B1 · The prepositions
Adjectives + preposition
Three prepositions carry nearly all of them, and yours is no guide.
At a glance
- Remember
- An adjective without its preposition is half an adjective.
- Form
- cheio defull of
- Signal words
- cheio de
- capaz de
- parecido com
- pronto para
- Trap
- Wrong:Ela está orgulhosa ao trabalho que fez.Right:Ela está orgulhosa do trabalho que fez.
Your turn
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The form
The forms and what they mean
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Portuguese.
| full of | cheio de |
| capable of | capaz de |
| similar to | parecido com |
| worried about | preocupado com |
| interested in | interessado em |
| ready for | pronto para |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
de is the commonest.
O copo está cheio de água.The glass is full of water.
com stands with feelings towards somebody.
Está preocupada com o filho.She is worried about her son.
em stands with interest and ability.
Ele é bom em matemática.He is good at mathematics.
para stands with purpose and readiness.
Já estamos prontos para sair.We are ready to leave.
Example sentences
Ele é muito parecido com o pai.He looks very like his father.
Estou interessada em aprender português.I am interested in learning Portuguese.
Ela está orgulhosa do trabalho que fez.She is proud of the work she did.
Não sou capaz de decidir isto sozinho.I cannot decide this on my own.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
« Proud of » does not become orgulhoso a — but nor does the English preposition tell you it should be de, since « worried about » becomes com in the same breath. The preposition belongs to the word and not to the idea, so an adjective is learnt with it, the way a noun is learnt with its article.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Many adjectives demand a fixed preposition, and it is rarely the English one: cheio de(full of)capaz de(capable of)parecido com(similar to)preocupado com(worried about)interessado em(interested in)
Three prepositions carry nearly all of them: de, com, em. That is the useful shape of the list. English spreads the same job across « of », « to », « about », « in », « at », « with » and « for », so there is no mapping to memorise — there is a shorter list to learn on its own terms.
Look at where your instinct helps and where it does not. « Full of » is cheio de and « interested in » is interessado em — both land. But « similar to » is parecido com, « worried about » is preocupado com, and « proud of » is orgulhoso de: com takes over most of what English spends on « to » and « about ».
The same holds for nouns: a razão de, o medo de, a vontade de, a resposta a. A noun learnt without its preposition cannot be put in a sentence.
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