 This little book has been prepared for the use of English-speaking students, who will more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Linny. A Brief Grammar of the Portuguese Language by John Casper Brenner. Preface. This little book has been prepared for the use of English-speaking students, who wish to get a practical knowledge of the Portuguese language. The plan of Professor Edgren's Brief Spanish Grammar has been followed, in many respects, almost literally. Many Portuguese grammars have been consulted, but the ones most freely drawn from are the 13th edition of João Ribeiro's Grammática Portuguesa, published at Rio de Janeiro in 1907, and the 26th edition of the Nova Grammática Portuguesa by Bento José de Oliveira, published at Coimbra in 1904. It is not claimed that there is much that is new or original in the work. The author has simply endeavored to follow the best Portuguese grammarians and his own observations and experience with the language in an effort to make it readily accessible to English-speaking students and in as compact a form as possible. It has been kept in mind that such a work, in order to be useful, must keep practical points in view, even at the expense of the erudite and more scholarly features of the language. The book is purely elementary. Those who require a thorough knowledge of the philologic and philosophic features of the tongue should consult the more pretentious works. Near the end of the volume, a few short examples are quoted from several of the best Portuguese authors. These examples are taken partly from Brazilian and partly from Portuguese writers. It may be well to say here that the idea one often hears expressed to the fact that the Portuguese of Brazil is not good Portuguese, it is altogether erroneous. It is true that one hears purely local terms and expressions in various parts of Brazil. But so he does in Portugal and, for that matter, in all languages and in every other part of the world. The language used by the educated Brazilians is just as correct in the main as that used by the educated Portuguese. The difference between the Portuguese spoken in Brazil and that spoken in Portugal is similar to the difference between the English of North America and the English of England, one about which the foreigner need not seriously concern himself. Portuguese is a remarkably phonetic language and one accustomed to the difficulties of the English or even of the French must be impressed with the comparative simplicity of its spelling. Examples of the chief orthographic difficulties are given at paragraph 13 pages 21-22. Those who are interested in this subject should consult the scholarly work of A. R. Gonçalves-Viona entitled Ortografia Nacional, published at Lisbon in 1904. Of late years there has been some agitation in favor of orthographic reform and the Brazilian Academy promulgated in 1907 certain rules which, if followed, would still further tend to simplify spelling. These rules, however, do not appear to have been taken seriously as yet. The Brazilian scholar who has given most careful and most practical attention to this matter of Portuguese spelling is Professor Aimee Saeed Ali of Rio de Janeiro. He has published a vocabulario ortográfico in which rules for greater simplicity are laid down and the words about which there is any question are all given. The spelling given by Professor Saeed Ali has been followed in the present work. In cases where two spellings have been or are used, cross-references are made in the vocabulary. The chief object of this book is to encourage and facilitate the study of the Portuguese language and literature by English-speaking people. It is not a little remarkable that the language has not been cultivated more by English and American scholars. Footnote. Sir Richard Burton makes this comprehensive remark about the popular Anglo-Saxon idea of the Portuguese. As a rule, we dislike the language because it is nasal and we have a deep-rooted and most ignorant idea that Portuguese, the most Latin of all the neo-Latin tones, is a bastard dialect of Spanish. Burton's Highlands of Brazil, 115. And a footnote. It is generally regarded as the most Latin of the Latin tones and it certainly is a varial one and has a classic solemnity that distinguishes it from all other living languages. In addition, the literary, historical and philological treasures of the Portuguese commended to the thoughtful attention of scholars the world over, while the increasing commercial importance of Portuguese-speaking nations entitle it to respectful consideration and study for commercial, political and diplomatic reasons. For many corrections and valuable suggestions, the author gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to the able Brazilian historian Capitão de Abril and to the distinguished grammarian, Professor Saig Ali, who have kindly read the manuscript. For any errors, oversights or other shortcomings of the work, however, these gentlemen are in no way responsible. J. C. Brenner, Stanford University, California. The Portuguese language. The Portuguese language was evolved principally from the popular Latin spoken in the Portuguese part