This page outlines how to talk about countries and nationalities in Brazilian Portuguese.
One of the most common questions you’ll be asked in Brazil is where you’re from:
| Where are you from? | De onde você é? |
| What is your nationality? | Qual é a sua nacionalidade? |
| I am from Portugal | Sou de Portugal |
| I am Portuguese | Eu sou português |
Note: unlike in English, nationalities (e.g. Portuguese, English, etc) are not capitalised (e.g. português, inglês, etc).
Use of grammatical genders for countries in Brazilian Portuguese
Like other nouns, countries in Brazilian Portuguese are assigned a grammatical gender. The definite article is often also used when talking about countries
- Countries ending in a are generally feminine (e.g. a Bélgica) and countries ending in o are generally masculine (e.g. o Japão). There are some exceptions to this e.g. o Uganda
- Countries ending in a consonant are masculine (e.g. o Equador) as well as countries that end in á (e.g. o Canadá) and ão e.g. (o Uzbequistão)
- The article a (singular) and as (plural) is placed before countries that have feminine names (e.g. a Espanha. as Bahamas)
- The article o (singular) and os (plural) is placed before countries that have masculine names (e.g. o Méxio; Os Estados Unidos)
- Some countries are considered gender neutral and as a result articles are not placed before the country name. Examples include Portugal, Marrocos and Moçambique
See here for more information about grammatical gender in Brazilian Portuguese
See here for more information about nouns and articles in Brazilian Portuguese
Country names in Brazilian Portuguese
| Australia | a Austrália |  |
| Belgium | a Bélgica |  |
| Brazil | o Brasil |  |
| Canada | o Canadá |  |
| China | a China |  |
| England | a Inglaterra |  |
| France | a França |  |
| Germany | a Alemanha |  |
| Greece | a Grécia |  |
| Japan | o Japão |  |
| Spain | a Espanha |  |
| United States | os Estados Unidos |  |
Nationalities in Brazilian Portuguese
| Australian | australiana/ australiano | |
| Belgian | belga | |
| Brazilian | brasileira/ brasileiro | |
| Canadian | canadense | |
| Chinese | chinês | |
| English | inglês | |
| French | francesa/ francês | |
| German | alemã/ alemão | |
| Greek | grega/ grego | |
| Japanese | japonês | |
| Spanish | espanhola/ espanhol | |
| American | americana/ americano | |
Plural forms of nationalities in Brazilian Portuguese
- Nationalities in the plural are formed by adding an s at the end e.g. o brasileiro becomes os brasileiros
- If the nationality ends in s in the singular, then its plural form takes the ending es e.g. o português becomes os portugueses. If the nationality has an accent in the ending syllable, then this is also taken away
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