Superlatives: o mais/menos; muito bom vs. ótimo

Superlatives are how you recommend a restaurant, warn someone off a hotel and describe absolutely any price in Brazil. The trap is that Portuguese has two of them and they wear similar clothes: o mais caro singles one thing out of a group and usually takes an article and uses de for a stated comparison group, while caríssimo just means "extremely" without comparing members of a group. Get that split straight and the rest is small change — four irregulars you already met last lesson, one suffix, and a handful of boosters that Brazilians throw around all day.

Two superlatives, not one

This is the whole lesson in one table. The forms look related; the jobs are not.

In the usual relative pattern, an article marks the superlative and de introduces the group when it is stated; the group can be understood from context. The absolute form does not compare members of a group. It can still occur with an article belonging to a noun or with another kind of de complement.

The relative superlative: article + mais/menos + adjective + de

Recommending and warning

• "É o melhor açaí da região." (It's the best açaí in the area.)

• "Foi o pior atendimento da minha vida." (It was the worst service of my life.)

• "Esse hotel é o mais barato, mas não é ruim." (That hotel is the cheapest, but it isn't bad.)

• "A comida estava ótima." (The food was excellent.)

Prices and shopping

• "Esse plano é caro demais pra mim." (That plan is way too expensive for me.)

• "Comprei o mais simples que achei." (I bought the simplest one I found.)

• "Esse aqui é caríssimo." (This one is extremely expensive.)

• "Achei uma passagem baratíssima." (I found a really cheap ticket.)

The article is not repeated

When the noun is already in the sentence, the article sits with the noun and stays there:

• ✅ "o restaurante mais caro da rua" · ❌ o restaurante o mais caro

• ✅ "a praia mais bonita" · ❌ a praia a mais bonita

When the noun is dropped in this pattern, the article sits next to mais: "Esse é o mais caro." With a possessive, the article can be optional.

The comparison group takes de

The group you are picking from is introduced by de, which then contracts as usual. The crossed-out forms below do not express that group complement; em can introduce a separate location:

• ✅ "o melhor do mundo" · ❌ o melhor no mundo

• ✅ "a maior da sala" · ❌ a maior na sala

• ✅ "o mais novo dos três" (the youngest of the three)

Until recently Portugal wrote this lesson's headline word with a p — óptimo — while Brazil had long written ótimo. The 1990 spelling agreement settled it on the Brazilian side: its Base IV drops consonants that are invariavelmente mudos nas pronúncias cultas da língua, and lists ótimo among the examples by name. It was a rule rather than a surrender, though — opção kept its p, because there the p actually gets pronounced. Sources: Acordo Ortográfico de 1990, Base IV · Decreto 6.583/2008, Planalto.