The concordance is a set of grammar rules that determine the harmony between the different parts of the sentence. It determines, above all, the uniformity of gender, number and person between the terms of the sentence.
When it occurs between the verb and its subject, we have the verbal agreement.
Example:
"You books from the library were returned."
In this sentence, the verb phrase "were returned" agrees in number and person with the subject "the books", which is in the plural.
A agreementnominal occurs between the noun and its modifiers, such as adjectives, articles and pronouns.
Example:
"O car new is blue".
The adjective "blue" agrees in gender and number with the noun "car", which is masculine singular. If the noun were feminine, for example, "the new house", the adjective would be inflected for "new", in the feminine singular: "The new house is blue".
The lack of agreement can generate ambiguities, inaccuracies or grammatical errors in written and spoken communication.
Verbal agreement
Verbal agreement refers to the
suitability of the verb in relation to the subject of the phrase. The verb must be conjugated in the singular or plural, in the first, second or third person, according to the characteristics of the subject.Let’s look at some of the main rules verbal agreement.
Simple Subject
When the subject is simple, that is, when it is formed by only one core, the verb agrees in number It is person with the subject of the sentence.
Example:
"The boy ran in the park."
The verb "correu" agrees in number and person with the subject "o Menino", which is in the singular and in the third person singular.
Compound Subject
When the subject is composite, that is, it has more than one nucleus, there are three possibilities: when it is positioned before or after of the verb and when the subject is formed by different grammatical persons.
1. subject before verb: when the compound subject is placed before the verb, the verb must always be conjugated in the plural.
Example:
"The father and the mother traveled to the outside."
2. subject after verb: when the compound subject is postposed to the verb, we can conjugate the verb both in the plural and in the singular, agreeing with the closest subject.
Examples:
- "danced John and Mary."
- "danced John and Mary"
3. Subject composed of different grammatical persons: when the subject is compound and the grammatical persons are distinct, the verb must be conjugated in the plural. However, the agreement must prioritize the priority grammatical person.
In other words, the first person (I, we) takes precedence over the second person (you, you). The second has priority over the third (he, they).
Example:
We, you and them we will arrive on time.
Nominal Agreement
Noun agreement is the relationship between the terms that make up the noun phrase, that is, between the substantive and yours modifiers (adjectives, articles, numerals, pronouns, etc.). The agreement consists of making these terms agree among themselves in gender It is number.
Below we look at some of the main rules noun agreement:
noun and adjective
The adjective must agree in gender and number with the noun it refers to.
Examples:
- O car it's old
- You cars are old
Noun and Adjectives
When a noun is modified by two or more adjectives, it is the noun that must agree in gender and number with the adjectives. In this case, the agreement can occur both in the singular and in the plural. However, if the noun is kept singular, it is necessary to use a determining element, such as an article, before the second adjective.
Examples:
- A art baroque and neoclassical.
- To the Art baroque It is neoclassical.
Nouns and Adjective
When there is more than one noun and only one adjective, noun agreement can be performed in two ways different:
1. If the adjective to appear before nouns, it will agree with the closest noun.
Example:
"kind father it's mom."
2. When the adjective pops up after the nouns, can agree both with the closest noun and with all nouns.
Examples:
- "Dad and kind mother."
- "Father and mother kind."
Nouns and Ordinal Numbers
When ordinal numbers appear before the noun, the concordance is optional and can be performed both in the singular how much in plural.
Examples:
- "In the first and second Sunday of the month."
- In the first and second sundays of the month.
If the ordinal numbers come after the noun, it is mandatory that the agreement be made using the plural.
Example:
"Of the month the first and second sundays."
Bibliography:
- BECHARA, Evanildo. School Grammar of the Portuguese Language. Rio de Janeiro: Lucerne, 2009.
- CHERRY, William; COCHAR, Theresa. Portuguese Languages 9th grade. São Paulo: Atual, 2014.
See too:
- Language
- Grammatical classes
- Verb
- Adjective
- Syntactic Function
