Parent note

Practice a baleia

Practice the word with its article: a baleia, whale. In European Portuguese, the article 'a' helps show that baleia is feminine singular.

English
whale
Say together
a baleia
Gender cue
'a' = feminine singular
Plural
as baleias

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