← Portuguese from zero to A1
A1
Lesson 4. Possessives with the article: o meu, a minha — and the family
I can say whose a person or thing is, with the article before the possessive as Portuguese requires, and talk about my family.
O meu, a minha: whose it is
O meu, a minha: whose it is
To say whose a person or thing is, you use a possessive (“my”, “your”…), and the article goes before it: o meu carro, a minha mãe, os meus irmãos, as minhas irmãs. English never puts “the” before “my”, so it's easy to drop. (In Brazil the article is often left out, but in European Portuguese it's needed.)
The forms are in the table. The possessive agrees with the THING owned, not with the owner: a man and a woman both say a minha mãe.
The form vosso is “your” for vocês. The form seu means “his”, “her”, “their”, and the formal “your” all at once: the conversation shows which. Other ways to make it clear come later.
After the verb, in a short answer, there's no article: De quem é o livro? — É meu.
The word os pais means “parents”, and o país means “country” (you know it from Module 2). Accent marks aren't checked in writing, so you'll tell these two words apart by choice.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Minha mãe está em casa” → “A minha mãe está em casa.”
• NOT “O meu mãe” → “A minha mãe.”
• NOT “Os meu irmãos” → “Os meus irmãos.”
• NOT “É o meu.” in reply to “De quem é?” → “É meu.”
Possessives with the article
The possessive takes an article: o meu pai, a minha mãe, os meus irmãos.
| Masc. sing. | Fem. sing. | Masc. pl. | Fem. pl. |
|---|---|---|---|
| o meu | a minha | os meus | as minhas |
| o teu | a tua | os teus | as tuas |
| o seu | a sua | os seus | as suas |
| o nosso | a nossa | os nossos | as nossas |
| o vosso | a vossa | os vossos | as vossas |
Lesson notes
O meu, a minha: whose it is
To say whose a person or thing is, you use a possessive (“my”, “your”…), and the article goes before it: o meu carro, a minha mãe, os meus irmãos, as minhas irmãs. English never puts “the” before “my”, so it's easy to drop. (In Brazil the article is often left out, but in European Portuguese it's needed.)
The forms are in the table. The possessive agrees with the THING owned, not with the owner: a man and a woman both say a minha mãe.
The form vosso is “your” for vocês. The form seu means “his”, “her”, “their”, and the formal “your” all at once: the conversation shows which. Other ways to make it clear come later.
After the verb, in a short answer, there's no article: De quem é o livro? — É meu.
The word os pais means “parents”, and o país means “country” (you know it from Module 2). Accent marks aren't checked in writing, so you'll tell these two words apart by choice.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Minha mãe está em casa” → “A minha mãe está em casa.”
• NOT “O meu mãe” → “A minha mãe.”
• NOT “Os meu irmãos” → “Os meus irmãos.”
• NOT “É o meu.” in reply to “De quem é?” → “É meu.”