Possessive adjectives + family vocabulary
Possessives in Portuguese behave like adjectives: they agree with the thing owned in gender and number. And — the part that surprises learners coming from Spanish or English — in European Portuguese the possessive almost always travels with the definite article: o meu pai (literally 'the my father'), a minha mãe, os meus irmãos, as minhas amigas. Today's vocab pairs the possessives with the family words you'll use them with.
The possessives — the shape
meu / minha / meus / minhas = my. teu / tua / teus / tuas = your (informal, tu). seu / sua / seus / suas = his/her/your (formal or você). nosso / nossa / nossos / nossas = our. vosso / vossa / vossos / vossas = your (plural — used in Portugal; rare in Brazil). deles / delas = their (literally 'of them'). The possessive matches the noun, not the owner — a minha casa is feminine because casa is, regardless of who owns it.
PT vs BR — the article
European Portuguese keeps the article in front: o meu pai, a minha mãe, os meus filhos. Brazilian Portuguese usually drops it: meu pai, minha mãe, meus filhos. Both are correct in their register. Speekeet defaults to the European form (with article); we accept the Brazilian form as an alternative.
seu / sua — handle with care
seu is a chameleon. With você it means 'your'; with ele/ela it could mean 'his' or 'her'. Context usually decides. When ambiguity matters, Portuguese disambiguates with dele (his) or dela (her): a casa dele = his house, a casa dela = her house. In Brazil this is almost the default — seu has drifted to mean mostly 'your'.
Family vocabulary
pai = father / dad. mãe = mother / mom. filho / filha = son / daughter. irmão / irmã = brother / sister. avô / avó = grandfather / grandmother (the difference is the accent: avô has a closed ô, avó an open ó). tio / tia = uncle / aunt. primo / prima = cousin. marido = husband, mulher or esposa = wife. The masculine plural covers mixed groups: os pais = the parents (or 'the dads'), os filhos = the children (or 'the sons').
Putting it together
O meu pai é português = My father is Portuguese. A minha mãe trabalha em Lisboa = My mom works in Lisbon. Os meus irmãos são jovens = My siblings are young. A nossa casa é grande = Our house is big. As minhas amigas falam inglês = My (female) friends speak English. The article-possessive-noun chain stays glued: don't drop the article in writing if you're going for European Portuguese.
