Augmentatives in European Portuguese

We learned a bit about diminutives earlier, so now it’s time to look at their opposites: augmentatives. Augmentatives in Portuguese are usually used to add emphasis when describing a person or object as strong, large, or ugly. Sometimes they can be quite pejorative (and funny)!

In the Diminutives’ Learning Note we mentioned that the augmentative is one of the three degrees a noun can have and that, technically, adjectives don’t have it. Despite that, they’re used anyway, in informal contexts. Adjectives in the augmentative are rarer, mostly because they don’t sound good. The superlative degree is preferred instead, which uses the suffix –íssimo (among others). You can also make use of the adverbs tãosoCommunity Slow audio Play audio Adverb and muitomuch, a lot, veryCommunity Slow audio Play audio Adverb to express a similar idea.

Augmentatives in English

First, let’s look at some augmentative forms in the English language, just to give you an initial idea of what we mean when we refer to augmentatives.

Some are created by adding the prefixes: mega-, ultra-, super-, over- and grand-.

For example:

• mega: megastore, megahits
• ultra: ultra-bright
• super: superman, supersize
• over: overdrive, overqualified, overconfident
• grand: grandparents

Most of these are emphasizing the greatness, superiority, or larger size of the object / thing.

Augmentatives in Portuguese

Portuguese augmentatives follow more consistent rules. We’ll cover the general guidelines below, but just be aware that there are exceptions.

-ão / -ona

In Portuguese, the most common augmentative suffixes are formed by adding  –ão (for masculine words) and –ona (for feminine words).

They often indicate a larger size.

Here are some examples:

• Passa-me a garrafaPass me the bottleCommunity → Passa-me o garrafãoPass me the jugCommunity
• o carrothe carCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine → o carrãothe big car or the luxurious, expensive carCommunity
• uma casaa houseCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine → um casarãoa mansionCommunity – Notice here that we also add an r to get casarão, not casão.

It may seem strange, but sometimes a masculine suffix is added to a feminine noun, as it was with garrafa and casa above. 

Here’s another example:

uma mulhera womanCommunity Slow audio Play audio → um mulherãoa big or attractive womanCommunity
The word mulherão is grammatically masculine, but still has a feminine meaning.

-zão / -zona

In some special cases, we add the suffixes –zão (masculine) and –zona (feminine) instead.

Words that end in stressed syllables:

• o péthe footCommunity → o pezãothe big footCommunity

Words that end in nasal sounds:

• o homemthe manCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine → o homenzãothe big or attractive manCommunity
• Olha só para esta maçã!Just look at this apple!Community → Olhá só para esta maçãzona!Just look at this big apple!Community

Words that end in a diphthong (two vowels together):

• o pãothe (loaf of) breadCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine → o pãozãothe big (loaf of) breadCommunity
• o chapéuthe hatCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine → o chapeuzãothe big hatCommunity

Words that end in –e and some that end in –or/-ora and –o/–a

• a alfacethe lettuceCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine → a alfacezonathe big lettuceCommunity
• o cantorthe singer (male)Community Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine → o cantorzãothe great singerCommunity
• a camisathe shirtCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine → o camisãothe big shirtCommunity

Words that end in -z

In some words that end in –z, you have to replace the letter z with g before adding the augmentative ending. For example:

• nariznoseCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine → narigãobig noseCommunity

The word rapazboyCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine is correct either way:

• rapazãobig boyCommunity or rapagãobig boyCommunity

However, the word arrozriceCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine  in the augmentative gets the usual -ão ending and becomes just:

• arrozãoCommunity , not arrogão

When to Use Augmentatives in Portuguese

In which contexts do we use augmentatives in Portuguese?

To say that something is big or great

• Tive um trabalhão a montar istoI had a lot of work putting this together, i.e. I had a hard time...Community
• Ela é valenteShe's fearlessCommunity → Ela é valentonaShe's so fearless, She's very braveCommunity

To show that we care about something or someone

• Como estás, amorzão?How are you, my love?Community
• Tive saudades tuas, paizão!I missed you, dad!Community

To emphasize a word or idea

• O marido da Joana é um bonitãoJoana's husband is very handsomeCommunity
• O Benfica contra o Porto foi um jogãoBenfica vs. Porto was a great matchCommunity

Alternative Portuguese Augmentatives

Just like in the diminutive, some words also make use of alternative suffixes in the augmentative, other than the ones we presented above.

• festapartyCommunity → festãobig partyCommunity   or festançabig partyCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine
• cãodogCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine → cãozarrãobig dogCommunity or canzarrãobig dogCommunity – never ‘cãozão‘!
• facaknifeCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine → facalhãobig knifeCommunity – never ‘facona’!
• amigofriend (male)Community Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine → amigãogreat friend (male)Community , amigalhaçogreat friend (male)Community or amigaçogreat friend (male)Community
• barulhonoiseCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine → barulhãoloud noiseCommunity or barulheiraloud noiseCommunity
• cabeçaheadCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine → cabeçãobig headCommunity or cabeçorrabig headCommunity
• chuvarainCommunity → chuvadapouring rainCommunity
• copoglassCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine → copáziobig glassCommunity
• bocamouthCommunity → bocarrabig mouthCommunity – never ‘bocona‘!
• girocute, attractive (male)Community Slow audio Play audio Adjective, Singular, Masculine → giraçogorgeous, very attractive (male)Community or giraçagorgeous, very attractive (female)Community

As you can probably tell, the augmentative is a bit trickier than the diminutive. If you’re unsure, you can always use an adverb or an adjective to qualify the noun instead. Still, it’s good to be familiar with these since you will hear them often in conversation. 🙂