of the Spanish peninsula after the Roman conquest in the second century before Christ. Only a few words of the former Celtic dialects spoken there were preserved in the later Portuguese. The subsequent Gothic invasion also introduced a few words of Germanic origin, while the religious life of the people led to the introduction of certain words of Greek origin. In the eighth century, the Moors invaded the Spanish peninsula and for several hundred years occupied portions of that region. This long contact of the Moors with the inhabitants of Portugal naturally resulted in the introduction into the Portuguese language of a good many words of Semitic origin. Most of these words have as a prefix the Arabian article Al, such as Algudão, Cáton, Alfinete, Pin. It was during the long Gothic and Arabian occupancy that the Latin spoken in western Spain appears to have gradually taken on the form of a distinct language that was spoken the whole length of the region now known as Portugal. The oldest known documents in the Portuguese language date from the last quarter of the 12th century, about the time the Portuguese monarchy was founded. It was only in the 13th and 14th centuries, however, that it became a literary language and took on permanent form. A few words were introduced from the French and others from the Provençal, while translations from the Latin introduced many words and idioms from that language. Partly it is supposed through the pedantry of the translators. The Spanish language on account of its literary vogue and on account of the proximity of its people and the similarity of the two tones necessarily reacted upon the Portuguese. This vogue was so marked that during the 16th and 17th centuries many Portuguese authors wrote in Spanish. The explorations of the Portuguese navigators into the newly discovered parts of the world led to the importation of some foreign words and, at the same time, carried colonists and established the language in Asia, Africa and South America. In the 16th century, the first Portuguese grammars were published by Fernão de Oliveira and João de Barros, and these works materially helped to fix the language. It is said that of the living languages of Latin origin, the Portuguese most closely resembles the Latin. This is due to the fact that Portugal, on account of its geographic position, has not been affected by contact with the rest of the world so much as Italy, France and Spain. In recent years, however, the increased facilities for international communication, the demands of commerce and the requirements of various enterprises in technical industries and the spread of interest in certain sports have caused the introduction of words from various foreign tones. In many cases, the foreign words themselves have been adopted, but in others the words have been more or less modified. End of Preface Chapter 1 of A Brief Grammar of the Portuguese Language The slipperbox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Lenny A Brief Grammar of the Portuguese Language by John Casper Brenner Chapter 1 Sounds and Accents Alphabet 1. The Portuguese alphabet is the same as the English, except that it contains no W. Following are the Portuguese names of the letters, together with their approximate pronunciations. A. A. B. B. C. C. D. D. E. E. F. F or F. G. G or G. H. H. I. I. J. J. K. K. L. L or L. M. M or N. N or N. P. Q. K. H or R. S. S or C. T. D. U. V. V. V. X. X. Y. Y. Y. Z. Z. Note, the letter W is only used in the foreign words in which it occurs. It is called W, very much as in English. Pronunciation. Two. Vowels. For the most part, the vowels are pronounced separately so that each one forms a syllable. The only exceptions to this rule are the nasal diphthongs. The sounds of the vowels are characterized as long, short, open, closed, and nasal. Sounds of the vowels. Phonetic value. A long. Approximating the English. A in further. Example. Sofa. A short. U in but. Boca. Festa. A nasal. Manso. In quantity rather than quality. Y. Open. E in health. Café. So exented. Y clothes. E in table. Silo. Sometimes exented as merci. Short or mute. Winter. Caratter. Benchy. I long. E in bee. Frio. Short. E in it. Quasi. I nasal. E in pin. Injusto. O. Open. O in not. Bo. So exented. O clothes. O in note. Boa. Avó. So exented. O short or mute. O in block. Locação. Cravo. O nasal. O in long. Pompa. Long. O in blue. Peru. U short. O in boot. Only shorter. Tribu. U nasal. O in room. Tumba. U is silent when preceded by Q and followed by E or I. Aqui. Y is pronounced I as if it were I long. It is nasal when followed by M as chimpano. Y is much used in Brazil in words of 2P origin as I vai apodir diphthons. It is customary to regard as pure diphthons such vowel combinations as Ae in pai. Ai in vai. Au in pau. E I in lei. E ou in deu. E you in breu. Ou I in heroi. Ai you in viu. Ou I in boi. You I in fui. It is to be noted, however, that these combinations are pronounced not as single sounds, but as if the letters were sounded separately. Yet, with a slightly different pronunciation, the two diphthons are known in Portuguese as the nasal diphthons. These are as in as in as in as in as in as in as in as in as