Articles and contractions

The article is the word that precedes a noun in order to anchor it: it signals whether the thing referred to is already known to the listener or is being introduced for the first time, and it agrees with the noun in gender and number. Portuguese has two series of articles — the definite and the indefinite — and one feature that sets it apart from many of its neighbours: the systematic fusion of the article with certain prepositions, producing the so-called contractions (do, na, pelo, ao).

The two series of articles

The definite article (o, a, os, as) presents the noun as identifiable, whether because it has already been mentioned or because it is unique in context. It descends from the Latin demonstrative ille / illa (“that one”), and keeps its pointing, individualising value.

The indefinite article (um, uma, uns, umas), from the Latin numeral unum / unam (“one”), presents the noun as new or unspecified. In the plural, uns and umas express approximate quantity (“some, a few”).

Agreement is obligatory and complete:

	masculine	feminine
definite, singular	o	a
definite, plural	os	as
indefinite, singular	um	uma
indefinite, plural	uns	umas

Contractions with prepositions

When a definite article follows the prepositions de, em, a or por, it fuses with it obligatorily into a single word. There is no choice: to write de o livro or em a casa is ungrammatical.

preposition	+ o	+ a	+ os	+ as
de (of/from)	do	da	dos	das
em (in/on)	no	na	nos	nas
a (to/at)	ao	à	aos	às
por (per, by/through)	pelo	pela	pelos	pelas

The por series preserves, fossilised, the medieval form of the preposition (per) and the old article lo / la, of which the -l- survives: per + lo → pelo.

With the indefinite article, contraction is common in the European norm and regarded as correct, although the analytic form is also accepted: de + um → dum, em + um → num (and the corresponding feminines and plurals: duma, nuns, numas…).

Crasis and the grave accent

The contraction of a (the preposition) with a (the feminine article) yields two identical vowels that merge into one: this is crasis, marked in writing by the grave accent à [a] . The accent signals an open, long vowel, in contrast with the lone preposition a, which is short and closed.

Crasis occurs whenever a verb or expression that governs a introduces a definite feminine noun, and also with clock times:

There is no crasis before a masculine noun (there ao appears) nor before a word that takes no article: Vou a Lisboa (“I’m going to Lisbon” — no article, hence no crasis), but Vou à Madeira (because one says a Madeira, “Madeira” with the article).

Contractions with demonstratives and pronouns

The same fusion extends to the demonstratives and to certain pronouns. The prepositions de and em contract with este, esse, aquele and their variants, and a contracts with the aquele series, again taking the grave accent:

• de + este → deste; de + aquilo → daquilo; de + ele → dele;
• em + esse → nesse; em + um → num; em + ele → nele;
• a + aquele → àquele; a + aquilo → àquilo.

When to use — and omit — the article

Portuguese is generous with the definite article. Unlike English, it uses one before abstract and generic nouns (O tempo voa, “Time flies”; Gosto da música, “I like music”) and, in the European norm, before the possessive (o meu carro, “my car”; a tua ideia, “your idea”). It also appears with most country names (a França, o Brasil), though some dispense with it (Portugal, Angola, Moçambique).

By contrast, it is dropped before most city names, in many fixed expressions (em casa, “at home”; a pé, “on foot”; de cor, “by heart”), and before proper names in formal register.

Mastering this system is, in practice, mastering much of fluency: the contractions are among the most frequent words in the language, and getting them wrong or missing them instantly betrays the foreign speaker.