Nouns: what they are, types, inflections, examples

O substantive it is the class of words that gives names to beings, things, feelings, processes, states, phenomena, substances, among others. That is why, it's a class with many words and it is subdivided according to the characteristics of what it names. Nouns are variable in gender (male or female), number (singular or plural), and degree (augmentative and diminutive).

Read too: Below or below: together or apart?

classification of nouns

Nouns are classified into: common or proper; concrete or abstract; primitive or derived; simple or composite. They can also be collective nouns. Let's understand these ratings.

• Common nouns and proper nouns

• Common noun: is the common name and widespread that it is given to a species or category of being or thing, and can be applied to the whole group of the same species or category. It is usually in lowercase.
• Proper noun: it's the name specific that is given to an individual (s), place (s), brand (s), among others. The proper name serves to identify a noun in relation to others, making it unmistakable. It is usually capitalized.

substantive
ordinary	own
puppy	Doug
parents	Brazil
writer	Carolina of Jesus
God	aphrodite
soda	Coke
planet	Earth

• My puppyit is funny.
• O Dougit is funny.

In both sentences, “dog” is a common noun, as it is the name that refers to each and every dog. "Doug" is a proper noun as it refers to a dog specifically.

• Concrete nouns and abstract nouns

• Concrete noun: your existence is its own and independent, which can be physically (as in the case of living beings, inanimate objects, concrete and palpable phenomena in reality) or mentally. Thus, even imaginary beings can be concrete, from the moment they take shape in thought and are imagined as endowed with their own existence.
• Abstract noun: is the one that depends on a concrete being to exist, that is, to be produced. The existence of the abstract noun is linked to another concrete noun and totally dependent on it, as in the case of feelings, longings or intangible phenomena.

substantive
concrete	abstract
cement	imagination
saci-pererê	mythology
Dragon	fear
Water	thirst
teacher	teaching
human being	life

• imagined a Angelin the sky.
• THE faithhers was unshakable.

In sentences, “angel” is a concrete noun because it represents a being that, regardless of being real or imagined, presents itself as endowed with its own existence. On the other hand, “faith” is an abstract noun, as it is not an independent being, but depends on another concrete being (“she”, that is, a person) to exist.

• Primitive nouns and derived nouns

• Primitive noun: is the one whose name does not originate from another name. Therefore, it is a name that can originate other names.
• Derived noun: is the one whose name originates from another. This origin is commonly through the root of a primitive noun.

substantive
primitive	derivative
stone	stonehey
flower	flowerculture
firewood	firewoodador
mouse	ratdust
Earth	eartheno
fire	firewhistle

• Simple nouns and compound nouns

• Simple noun: is the one that presents just a radical in its form.
• Compound noun: is the one that presents more than one rootl in your form. It can be formed by joining two or more words, which become one by juxtaposition (in this case, linked by a hyphen) or by agglutination.

substantive
simple	compound
clothing	closet
fall	parachute
Sun	sunflower
flower	Hummingbird
portrait	self portrait
flat	Highland
second	Monday

• collective nouns

These are names used to represent a large set of beings or objects of the same species or classification. The collective is singular because it already represents the idea of ​​a group, that is, of multiple beings.

substantive
individual	collective
people	people, society
animals from the same region	fauna
plants from the same region	flora
tree	Forest
Island	archipelago
musician	band
bird	gang

• we saw several birdsflying there.
• we saw agangflying there.

To learn more about this category of nouns, visit our text: scollective nouns.

Nouns are words used to name.

Gender of nouns

In Portuguese, nouns are variable in two genres: male or female.

• Masculine nouns are prefaced by the articles o, um, os, ones.
• Feminine nouns are prefaced by articles a, uma, as, uma.

According to certain rules regarding genders, nouns can be classified as biforms or uniforms. Uniform nouns can also be supercommons, commons of two genders, or epicenes. Let's understand better.

• biform nouns

As the name implies, these nouns have two different forms according to noun gender that they name, usually having the end of the word changed.

substantive
masculine	feminine
O mechanicalO	The mechanicalThe
O teacher	The teacherThe
O readto the	The readoh
O masterO	The masterina

Remember that, in some special cases, gender can indicate certain specific differences:

the jar - the jar

A pitcher is a specific type of pitcher.

the boat - the boat

The barge is a much larger type of boat than ordinary boats.

