B1 · The noun
Gender that changes meaning
« Capital » is one word in English too — here the article separates the two.
At a glance
- Remember
- A noun without its article is half a noun.
- Form
- o capital / a capitalcapital / capital city
- Signal words
- o capital
- a capital
- o problema
- a viagem
- o leite
- Trap
- Wrong:A problema é outro.Right:O problema é outro.
Your turn
5 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
Now write it yourself4 sentences on this topic, typed and checked instantly.
The form
The forms side by side
All the forms in one overview: first what each one stands for, then the form in Portuguese, so you can compare them directly.
| capital / capital city | o capital / a capital |
| guide, person or book / form, slip | o guia / a guia |
| radio set / radio station | o rádio / a rádio |
| ringleader / head | o cabeça / a cabeça |
| the milk | o leite |
| the journey | a viagem |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
The article decides the meaning.
Lisboa é a capital de Portugal.Lisbon is the capital of Portugal.
With professions only the person changes.
A médica chega às nove.The doctor arrives at nine.
Greek words in -ma are masculine.
O problema é outro.The problem is a different one.
Words in -agem are feminine.
A viagem demorou seis horas.The journey took six hours.
Example sentences
Trabalha numa rádio local desde 2019.She has worked at a local radio station since 2019.
O guia levou-nos ao castelo.The guide took us up to the castle.
Comprei um guia da cidade na estação.I bought a guidebook at the station.
O leite acabou, tenho de ir às compras.The milk has run out, I have to go shopping.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English merges these pairs and leaves the reader to work it out, so there is no habit here to adapt — but there is one to resist. Because English has no gender, the article feels like decoration, and it is not: in o capital and a capital it carries the entire difference between money and a city. The rule that follows is simple and uncomfortable: a noun is learnt with its article or it is not learnt.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
A small group of words exists twice, and only the article says which is meant: o capitalis capital in the financial sensea capitalis the capital city English has the same collision and no way out of it: one word, two meanings, and the sentence has to sort it out.
There are not many, but they come up: o guia (the guide, the person and the book alike) against a guia (a form, a delivery or payment slip); o rádio (the set) against a rádio (the station); o cabeça (the ringleader) against a cabeça (the head).
With people it is usually harmless and regular: o médico and a médica are the same job in two genders. The trap is the words where the thing changes rather than the person.
And there are words whose gender simply does not match the English instinct, which is a strange thing to say about a language with no gender — but every English speaker carries one anyway, borrowed from the shape of the word. O leite, o sangue, a viagem, o problema, o mapa all break it.
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