Summary p232

232 CONYHRSATIONAL PORTUGUESE

7. THE DEFINITE ARTICLE

	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Masculine	0	os
Feminine	a SINGULAR	as
o menino	the boy
a menina	the girl
	PLURAL
os me ni nos	the boys
as meninas	the girls

1. The definite article is also used:

a.    with abstract nouns:

A verdade vale mais Truth is worth que o dinheiro.    morę than money.

b.    with nouns used in a generał sense:

A mułher brasileira    Brazilian women dress

veste (-se) bem.    welł.

As mulheres americanas American women dress vestem (-se) bem*    well.

O óleo e muito util.    Oil is very usefuł.

c.    with the names of languages (except when immediately after falar, de, or em; the article is often not used with languages in some situa-tions):

O portugues e fdcii    Portuguese is easy.

Falo ingles.    1 speak English.

Tenho um livro de    I have a Spanish book.

espanhol.

d.    with expressions of time:

a semana passada    last week

as duas horas    at two o’clock

e.    with days of the week:

na segunda-feira    on Monday

f.    with the seasons:

a primavera    spring

(Primavera

g.    with the names of most countries (but not with Portugal) and with other geographical names:

o Brasil    Brazil

a Italia    Italy

a Africa    Africa

h.    with first names at times:

o Carlos    Charles

L with titles or other words modifying a proper noun:

Ele jantou com o    He dined with

professor Sifoa.    Professor Silva.

O senhor Ramos nao    Mr. Ramos is not home.

esta em casa.

j. with possessive pronouns and adjectives (Brazil uses the article less with posse$sive adjectives than does Portugal):

Este¹ nao e (o) meu This is not my lenęo; e o seu.    handkerchief; it^łs

yours.

1

este 0.