in however is a unique case. For nasal sounds. There are nasal sounds for most of the vowels. These are indicated either by the nasal diphthons or by the single vowels followed by M or N as as as in these words are pronounced as if they ended with an English NG in which the G is not heard. Dung is pronounced nearly as if written with the NG sound omitted or cut short. Bang is pronounced as if written B-E-N-G but without the G being sounded. N as if written O-O-N-G but omitting the G sound. All syllables ending in ng ng ng ng ng and ng have the nasal sound whether at the end of a word or followed by a consonant. Five, consonants. The consonants not mentioned here are pronounced as in English. B is silent in sujitu subject, pronounced as if written sujitu and in sujeitar an old form of sujeitar. C with the cedilla is soft as in French. The cedilla is used to soften the sound of C before A, O and U. Causas C is silent when followed by T or C. Activo Ação except convicto fricção convicção. C-H has the sound of S-H in shi. Chá before consonants and in words of Greek origin it has the sound of k. Christo D is hard before A, O and U in all cases. Before E, I and Y it has the sound of the French J. Gelo would ordinarily proceed E or I, U is added before those vowels in order to give or preserve the hard sound. Entregar to the liver has entregue for the past particle thus preserving the hard G sound. G when followed by N is silent in the words sinal and sinalar in words beginning with a sign as assinar assinatura H has no sound of its own in Portuguese. It is not a letter properly speaking but an etymological mark or sign. It has a value however in connection with C, L, N and P which C. J is pronounced as in French like G in which LH is pronounced like Li in million. In writing and printing these two letters belong to the syllable whose vowel follows and must be kept together. The syllables of cor de lheira are cor de lheira of filha they are filha M at the end of a word or syllable is nasal bem is pronounced as if spelled B and G but without the final G sound bem dito in some words the M is apparently silent on account of the nasal sound dano N never ends a word in Portuguese except irmã imã magnet in certain antiquated forms like cristã for cristã when it precedes final S it is nasal N H is sounded like N in union that is like the Spanish N tilde the Italian D N or the French D N banho bath lenha in syllabication these two letters when so pronounced always belong with the vowel that follows them lenha is divided le nha there are a few words however which are compounded of the prefix N or N in which the N H is not so pronounced or written such as anidro inábio inalá cibir inumano P is silent before T pronto escrito except that the P is pronounced in captar raptar optar repto and mente-capto in exenção also the P is silent Ph is pronounced like F Q is always followed by U and always has the sound of K Q U varies somewhat before N and O the U is sounded as quando but before I and I the U is used with the Q only for the purpose of producing or preserving the K sound and is therefore not heard quer aqui exceptions the U is sounded in consequência frequente equestre antiquíssimo it is also allowable to sound the U in questão R has two sounds when it begins a word or is double it is rolled as in French or Spanish Rio in other positions it is pronounced by striking the tongue lightly against the roof of the mouth almost as if pronouncing the letter D Arara except that the single R is rolled after L M N S um har temro genro enrique melho churrar S has the soft or hissing S sound and that of soft Z sound when it stands between vowels rosa casa except in cases of compound words where it has the S sound it has the soft S sound in most other cases TH has a sound of T teoria W is used only in foreign words and should be pronounced as in the language from which those words are taken X has several sounds as follows one like the English KS in words ending in X X and UX fixar and its compounds and derivatives flexon and related words such as flexibilidade and sexo fluxo maximo and lexicologia index and appendix are pronounced in this and appendix in addition note, there are however some local differences in the pronunciation of some of these words flexon properly pronounced flexon in Bahia is pronounced fleshão two like S when followed by C T or P extenso exceto like Z when preceded by E and followed by a vowel or by H in a vowel exemplo exército exausto it is like double S or C cedilla in troce ansiedade sintasse defluço five and in places other than those mentioned above it is pronounced like the English SH most cases fall under this rule xarope exministro baixo lixo dialectical six in certain parts of Portugal one hears many pronunciations that are purely dialectical in minho for example the people generally say binho instead of vinho wine and sordado instead of soldado soldier in traz os montes they say chapel for chapel hat chave for chave key gente for gente folks the caipiras or backwoodsmen from the state of São Paulo in Brazil have a similar pronunciation which was probably introduced from Portugal see the example quoted in the