0.2.3 Possession

Question 2

Translate to Portuguese:

my money

Answer 2

meu dinheiro

“my” = meu (m.) (singular)

Possessive Adjectives

• my (singular) = meu (m.) / minha (f.)
• your (singular) = seu (m.) / sua (f.)
• his / her (singular) = seu (m.) / sua (f.)
• our (singular) = nosso (m.) / nossa (f.)
• their (plural) = seus (m.) / suas (f.)

Note that in English, possessives don’t change based on the gender of the object, whereas in Portuguese, they do. So, as in this example, “money” (dinheiro) is masculine, so we say meu dinheiro.

Question 3

Translate to Portuguese

my cute cat Natalina

Answer 3

minha gata fofa Natalina

“my” = minha (f.) (singular)

Minha is used with feminine nouns, e.g., minha casa (“my house”). For the plural, add -s → minhas.

Question 4

Translate to Portuguese:

my two cars

Answer 4

meus dois carros

“my” = meus (plural)

Use meus when you want to talk about masculine or mixed/neutral groups.

Question 5

Translate to Portuguese:

your passport

(informal)

Answer 5

teu passaporte

“your” = teu (m.) (singular) (informal)

Note that teu matches the noun’s gender, not the person who owns it,
e.g., teu passaporte (“passport” = masculine), tua gata (“cat” = feminine).

Question 6

Translate to Portuguese:

your passport

(formal)

Answer 6

seu passaporte

“your” = seu (m.) (singular) (formal)

Note that seu matches the noun’s gender, not the person who owns it,
e.g., seu passaporte (“passport” = masculine), sua gata (“cat” = feminine).

Question 7

Translate to Portuguese:

your house

(informal)

Answer 7

tua casa

“your” = tua (f.) (singular)

Note that tua matches the noun’s gender, not the person who owns it.

e.g., tuas gatas (“cats” = plural feminine).

Question 8

Translate to Portuguese:

your house

(formal)

Answer 8

sua casa

“your” = sua (f.) (singular)

Note that sua matches the noun’s gender, not the person who owns it,
e.g., suas gatas (“cat” = plural feminine).

Question 9

Translate to Portuguese:

your girls

(informal)

Answer 9

tuas meninas

“your” = tua (f.) (plural)

Note that tua matches the noun’s gender, not the person who owns it,
e.g., tuas gatas (“cat” = plural feminine).

Question 10

Translate to Portuguese:

your girls

(formal)

Answer 10

suas meninas

“your” = sua (f.) (plural)

Note that sua matches the noun’s gender, not the person who owns it,
e.g., suas gatas (“cat” = plural feminine).

Question 11

Translate to Portuguese:

your babies

(informal)

Answer 11

teus bebês

“your” = teus (m.) (plural)

Teus means “your” for masculine or mixed plural nouns. It agrees with the noun’s gender and number, not with the owner.

Question 12

Translate to Portuguese:

your babies

(formal)

Answer 12

seus bebês

“your” = seus (m.) (plural)

Seus means “your” for masculine or mixed plural nouns. It agrees with the noun’s gender and number, not with the owner.

Question 13

Translate to Portuguese:

his dog Luna

Answer 13

• sua cachorra Luna
• a cachorra dele Luna

“his” = dele / seu / sua

There are two alternative sentence constructions to say “his dog” in Portuguese.

The first, sua cachorra, is a simple translation of “his dog” (remembering that “dog” is always feminine in Portuguese). But this is technically ambiguous “whose” dog it is, since sua could also mean “their” dog. (i.e. Sua agrees with the object but is independent of the “owner.”)

The second construction, a … dele helps clear up the ambiguity of whose dog it is (clearly “his”), but it’s a bit different than the English construction. It’s almost like saying “the [dog] of his, Luna.” Dele / dela agrees with the “owner” but is independent of the object being owned.

Question 14

Translate to Portuguese:

her baby Oliver

Answer 14

• seu bebê Oliver
• o bebê dela Oliver

“her” = dela / seu / sua

In Portuguese, seu / sua is used both for você (“you”) and for ele / ela (“he/she”), which can cause ambiguity.

Because of that, Portuguese speakers often use dela to clearly mean “her” and “dele” to clearly mean “his”. (And remember that dela / dele always come after the noun in this type of Portuguese sentence construction.)

Question 15

Translate to Portuguese:

our student

Answer 15

nossa estudante

“our” (f.) = nossa

Possessive adjectives need to agree with the noun they are describing. So “our” can be any of the following:

• nosso (m. singular)
• nossa (f. singular)
• nossos (m. plural)
• nossas (f. plural)

Question 16

Translate to Portuguese:

our teacher

Answer 16

nosso professor

“our” (m.) = nosso

Nosso is used because professor is a masculine word in Portuguese. We always choose nosso / nossa based on the noun, not the owner.

Question 17

Translate to Portuguese:

our cars

Answer 17

nossos carros

“our” (m., plural) = nossos

Nossos is used here because carros is a masculine plural word in Portuguese. We always choose nosso / nossa based on the noun, not the owner.

Also note that nossos would be used for a mixed group of masculine and feminine nouns or people.

Question 18

Translate to Portuguese:

our houses

Answer 18

nossas casas

“our” (f., plural) = nossas

Nossas is used here because casas is a feminine plural word in Portuguese. We always choose nosso / nossa based on the noun, not the owner.

Question 19

Translate to Portuguese:

their cat

Answer 19

• seu gato
• o gato delas

“their” = delas / seu / sua

As with “his/her”, there are two Portuguese constructions for “their” [cat].

The first, seu gato, is a direct translation of “their cat”. However, without context, it is ambiguous who “they” are. “They” could be either masculine or feminine, since seu merely agrees with the gender of the thing being owned. (In this case, we are talking about a gato, which is a male cat. If it were a female cat, it would be sua gata.)

The second construction, o gato delas in this case, is more like “the cat of theirs”, where “they” is the clearly feminine delas. Remember that dele/delas agrees with the “owner”, which in this case is a group of girls, so it is feminine even though the cat is male.

Question 20

Translate to Portuguese:

their houses

Answer 20

• suas casas
• as casas deles

“their” = deles / seus / suas

In Portuguese, remember that seus / suas can mean both “their” or “his/her”; therefore, it is ambiguous who owns the object, without external context.

To avoid confusion, Brazilians often use deles (m.) or delas (f.), which always mean “their”.

Question 21

Translate to Portuguese:

Roberto’s passport.

Answer 21

O passaporte do Roberto

In Portuguese, we don’t use ’s for possession. To show possession, Portuguese uses de/da/do + the owner. (“The passport of Roberto”)

It may seem strange to see do Roberto here, since do is a contraction of de + o. This is because in Portuguese, we can often see an article used with someone’s proper name! It would not be uncommon to hear Roberto referred to as o Roberto (“the Roberto”).

[In Brazil, de Roberto may also be commonly heard.]

Question 22

Translate to Portuguese:

Emilía’s passport.

Answer 22

O passaporte da Emília

This is more literally like “the passport of Emilia”.

Remember that people’s names are often used with an article (a Emilia = “the Emilia”), so we often express possession like da Emilia (de + a) instead of just de Emilia.

The use of da vs do (or das or dos for plural owners) agrees in gender and quantity with the person or people owning the item.