How this lesson works
After this lesson you can introduce your whole family and compare anything with anything.
Today you will learn to say:
"Minha irmã é mais alta do que eu, mas meu irmão é o mais alto da família. Nossa casa é velha, mas é a minha favorita!"
"My sister is taller than me, but my brother is the tallest in the family. Our house is old, but it's my favorite!"
📐 Grammar in this lesson
| Possessives | meu/minha · seu/sua · nosso/nossa (+ plurals) — agree with the THING owned |
| dele / dela / deles | his / her / their — the unambiguous Brazilian way |
| Adjective agreement | o carro novo · a casa nova · adjectives come AFTER the noun |
| Comparisons | mais … do que · menos … do que · special short forms: melhor, pior, maior, menor |
The 8 steps (±40 min)
| 1 | Review — 6 questions, heavy on Lesson 6's irregular pasts | 2 min |
| 2 | Words — 24 new: family, things, adjectives, possessives | 5 min |
| 3 | Grammar — possessives, agreement, comparisons | 7 min |
| 4 | Cards — flashcards, multiple choice, typing | 9 min |
| 5 | Dialogue — showing a family photo | 3 min |
| 6 | Summary — the cheat-sheet | 1 min |
| 7 | Test — 30 questions in 3 categories | 8 min |
| 8 | Results — your scores, saved automatically | 1 min |
Step 1 · Warm-up — do the irregular pasts stick?
Lesson 6 was pure memorization — let's see what survived the night.
Step 2 · 56 new words
The family, useful things, describing words — and the possessives themselves.
The family 👨👩👧👦
Things 📱
Describing words
The possessives
Story words 📖 — every one of these turns up in this lição’s história
Don’t drill these like the lists above. Read them once, then meet them again in the story — that second meeting is what makes them stick.
Step 3 · Owning things and comparing them
Whose is it, and which one is better — the grammar of my, your, his, and more-than.
1 · Possessives — meu, seu, nosso (they agree with the THING)
My = meu/minha, your = seu/sua, our = nosso/nossa (+ plurals with -s). The golden rule: they agree with the thing owned, not the owner. A man still says minha casa — because casa is feminine.
| meu carro · minha casa | agree with the noun |
| Seus filhos são lindos! | seu + plural = seus |
| Nossa família mora aqui. | nosso/nossa = our |
2 · dele / dela — clearing up "his" and "her"
"Seu" technically means your OR his OR her — ambiguous. Brazil's fix: put dele (of-him) / dela (of-her) / deles/delas (of-them) AFTER the noun. o carro dele = his car, unambiguous, and very Brazilian.
| O carro dele é novo. | dele = his |
| A casa dela é grande. | dela = her |
| Os filhos deles estudam aqui. | deles = their |
3 · Adjective agreement — descriptions match the noun
Adjectives usually come after the noun and agree in gender and number: o carro novo, a casa nova, as casas novas. Adjectives ending in -e or a consonant have one form for both genders (grande, feliz).
| um carro novo · uma casa nova | -o/-a agree |
| duas cidades grandes | -e = no gender change |
| Minha irmã é alta e meu irmão é alto. | same adjective, agreeing |
Where the adjective sits changes the meaning
Adjectives usually come after the noun. Move one in front and it stops describing and starts judging.
| um homem velho | an old man — his age |
| um velho homem | the man he is — his character, not his years |
| um homem grande | a big man — his size |
| um grande homem | a great man — a man with a legacy |
Default to after. The front position is a small set of adjectives doing something deliberate.
4 · Comparisons — mais… do que, and the four specials
More X than Y = mais [adjective] (do) que. Four adjectives have special short forms instead: good→melhor (better), bad→pior (worse), big→maior (bigger), small→menor (smaller). "The most…" = o mais….
| Meu irmão é mais alto do que eu. | mais + adj + do que |
| Este café é melhor que aquele. | melhor — never "mais bom"! |
| São Paulo é a maior cidade do Brasil. | a maior = the biggest |
5 · tão … quanto — as big as, as good as
More than (mais… do que) and less than (menos… do que) have a third sibling: equality. "As X as Y" = tão X quanto Y:
| Meu irmão é tão alto quanto eu. | tão + adjective + quanto |
| O mercado é tão caro quanto o restaurante. | works with any adjective |
| Ela fala tão bem quanto uma brasileira! | also with adverbs (bem) |
6 · The classic slips of Lesson 7
| ❌ mais bom · mais grande | ✅ melhor · maior — the four specials replace mais+adjective: melhor, pior, maior, menor |
| ❌ minha irmão | ✅ meu irmão / minha irmã — the possessive matches the THING owned, not you |
| ❌ o carro de ele | ✅ o carro dele — de + ele always contracts |
| ❌ Ela é bonito | ✅ Ela é bonita — adjectives agree in gender AND number: elas são bonitas |
Step 4 · Cards — the repetition engine
Three rounds. Cards you miss come back until you get them.
Round 1 · Flashcards
Step 5 · The family photo
Showing photos and talking family — the most Brazilian small talk there is.
Did you understand?
Step 6 · Resumo — Lesson 7 on one page
Your cheat-sheet. (Ctrl+P saves it as PDF.)
📐 New grammar
| Possessives | meu/minha/meus/minhas · seu/sua · nosso/nossa — agree with the thing owned |
| his/her/their | dele · dela · deles · delas (after the noun: o carro dele) |
| Adjectives | usually after the noun, agree in gender + number: o carro novo, as casas novas |
| Comparisons | mais/menos … do que · short forms: melhor, pior, maior, menor |
💬 New words (24)
Step 7 · Final test — 30 questions in 3 categories
Possessives and comparisons, plus Lesson 5–6 comebacks.
Step 8 · Your results
Your progress is saved automatically. Sign in and it follows you to any device — phone, laptop, wherever you study next.
Needs more repetition
- Complete the drills and test first.