exercise at page 166 in Portugal as a rule the quantity of the short syllables is perceptively shorter than in Brazil sobrado perigo e pessoa are so pronounced in full in the letter country while in Portugal they are commonly pronounced sebrado perigo e pessoa the d is pronounced in Brazil nearly as it is in the English language but in Portugal it frequently has a strong resemblance to the English th in these so that desde in Portugal sounds very like desde and dedu dedu the th being soft like that in though slang like other languages Portuguese has its slang words or expressions such words and expressions are called calom gíria or geringonça some of them are not Portuguese but simply fantastic expressions for the most part, however there are very words of the language used in some figurative or special sense for example está na bagagem literally means to be in the baggage but it is a slang expression used in regard to a person who is behind hand or who is a slow coach manda chuva one who orders the rain is slang equivalent to the American expression political boss accent marks 8 the sedilla is used with C to show that the letter has the soft C sound the chu is used to show that the vowel over which it is placed is a nasal it is only used over A and O the acute accent and the circumflex are used 1 to show the position of the tonic accent especially in homonyms where there is a chance of mistaking one word for another as esta this and está it is seria serious and seria would be 2 to indicate contractions in relação a for a a ideia with regard to the idea note the emission of the accent sometimes entirely changes the meaning of a sentence for example means to quench one's thirst well, means to kill with thirst in the second sentence the a is a contraction of the preposition a by or with and the article a the 3 to indicate what are called open and close sounds of the vowels I and O café merci paleto avó tone accent tone accent is a matter of so much importance in portuguese that it is often quite impossible to understand the spoken language when the accents are improperly placed take as an illustration the word sabia the accent may make it sabia a learned woman sabia anu or hinu or sabia the Brazilian Robin this kind of a case is not exceptional in speaking the language therefore it is of the utmost importance that the accent be properly placed the tone accent always falls on one of the last three syllables there is an apparent exception to this rule in the inclinic monos syllables which are joined to certain other words as I tell you to like it in these instances the addition of this inclinic does not change the position of the accent even when it falls on the syllable preceding the anti-panel example falacinish a there are no short and compact rules for guidance in the placing of the tone accent and to almost every rule formulated there are many exceptions the greatest number of words have it on the penult fewest have it on the anti-panel the following suggestions may be found useful for the accents of verbs see the models at paragraph 107 pages 7275 b the following words take the accent on the final syllable 1 those ending in the nasal diphthongs un except bensom frangom orfom and orgon angsh angsh angsh words ending in I except alcalie quasi el except words of Latin origin ending in elis as docio fácil útil and those ending in veu amável in are except asucar cadaver cancer caráter éter júnior mártir néctar sufur and a few foreign words like repórter tribo y except zi zi the following have the accent on the penult erdite forms from the greek ending in ia as democracia geologia filosofia autopsia etc except the following take it on the enter penult comedia polícia geodesia estrategia necromancia farmacia words ending as follows list of words having the accent on the penult ending aqua velhaco asu vagaço asu despacho atu contato ada deugado adi idade aguaga estrago age age estalagem aldo alo except sandalo alho sualho panorama ami arami ampa estampa balança anco alavanca ando contrabando anyo anya campanya porcelana anto anta adianta abundante arco arca comarca ardo arda mostarda amargo aru anparo except arru cigarro asu asa devaço astu asta nefasto asti contrast atu ata combata ati abacate avu ava estravo edu eda brinquedo ego ega except eiro ferreiro eito respeito eite leite ejo eja grazejo elho evangelho elho ela cancelo cancela elho cogumelo emu extremo emi lemi except ingrimi ensa nascensa endu enda legenda anyo anya engenyo ensu ensa imprensa ensi searenci entu enda alimenta etu ersa conversa etu eta concerto essa impressa estu modesto etu eta completo eti caniveti exa perplexa esa baronesa isi velisi except apisi vertisi obisi isu rabishu isu isa rolicu ifi recifi ego ega except prodigo ilho ilha quartilho crocodilo imba casimba endu enda tamarindo inga domingo inu ina pepino entu enda precinto precinta inti ouvinti iki alambiki ira kaipira isku iska marisco ismu isma fatalismo isu para isu istu ista revista istru registru iti limiti except tramiti ivu iva objetivo iksu iksa sufiksu isu isa prejuizo owa kanoua except nodua nevoa osu osa almoço odi pagodi ogu oga fogu oito oita biscoito olho olha eskolyu olo