3 Plural rules in Portuguese

You probably already know the basic rule of putting the letter “s” at the end of a word to form its plural in Portuguese.

However what you may not know is that this rule only applies to words ending in a vowel, such as “casa, menina, pessoa”, for example. So we have: casas, meninas and pessoas.” Easy right?

But what if the word ends in a consonant, how do you do it?

In this article you will learn 3 other ways to create the plural here in Brazil.

Portuguese for beginners

Learn From Scratch

Plural Rule 1: Words ending in R or Z

WHEN THE WORD ENDS IN “R” OR “Z” MUST ADD “ES” AT THE END:

Ex.: colher > colheres / dólar > dólares / raiz > raízes

Ex.: spoon > spoons / dollar > dollars / root > root

Portuguese Free trial class

Rule 2: Words ending in M

IN THE CASE OF WORDS ENDING WITH THE LETTER “M”, THE “M” IS REPLACED BY “NS”:

Ex.: nuvem > nuvens / som > sons / item > itens

Ex.: cloud > clouds / sound > sounds / item > items

Rule 3: Words ending in S

AND WHEN THE WORD ENDS WITH THE LETTER S, LIKE “GAS” OR “PORTUGUESE”, WHAT SHOULD WE DO? IN THIS CASE, WE MUST JUST ADD “ES” TO THE END OF THE WORD:

Ex.: gás > gases / português > portugueses / mês > meses

Ex.: gas > gases / Portuguese > Portuguese / month > months

*NOTE: THERE ARE SOME EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE. FOR EXAMPLE, WORDS LIKE “PIRES, ATLAS E ÔNIBUS ARE INVARIABLE.

Ex.: o pires > os pires / o atlas > os atlas / o ônibus > os ônibus.

Ex.: the saucer > the saucers / the atlas > the atlas / the bus > the buses.

Access the full lesson

I have prepared a special class about plural rules in Portuguese. The content of this article is part of this class. If you want to learn more click here and have access to the complete and exclusive content, as well as Flashcards and exercises. You can also download the PDF of the lesson to continue studying and learn faster.