• uniform nouns

They have only one form. There are different conditions for classifying the gender of this type of noun, as we will learn next.

Some nouns exist only in a gender, as is the case with many non-living beings:

• O love
• The bridge
• a stream
• one table

• super common nouns

are those who have only one genre, but are used for people. For example:

• The kid
• O genius
• The victim 
• O spouse

See more information about this type of nouns by visiting: What are supercommon nouns?

• Common nouns of two genders

They exist in both genres, but invariably, always remaining the same. Identification is made by using other words that determine the gender, such as the article, adjective or pronoun that accompany them:

• O/The student
• O/Thepoliceman
• O/The athlete
• O/The manager

Understand better how this form of gender inflection occurs by reading the text: scommon nouns of two genders.

• Epicene nouns

They are invariant and refer to animals. They can be accompanied by terms such as “male” or “female” to differentiate. Examples:

• The snake
• O crocodile
• The swallow
• O cheetah (male or female)

number of nouns

Nouns are also variable in number, which can be singular or plural. The most common rule in Portuguese to indicate the plural is the addition of the letter -s at the end of words. Watch:

substantive
singular	plural form
frog	frogs
Apple	Apples
girl	girls
field	fields

However, the end of some words requires that certain adaptations be made, not just adding the letter -s. Thus, it is more common that: words ending in -m singular change to -ns plural; words ending in -s, -r, or -z in the singular change to -es in the plural; words ending in -el in the singular change to -éis in the plural; and words ending in -ão in the singular pass to -ões, -ãos or -ães in the plural form.

Let's look at the examples:

noun ending in -m
singular	plural form
a cloud	cloudus
garden	gardenus
Sugarplum	bass drumus
noun ending in -s, -r -z
singular	plural form
Portuguese	Portugueseare you
love	loveare you
boy	boyare you
noun ending in -el
singular	plural form
ring	anyou are
quarter	fourthyou are
rattlesnake	rattlesnakeyou are
noun ending in -ão
singular	plural form
sermon	beions
brother	sisterto the
bread	Pãare you

some nouns don't change their shape, being the same word for the singular and for the plural. This is usually the case for nouns ending in -x or for proparoxytones and paroxytones ending in -s. It is necessary to observe the context to know if it is singular or plural, noting the article, adjective and pronouns that accompany the noun.

noun ending in -x or paroxytone and proparoxytone ending in -s
singular	plural form
to xerox	the xeroxes
the tennis	the shoes
the bus	the bus

Heads up: "Os eyeglasss” is a noun plural form, popularized that way. The singular of glasses is “the oculo”.

noun degree

Nouns are also often variable in degree, which means that can be intensified or reduced. This usually occurs with the use of augmentative It's from diminutive, which may refer to the noun length. The use of the diminutive can also convey the idea of ​​affection or contempt, while the use of the augmentative can convey the idea of ​​admiration or mockery.

The diminutive is usually made using the suffixes -inho (male) or -inha (female). For the augmentative, it is more common to use the suffixes -ão (male) or -ona (female).

substantive
diminutive	augmentative
friend	little friend	Buddy
cat	Kitty	hottie
Stew	silly	silly
plant	little plant	on duty

See more: Pronouns – grammatical class that replacesi, determines or tracks the nouns

solved exercises

question 1 - (Cesgranary)

There are three nouns in:

The) "... with serious financial difficulties." (L. 8)

B) "... could not even predict the current economic crisis." (L. 15-16)

ç) "... will render files and libraries useless." (L. 24-25)

d) "... needs confirmation and endorsement of the 'printout'," (L. 34-35)

e) "Many of the most influential blogs and sites..." (L. 44-45)

Resolution

Alternative D. The nouns are “confirmation”, “endorsement” and “printed”. In the other items, there are only one or two nouns.

question 2 – (Cesgranrio)

The highlighted words present, respectively, the same class as the words "know" and "expert", in the expressions "protect your knowledge" (1. 5) and "some experts" (1. 10), in:

a) A form of power and prestige is knowing the laws and to know apply them.

b) A lawyer casual have several others activities, independent of the Law.

c) The young patricians began to to meet by color the laws of the XII Tables.

of code Roman was in no way known by the commoners.

it's the growth of the Roman population did not take long to demand more lawyers.

Resolution

Alternative D. In context, "know" and "expert" are nouns. The alternative that has only nouns highlighted is D, with "code" and "commoners".