ola viola except frivolo malevolo auto alta revolta ovo revolvo ombu omba quilombo ona azeitona onsa jeringonsa onda redondo maribondo onga oblonga onya vergonya risonya ono abandono ontu onta afronta onti orizonte oki reboki ora espora except vibora anfora kanfora orso orsa esforça orma reforma ormi conforme orno orna contorno oro orra cachorro orto orta orto orto orti consorte ozo caprichoso oso colosso osto osta disgosta oto ota gafanyoto terremoto oti serrote uku uka kaduku maluku udu uda agudo udi altitude altitude saudi ujen ferrujen wega noruega ulyu ulya imbrulyu umu uma resumo umi betumi unu una gatuno unu una aluno unu una fecunda unu unya testemunyo ontu onta defunta upu upa chalupa uki batuki uru ura figura urru urra impurra uzo uza confusa abuso osto osta robusta arbusto utu uta enxuto utu fruto corrupto d the following take the ascent on the anti-panel one masculine nouns from the greek such as astronomo geologo filosofo absolute superlatives in imu ilustricimo ottimo three words ending as in the following list of words having the accent on the anti-panel asio palacio acolo espetacolo affico biografico aya raya alu fiu escandalo except badalo ansia abundancia andega alfandega anya subterranya aniku vulcânico antiku romântiku ástiku ástika elástika átiku átika aquátiku eio eia passeio élico evangélico ansia corpulência enito congénito érico érica genérica ério éria matéria except bateria errimo misérrimo ético ética magnético étrico étrica geometrica fogo centrifugo genu gena indígena isio isia sacrifício isi superficie ículo ícula agrícola ídio ídia suicídio ífero montífero ífico magnífico ígero belígero ílio exílio ínio ínia dominio írio íria belírio ético ética política ítimo ítima legítimo ívoro carnívoro órdico metódico ógico lógico ógio relógio except elogio ógrafo geógrafo ólico ólica diabólico ólio espóleo ólogo geólogo ônico ônica carbônico ônio ônia demônio ônimo ônima anônimo ore árvore mármore órico órica categórico ório ória história except categoria ótico ótica narcótico íncio ínsia pronúncio índio índia gerúndio únio importúnio umo meliflo except amo úria penúria úsculo maiúsculo í there is a natural tendency in portuguese to avoid placing the accent as far back as the anti-paneled so much so that words thus accented are called estrúxulos a word of italian origin strúxulo slippery which is used figuratively in portuguese to mean odd, strange extravagant the estrúxulos are few in number and are nearly all eridite forms quantity ten the tonic or accented vowels are always long the tonic or unaccented ones are generally short úciu agradável syllabication in syllabication diphthongs cannot be separated b when the syllables cannot be divided c the consonant combinations lh and h, rh and ph cannot be separated from each other or from the following vowels with which they form syllables manhã batalha philoso phia d, a consonant between vowels belongs with the second one na-rich bar-baru i, d and q followed by u remain with the vowel that follows ging-dach-ti qualquer f double consonants are separated bel bé-lo phli-to d, mute letters c and ch t and th d and g-n t and c-t t and p-t go with the following vowel i, t, tu, ra p-t i-sh-mu si-nau fru-tu k-ti-vu e-zen-tu h and nasal syllables generally belong with the preceding vowel b-n-di-tu m-n-su d-n-sa i but when the m is followed by n both of these letters belong with the following vowel son-nu ji compound words are divided according to their elements c-o-b st-n-ti-vu capital letters 12 the rules for capitals are the same in general as in English except that adjectives derived from proper names and e-u, i are not written with capitals save for some other reasons such as at the beginning of a sentence fran-ce-sh fr-n-ch eng-le-sh this rule is not invariable, however and one sees the proper adjective sometimes with the capital and sometimes without the use of the capital in such cases is regarded by some authors as more strictly the Portuguese custom in addressing persons as sen-o-r sen-o-r-a v-o-r-a v-o-r-a v-o-r-a etc. it is the custom to begin these words with capitals but capitals are not used when a person is referred to without the name as o sen-o-r-ingeiro tomou conta da estrada orthography 13 Portuguese orthography is remarkably phonetic and after a little practice one can usually spell correctly words heard for the first time the etymology of the words, however, is not lost sight of, though some writers adhere more closely to the etymology while others tend towards phonetic simplification the only exceptions to the phonetic writing of vowel sounds are the unaccented o is generally pronounced like u short as bonito unaccented e is often pronounced like i short as doce e the following will serve as examples of words spelled in different ways for present purposes either spelling may be regarded as correct aprender to learn aproximar to approach caridade charity comigo with me dito sad idade h igreja church escola school escrito written lugar place there are also many antiquated forms found in old books such as e, h, e for e is uma uh or one son for son are be it is to be expected that the spelling of the present day should differ considerably