Learn about augmentatives in Portuguese
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| Michael: What are augmentatives? |
| Ana Clara: And how do you use them in Portuguese? |
| Michael: At PortuguesePod101.com, we hear these questions often. |
| In the following situation, Paula Pereira, has recently bought a new car. She's showing it off to her friend, saying, |
| "Look! My new car!" |
| Paula Pereira: Veja! Meu carro novo! |
| Paula Pereira: Veja! Meu carro novo! |
| Ben Lee: Que carrão! |
| Michael: Once again with the English translation |
| Paula Pereira: Veja! Meu carro novo! |
| Michael: "Look! My new car!" |
| Ben Lee: Que carrão! |
| Michael: "What a car!" |
| Michael: Note how Ben says, |
| Ana Clara: carrão, |
| Michael: instead of |
| Ana Clara: carro. |
| Michael: Both mean "car," but |
| Ana Clara: carrão |
| Michael: ends with the suffix, |
| Ana Clara: -ão, |
| Michael: Instead of the usual ending, |
| Ana Clara: -o. |
| Michael: This form is called the augmentative, and it's attached to nouns to make them seem bigger, better, more important or more extreme than they usually are. In this case, Ben wants to express how impressive Paula's new car is. |
| Michael: The ending, |
| Ana Clara: -ão, |
| Michael: is used to turn masculine nouns into augmentative nouns, like in the above example. To change a feminine noun into an augmentative noun, the suffix, |
| Ana Clara: -ona |
| Michael: Is used instead. For example, to change |
| Ana Clara: mesa, |
| Michael: meaning "table," into "big table," the final letter is replaced with |
| Ana Clara: -ona. |
| Michael: To make |
| Ana Clara: mesona. |
| Michael: So far we have learned that the augmentatives are expressive suffixes that emphasize large size or importance. We can create an augmentative noun with the suffix, |
| Ana Clara: -ão |
| Michael: at the end of the masculine noun or the suffix, |
| Ana Clara: -ona |
| Michael: at the end of a feminine noun. These suffixes work for adjectives too. |
| Michael: Now let's look at some examples. First is |
| Ana Clara: Gatão. Gatão. |
| Michael: "A big cat." As is often the case with augmentative forms, it's also used as a slang expression. In this case, it means "pretty" or "handsome." The next example is |
| Ana Clara: Janelona. Janelona. |
| Michael: "A big window." These suffixes can also be used with adjectives, for example, |
| Ana Clara: Grandão. Grandão. |
| Michael: Is the masculine form of "pretty big," while |
| Ana Clara: Grandona. Grandona. |
| Michael: Is the feminine form. |
| Michael: The suffix, |
| Ana Clara: -ão, |
| Michael: is used to form augmentatives, but that doesn't mean all words ending with |
| Ana Clara: -ão are augmentatives. For example, |
| Ana Clara: furão |
| Michael: means "a ferret," and is not augmented. Furthermore, while Portuguese has two main augmentative suffixes, there are some less common ones, such as |
| Ana Clara: -zarrão |
| Michael: for masculine nouns and |
| Ana Clara: -zona |
| Michael: for feminine ones. An example is |
| Ana Clara: homem |
| Michael: or "man," which becomes |
| Ana Clara: homenzarrão |
| Michael: in its augmentative form. Also, the aforementioned word for "cat" has two alternative augmentative forms: |
| Ana Clara: gatão |
| Michael: and |
| Ana Clara: gatarrão. |
| Michael: Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after the Portuguese speaker, focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how Ben Lee says, |
| "What a car!" |
| Ana Clara as Ben Lee: Que carrão! |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Ana Clara as Ben Lee: Que carrão! |
| Ana Clara as Ben Lee: Que carrão! |
| Michael: Aside from expressing big size, the augmentatives often carry negative connotations. These, however, may differ in European and Brazilian Portuguese. For example, |
| Ana Clara: mulherão, |
| Michael: or "a big woman," could be offensive in European Portuguese, but suggests attractiveness in colloquial Brazilian Portuguese. This illustrates well how augmentatives may sound differently depending on the context and speaker's intention. Did you notice how the feminine noun, |
| Ana Clara: mulher, |
| Michael: a feminine noun, uses the masculine suffix here and becomes |
| Ana Clara: mulherão? |
| Michael: This happens too, sometimes. There is a second, less popular alternative though, |
| Ana Clara: mulherona. |
| Michael: Great job. Now you know how to use augmentatives in Portuguese. That's all there is to it! |
| Be sure to download the lesson notes for this lesson at PortuguesePod101.com — and move onto the next lesson. |
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