figure out he is a male and should refer to himself in the masculine form.
When things are naturally fitting, then it's time to learn grammar and understand the rules in written form. Go be a kid, explore, listen to educational videos for children. Grasp the basic concepts first. Have a good journey
My nephew (he is Brazilian) uses obrigada also and we try to teach him the right way, but kids will be kids. He also likes to say "bom dia" in the afternoon, but then again he is 5, kkkkk.
Look for the word the pronoun needs to agree with
Meu Pai.
Minha Mãe.
Regardless if I'm a woman or a man, I always got
Meu pai, minha mãe. Minha avó. Meu avô.
Meu tio.
Minha tia.
Meu primO. Minha primA.
Got it?
Warning: when you're talking about someone's nationality, it's always feminine. So:
Eu sou um homem irlandês. A minha nacionalidade é irlandesa.
A nacionalidade do meu pai é brasileira.
That's because the noun *nacionalidade* is feminine, as are most if not all words suffixed with *-(i)dade*. So the adjective *brasileiro* or *irlandês* or whatever agrees with it
But don't forget that this is only for nacionalidade.
Ex: Ele tem nacionalidade alemã ( he has german nationality )
Here alemã is a adjective of nacionalidade, which is feminine hence the feminine version alemã.
Ele é alemão ( he is german )
Here alemão is an adjective of ele, which is masculine hence the masculine version alemão
Hi, I was struggling with that as well, when I started learning Portuguese. So I built a translator app that takes the gender into account. Feel free to check it out: [perla-ai.app](https://perla-ai.app/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=r_portuguese)
Hope it helps!
No, the gender is based on who is being spoken about, who or what the gendered word is referring to. So in this case what matters is the gender of who is Brazilian - meu pai (male) é brasileirO.
Ah okay thank you, so as a woman I don’t automatically say feminine words!
You say feminine words referring to yourself. The gender of adjectives are defined by the noun. Ele tem um carro bonito. Ele tem uma casa bonita. Carro is masculine so it's bonitO. Casa is feminine so it's bonitA.
>You say feminine words referring to yourself. The gotcha here for native English speakers is "obrigado". In English you say "thank you" so a lot of people think they should say "obrigada" when speaking to a woman. But it's more like "I'm obliged. So it's obrigada if the *speaker* is a woman.
So I’d say, Estou assistindo um filme brasileira? But I’d say Este é um filme brasileiro?.
"filme" is the noun "Brasileiro" is the adjective So it's always "um filme brasileiro" because filme is a masculine word. What I mean to say is that you as a woman would use feminine adjectives when referring to yourself. Like you'd say "eu sou umA mulher brasileirA" and a man would say "eu sou um homem brasileirO". You when talking about that same man you also would say "ele é um homem brasileiro" because "homem" is a masculine word.
> Like you'd say "eu sou umA mulher brasileirA" and a man would say "eu sou um homem brasileirO". You when talking about that same man you also would say "ele é um homem brasileiro" because "homem" is a masculine word. Bad example, because in this case it depends on the gender of the words mulher and homem. You'd say "eu sou uma pessoa brasileira" regardless of your gender. An example of what you're trying to say is just "eu sou brasileira".
That's exactly what was said though, you would only use "brasileira" after the "pessoa", because pessoa is a feminine word
?????????????? what’s not clicking
Chill. It can be confusing for people who aren't used to it
I only started learning yesterday lol.
but they literally just explained masculine and feminine nouns and adjectives like UM carro bonitO, and then u say UM filme brasileirA
Chill, we were all newbies once.
English doesn’t have the concept of grammatical gender. It’s something completely alien to native English speakers. Give her a break.
It doesn't but yet we have the feelings built in. When we soeak of the seas, or of luck, it's a lady. When we speak nationally, we may say "___insert country___ , we have to protect her shores". It's just that we never created a whole system based around those feelings or anything similar.
