oceans, as well as mountains and mountain ranges. For example: o Tejo, o Douro, o Mar Mediterrâneo, o Oceano Atlântico, a Serra da Estrela. It’s when we get to the names of countries and cities that it gets trickier and more arbitrary. Put simply, some countries and cities always have an article and others never do.
bands from Spain, Guatemala, the US, Brazil, and Portugal to Braga with the two-day festival featuring Carnage, Bria Cross, Krewella, Gunz for Hire, Habstrakt, and Sefa. July finishes with Iron Maiden bringing their Legacy of the Beast World Tour to Estádio Nacional, Oeiras, on the 31st. Concerts dwindle in August, with Clutch playing at Hard Club in Porto on the 1st and then Capitólio in Lisbon on the 2nd, and Brazilian Luan Santana playing at the Super Bock Arena on the 18th and 19th followed by Altice Arena on the 20th. The Super Bock Arena in Porto also hosts Natiruts on the 27th. Festivals continue, though, with Pedro Sampaio, Profjam, Major Lazar, Timmy Trumpet, Guilia B, Masego, DJ Telo, Calema, Steve Aoki, and Bispo headlining Portugal’s Glastonbury MEO Sudoeste at Zambujeira do Mar between the 3rd and the 6th. A week later, the festival train pulls up in Costa Caparica for O Sol da Caparica between the 11th and the 15th, which focuses on Portuguese bands and singers including Calema, Clã, Ferdinando Daniel, Djodje, Piruka, Richie Cambell, Branko, Diogo Piçarra, Mishlawi, Nelson Freitas, Bárbara Bandeira, Carlão, José Cid, and Tiago Bettencourt.
We’re going to tackle an issue that may seem a little complicated at first glance, but it’s actually very simple: when should you use definite articles before proper nouns? What is a “definite article?” In English, it would be the word “the” which we normally use before a noun whose identity we know. For example, right now you’re not just reading any magazine, you’re reading THE goto magazine for Portugal living!
In Portuguese, unlike English, words typically have gender: masculine or feminine. This means that we have a masculine and feminine version of the word “the”—o and a which are used before a masculine or feminine noun, respectively. For example, o carro and a senhora. Each of these The train then moves up to the far north articles also has a plural version of Portugal, with two back-to-back formed by adding an s: -os before a festivals. On the 16th–20th, The Pixies, plural masculine noun and -as before Idles, Slowthai, and BadBadNotGood a plural feminine noun: os carros and headline Vodafone Paredes de Coura, as senhoras. and EDP Vilar de Mouros features It’s easy to use definite articles Placebo, Suede, Gary Newman, Limp before nouns like “car” or “tree,” since Bizkit, Hoobastank, Iggy Pop, and th th it works the same way in Portuguese Bauhaus, between the 25 and 27 . as it does in English. But what about These dates are correct at the time of before proper nouns? If we’re talking writing. Please check the venue, festival, or about people’s names, the answer band websites to confirm dates and times is very simple: we always use the closer to the events. article. It might sound weird, but Viva a música! when talking about Peter, we say o Pedro (the Peter). For example: “Peter eats a salad” translates as O Pedro Compiled by Brian Elliott, come uma salada. a Brit in central Lisboa. We also always use the articles when talking about rivers, lakes, seas, and
Although, to a lesser extent, the same thing happens in English: we say “the United States” but we don’t say “the Canada.” Usually, this happens because compound names have an article and singleword names don’t. In Portuguese, the same logic (more or less) applies: Compound country names always have an article, while singleword names usually don’t; but there are exceptions, and the only way about it is by learning the names with their respective articles by heart. For example, we say Portugal or Espanha; but we say a Alemanha and o Canadá. As for cities, most city names don’t have any articles, except for a few exceptions like the city of Porto (o Porto). Interestingly, the English name for the city of Porto, Oporto, is actually a mistranslation where the article o was thought to be a part of the name! I hope this helps you better understand when to use and not to use definite articles before proper nouns. The biggest takeaway is this: weird as it sounds, always use the definite article before a person’s name … except when talking directly to him (or her). With humor and personality, Leo Coelho helps those with a basic facility in Portuguese to speak the language more confidently. Follow him at: http://www.youtube.com/ PortugueseWithLeo. Summer 2022 71
