A Portuguese language in Brazil it underwent several transformations to become what it is today, that's why some rules are so difficult even for those who speak the language. An example of this is the use of the hyphen. Who has never been in doubt about the plural of a compound noun or whether the right word is “sunset” or “sunset”? Therefore, this post explains how not to make more mistakes.
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Hyperonymy: Highlighting umbrella terms
Antonymy and its oppositional relations
In such an extensive territory, the Portuguese language in Brazil is spoken in different ways, however, there is only one spelling oficial, which has several rules that are difficult to understand both for those who come from abroad to learn the language, and for many Brazilians.
An example of these rules is about compound nouns, after all, how do you know the plural correct use of the word umbrella, for example, given that they are two words, it would be “umbrellas”?
The general rule for these nouns is that only the second word is plural, i.e. umbrellas. However, even this rule has exceptions, as both the word pogo stick and the word pogo stick, for example, are correct.
How do you know when to use the hyphen?
According to the new spelling agreement, when the noun is linked by preposition, you should only use the hyphen when it is connected to Botany or Zoology, that is, the word weekend does not have a hyphen, but frog tick he has. So, words like sunset, day by day or pé de moleque lost their hyphen.
The Portuguese language is full of exceptions, and this rule would not be different, there are some words that remained with the hyphen despite not being represent the name of an animal or plant, such as, for example, cologne, old-fashioned, pink, god-will, more-than-perfect, nest egg, à point-blank.
It is also worth mentioning, due to the popular appeal, which was accepted by the Academia de Letras that some nouns become a single word, such as the words parachute, bigwig and sunflower.
Native adjectives are also hyphenated
Another set of words that make use of the hyphen are the patriotic adjectives that involve more than one ethnicity or nationality involved, such as, for example, Afro-Brazilian, Anglo-Saxon, Ibero-American, Eurasian, Portuguese-Brazilian.
Therefore, it is correct to say that Afro-descendant is correct, but Afro-Brazilian is not, because the correct spelling would be Afro-Brazilian.