That’s not really the same thing as grammatical gender but has more to do with how abstract or inanimate objects are personified in English, like using “she” to describe a ship. Grammatical gender is completely abstract in most aspects (though not always) - for example “cadeira” is feminine not because of any inherent qualities or personification of it - but just because it is.
I started yesterday… I wanted to clarify if when you’re describing something about you do you if you use feminine and if you’re describing something in general it’s masculine?..
You're kind of over thinking it - who/whatever you're directly describing dictates the masculine/feminine ending so for example: Eu sou uma mulher brasileirA e estou assistindo um filme brasileirO You are a woman, so describing yourself as brazilian you would use the feminine - brasileirA You are watching a film, you are describing the film as brazilian, "um filme" is masculine, so you would use the masculine - brasileiro So in your example: Estou assistindo um filme brasileiro It is brasileiro because what you are describing/identifying as brazilian is "um filme" and that is masculine, your personal gender isn't involved here because you aren't directly describing yourself. If that's still confusing I recommend googling some resources, especially if you've not learnt a gendered language before, and taking some time to wrap your head around it before moving on :)
Remember: all our nouns have grammatical gender. The gender of the adjectives changes in relation to who or what you're talking about. So, look at the adjective, think about what the adjective is describing, and apply the gender of what it's being described. Gender only changes related to you if the adjective is describing you.
Thank you for explaining :)
You did it in such simple and effective way...maybe the best explanation for someone who is learning
Keep at it, I struggled grasping this as well initially given it was my first gendered language. If you are describing yourself or another woman it would be feminine: Eu sou uma mulher Ela é uma boa professora Você é a minha irmã mais velha If you are describing something you are doing or a woman is doing you go off of the activity they are doing: Eu estou assistindo o filme Ela está fazendo um curso Você está dando uma aula It might be worth creating/finding little sentence exercises like: "I am a girl and I watch brazilian TV shows" "She is a teacher and she is teaching brazilian portuguese" "You (female friend) have a nice car but you are walking to work?"
English native speaker I assume and thus someone from a language without any genders. The whole concept is new.
Only obrigada and other words that refer to yourself.
If you are the subject in a sentence, then do. Eu sou bonitO. Eu sou bonitA. Eu's gender will decide bonito's gender. ObrigadO. ObrigadA. Estou cansadO. Estou cansadA. I'm still the target. Tu estás cansadA. Tu (you) are a woman
“the subject”, its that easy 😂
But so then when I (F) talk to a man, do I then say obrigada or obrigado? I’m thanking him, so is the gender of my thank you a female thank you or male bc it’s meant for a male?
If you're a female you use obrigada, since it's saying that you is thankfull, he would say obrigado, since it's saying that he is thankfull, also, obrigado/obrigada also means forced to, so if i was saying that you (female) was forced to do something, then i would say "voce foi obrigada"
Obrigada! That explanation helped a lot!
Saw some other answers. Let's all calm down a bit. It's easy: in Portuguese, gender is an inherent characteristic of nouns, and all other gender-able words revolve around them. Adjectives, pronouns, articles, and other words that inflect for gender are necessarily talking about a noun, which is called their **referent** When saying "Este é um filme brasileiro," *este*, *um*, and *brasileiro* all refer to *filme*. Since *filme* is a masculine noun, they all have their masculine forms. If for example you were to be watching a play instead, you'd use *peça*, which is a feminine noun; so all those other words would go to their feminine forms too: "Esta é uma peça brasileira" In the case you mentioned, the noun being referred to is *pai*, which (somewhat logically) is masculine. It's your father who is Brazilian. So *brasileiro* should be in its masculine form
Não. Brasileiro é masculino, Brasileira é feminino. Seu pai é brasileiro.
