B1 · The noun
Compound nouns
Your two nouns swap places and a de appears between them — and it is always de.
At a glance
- Remember
- de for nearly everything, para when the purpose counts.
- Form
- escova de dentestoothbrush
- Signal words
- de dentes
- de sol
- de lavar
- de couro
- para vinho
- Trap
- Wrong:Queria um sumo da laranja.Right:Queria um sumo de laranja.
Your turn
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Now write it yourself5 sentences on this topic, typed and checked instantly.
The form
The patterns at a glance
Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in Portuguese.
| toothbrush | escova de dentes |
| sunglasses | óculos de sol |
| washing machine | máquina de lavar |
| wool jacket | casaco de lã |
| glass of wine, wine glass | copo de vinho / para vinho |
| umbrella, umbrellas | guarda-chuva, guarda-chuvas |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
What the thing is comes first.
Comprei uma escova de dentes.I bought a toothbrush.
de carries purpose, material and content at once.
A máquina de lavar está avariada.The washing machine is broken.
para spells out a bare purpose.
Traz dois copos para vinho.Bring two wine glasses.
The second noun takes no article.
Não encontro os óculos de sol.I cannot find the sunglasses.
Example sentences
Esqueci a chave de casa no escritório.I left the house key at the office.
A paragem de autocarro é ali à esquerda.The bus stop is over there on the left.
Ela usa um casaco de lã cinzento.She is wearing a grey wool jacket.
Levo sempre o guarda-chuva no inverno.I always take an umbrella in winter.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The second noun stands bare: no article, no fusion. Sumo de laranja, not da laranja; chave de casa, not da casa. Put an article there and you are no longer naming a kind of thing but a particular one: o sumo da laranja que espremi is the juice of that one orange. English marks the same difference by putting the modifier first — « orange juice » against « the juice of the orange » — so the distinction is familiar; only the machinery is new.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
English puts two nouns together and lets the first one modify the second: « toothbrush », « sunglasses », « bus stop ». Portuguese turns the order round and puts a small word in between. What the thing is comes first: escova de dentes, óculos de sol, paragem de autocarro.
The small word is nearly always de, and here Portuguese is simpler than its neighbours: where French chooses between à and de, and Italian between da and di, Portuguese uses one word for purpose, material and content alike. Máquina de lavar, casaco de lã, copo de vinho.
The price is one ambiguity: um copo de vinho is both the wine glass and the glass of wine — a distinction English makes by word order alone. Where it matters, para spells out the purpose: um copo para vinho is the empty glass in the cupboard.
Some of these have hardened into single hyphenated words and then form their plural on both halves or only on one: guarda-chuva becomes guarda-chuvas, segunda-feira becomes segundas-feiras.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: ser · estar · levar · guardar · usar · comprar · trazer · encontrar