from that of the 16th century but aside from these differences one finds certain variations called syncretic forms that often puzzle the beginner these come chiefly from the equivalence of the diphthons um and oi the following is a list of the most common syncretic forms either form is allowable assute assoite whiplash causa coisa thing couro coiro leather doudo doido crazy douche doish to loza loiza loiza loiza paving slate molta moita capis nochi night ouro oiro gold tesouro tesouiro treasure vindouro vindouiro future see on the whole the tendency is toward the phonetic spelling the tendency that has lately received much fresh impulse these variations however are not to be regarded as license to spell words in any way end of chapter chapter 2 of a brief grammar of the portuguese language the slipper fox recording is in the public domain recording by linny a brief grammar of the portuguese language by john casper Brenner chapter 2 articles definite article 14 the definite article has gender and number to agree with its noun singular masculine u singular feminine a english the plural masculine ush plural feminine ash the spanish form of the definite article is used in two instances el rey the king and el dorado 15 contractions the articles combine with certain prepositions as follows a two combines with the different forms of the article making ao a an ash to the b g of combines with them forming du da du sh and dash of the c n combines with them to form nu na nu sh and na sh in the instead of em, u, em, a etc di per by combines with them forming pelo, pela, pelos and pelas by the polo and pola are antiquated forms use of the definite article with prepositions a two masculine singular ao feminine a plural ush plural ash to the of masculine singular du feminine singular da masculine plural du sh feminine plural of the em masculine singular nu feminine singular na masculine plural nu sh feminine plural na sh enda per by masculine singular pelo feminine singular pela masculine plural pelos feminine plural by the 16 syntax of the definite article the definite article is used as a determinative o menino the boy o bom the good it is used before certain proper geographical names especially those of rivers, mountains seas, etc a franca france o tejo the tegas os andes the andes o atlântico the atlantic in brazil this rule is not universally followed the names of the states of paraíba and bahia are used with the feminine article while the article is not generally used with the names of the states of it is used familiarly before the names of persons onde está o João where is John o Guimarães chegou Guimarães rescame it is used before pronouns and possessive adjectives o meu chapéu my hat a tua vontade vai-will in this case the article may be omitted in familiar style it is also omitted in speaking of one's skin as meu pai my father unless emphasis is required when it is used it is inserted before nouns used in a general sense where in general all, every may be understood o ouro é mais precioso que a prata gold is more precious than silver it is used to indicate time and season as duas horas at two o'clock no inverno and winter it is used before nouns of weight and measure dois mil reis o quilo o métro two mil reis a kilo a meter it is used before the names of languages estudando o português studying portuguese entendo o francês I understand French it is used after verbs denoting possession estou com as mãos sujas my hands are soiled tem os olhos pretos he or she has black eyes it is used after todo in both numbers todo o homem é mortal ou todos os homens são mortais all men are mortal it is used before certain titles o senhor costa o coronel sampaio it is omitted before the titles sua majestade his majesty vossa autesa your highness vossa senhoria it is omitted before numerals used as titles carlos quinto Charles the fifth it is omitted with appositional nouns o filho do coronel he is the son of the colonel indefinite article 17 the indefinite article has gender and number to agree with its noun singular masculine um singular feminine uma plural masculine uns plural feminine English sum 18 contractions the indefinite article combines with um in forming num numma numsh and numans in place of um et cetera it also combines with di of forming dum though this is generally written di apostrophe um the old form of the indefinite article was um uma with an h the indefinite article has a negative form nenhum num which still retains the age that one often sees in the old forms a syntax of the indefinite article the indefinite article always precedes its noun or its substantive adjective as uma pessoa a person um desconhecido an unknown person b the indefinite article is omitted one before predictive nouns denoting what a person is seu amigo é general his friend is a general ele assentou praça he enlisted 2 after verbs of possession or denoting condition estou com fome i'm hungry tenho bom apetite i have a good appetite 3 after various indefinites outro tal certo tanto et cetera such a day such a night foi sem dizer palavra he went without saying a word 4 after an exclamatory que? que bela noite what a fine night end of chapter 2