Parent note

Practice a pimenta preta

Practice the word with its article: a pimenta preta, black pepper. In European Portuguese, the article 'a' helps show that pimenta preta is feminine singular.

English
black pepper
Say together
a pimenta preta
Gender cue
'a' = feminine singular
Plural
as pimentas pretas

Portuguese nouns have grammatical gender. The article is included here so children learn the sound of the word and its gender pattern together, instead of treating the article as an extra grammar detail later.

There are useful patterns, but gender is not perfectly predictable from spelling and there are edge cases. The dictionary links below are there for adults who want to check the full entry, grammar details, or pronunciation notes.

Sources