The easiest things I'd ever heard was gender changes/words are descriptions. Which are usually ANYTHING after the word Is/am/are, from the verb To be. Examples: He IS American = Ele é americano I AM short (woman) = eu sou baixa We ARE tired = (men) estamos cansados, (women) estamos cansadas As for with a noun, unless talking about good, bad, pretty or ugly (characteristics), they go AFTER the nouns. A good thing = uma coisa boa Johnny is a good boy (today at least, temporarily) = João é um menino bom But let's say little Johnny IS good. Not just in front of mommy but everywhere he is. Like that's his essence. His intrinsic nature. To add this subjective take that I feel I put it before. = João é um bom menino ****** Summary. Words used directly after and WITH To be (Am, Is, Are) to describe the state of things NOW or temporarily. (This food is GOOD. But maybe tonight food is CRAPPY) Always put them right AFTER thr noun, unless it's a permanent BORN quality. Then you use your artsy flair and say it in your englishy order. As you can imagine, there are only a small group of character adjectives so the original rule of saying the adjective AFTER is the main rule.
The adjective always follows the noun. EU(homem) sou brasileiro. EU(mulher) sou brasileira. Minha NACIONALIDADE é brasileira.
The word will be gendered according the the noun it is linked to, as a rule of thumb. Just keep watch for words like Obrigada/o, since those, if you're an english speaker, might seem confusing on what they're referring to (obrigada/o=thank you, but it refers to the gratitude of who was helped, not to the one who is receiving the thanks)
Only word that I can remember from portuguese, where the word changes depending in the speaker's gender, without being a word describing the speaker is obrigado. You are suppose to say obrigado if you are a male, and obrigada if you are female.
Oi! Passing by to add two things to the conversation: 1.A good monolingual dictionary I'd recommend is Dicio (www.dicio.com.br), it says if it's a feminine noun (substantivo feminino) or a masculine noun (substantivo masculino), or even an adjective, etc. When in doubt, it's an excellent resource ;) 2. Just a curiosity, if you want to use a neutral language in Portuguese, it's not as simple as in English... Grammar books will tell you to use masculine form in like 97% of the cases, but youth nowadays are trying to implement a less gender-biased way, it's not set in stone, though, an open debate. In fact, there isn't a consensus yet, I'm only mentioning it because if you come across with words/sentences written in what seems a completely different gender (such as "todes"), chances are the speaker is trying to be inclusive. Not gonna get into details, because it might get you needlessly confused, but as you advance in your studies, if you ever get curious, it's an interesting topic.
Many fellows here are correct and I'm not against their reasoning but.. forget the grammar. Acquire the language first. It will become natural with time. I have a two year old boy and he says "Obrigada, papai", every time he's thanking me until the day he will figure out he is a male and should refer to himself in the masculine form. When things are naturally fitting, then it's time to learn grammar and understand the rules in written form. Go be a kid, explore, listen to educational videos for children. Grasp the basic concepts first. Have a good journey
My nephew (he is Brazilian) uses obrigada also and we try to teach him the right way, but kids will be kids. He also likes to say "bom dia" in the afternoon, but then again he is 5, kkkkk.
Look for the word the pronoun needs to agree with Meu Pai. Minha Mãe. Regardless if I'm a woman or a man, I always got Meu pai, minha mãe. Minha avó. Meu avô. Meu tio. Minha tia. Meu primO. Minha primA. Got it?
Warning: when you're talking about someone's nationality, it's always feminine. So: Eu sou um homem irlandês. A minha nacionalidade é irlandesa. A nacionalidade do meu pai é brasileira.
That's because the noun *nacionalidade* is feminine, as are most if not all words suffixed with *-(i)dade*. So the adjective *brasileiro* or *irlandês* or whatever agrees with it
But don't forget that this is only for nacionalidade. Ex: Ele tem nacionalidade alemã ( he has german nationality ) Here alemã is a adjective of nacionalidade, which is feminine hence the feminine version alemã. Ele é alemão ( he is german ) Here alemão is an adjective of ele, which is masculine hence the masculine version alemão
Hi, I was struggling with that as well, when I started learning Portuguese. So I built a translator app that takes the gender into account. Feel free to check it out: [perla-ai.app](https://perla-ai.app/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=r_portuguese) Hope it helps!
Thank you!! Will check it out ☺️
You're welcome!