PORTUGUESE DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES

Hello Everybody! In continuation of this series I will show you basic topics about Portuguese articles. See the table below.

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ARTIGOS DEFINIDOS	ARTIGOS INDEFINIDOS
O Os A As	Um Uns Uma Umas

Definite articles are used to indicate that a thing is unique in some way. Indefinite articles are used to indicate that a thing is not identified as unique. Let's see some examples:

"Este é o carro que eu quero comprar."
[This is the car I want to buy.]

"Eu só quero comprar um carro."
[I just want to buy a car.]

Note that the first phrase refers to a specific car and not any car, so we use the definite article. But the second phrase refers to any car, so we use the indefinite article.

In Portuguese the article must agree in gender and number with the noun. For example, the noun "livro" [book] is a masculine word in Portuguese, so let's see how can we use the article in this case:

"o livro" [the book]
"os livros" [the books]
"um livro" [a book]
"uns livros" [some books]

You could see that "o" is the masculine definite article and its plural form is "os". Also "um" is the masculine indefinite article and its plural form is "uns". Now let's see some examples with the feminine articles "a" (definite singular), "as" (definite plural), "uma" (indefinite singular), "umas" (indefinite plural):

"a casa" [the house]
"as casas" [the houses]
"uma casa" [a house]
"umas casas" [some houses]


Now ... let's see if you could understand ... =D
... Can you fill in the gaps?

1.   mãe [the mother]
2.   menino [a boy]
3.   irmãos [the brothers]
4.   meninas [the girls] 

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