In English we have prefixes such as mega-, ultra-, super-, over-, and grand-, which emphasize the greatness, superiority, largeness of something, as in: megastore, ultra-bright, overqualified, etc.

In Portuguese, augmentatives are created by adding suffixes, such as -ão, -ona, -zarrão, -ança, -aço/-aça, among others, to the end of a word. These suffixes can imply that something is large, strong, great, intense, ugly, or attractive, and they appear in a wide variety of different contexts.

Here are some examples:

carro (car) → carrão (big or luxurious/expensive car)

casa (house) → casarão (mansion)

festa (party) → festão (big party) or festança (big party)

barulho (noise) → barulhão (loud noise) or barulheira (loud noise)

jogo (game, match) → O Benfica contra o Porto foi um jogão (Benfica vs. Porto was a great match)

Sometimes augmentatives are also used in an endearing way, as in “Tive saudades tuas, paizão!” (I missed you, dad!).

There are many variations in suffixes and usage, so it's a quite challenging aspect of the language to master. But once you get the hang of it, it’s a great way to make your conversations more colourful, entertaining, and native-sounding! Can you guess the augmentative forms in these sentences?:

Vamos fazer um _________ (We'll have a big dinner)

O marido da Joana é um _________ (Joana's husband is very handsome)

Tu és um ________ (You're a very stubborn man)

Check your answers and learn more at www.PracticePortuguese.com/AnswerKey