4.1.2.3 The definite article for substantivation of adjectives
Any adjective can be converted in a noun by putting a definite article before. (Although in English one has to added; blue => the blue one.) In Portuguese the article has to agree in gender and number with the noun it refers two. Given that in english there is only one definitive article, that doesn't make any difference in english.
substantivation of adjectives
I don't like the blue one. (Refers for instance to a pencil.)
I don't like the blue ones. (Refers for instance to trousers.)
That is this simple and works the same way in Portuguese.
São
os
ambiciosos
que
fazem
o
mundo
girar.
Are
the
ambitious
who
make
the
world
turn.
The ambitious make the world go round.
Você
prefere
as
mulheres
bonitas
ou
as
inteligentes?
You
prefer
the
women
beautiful
or
the
intelligent?
Do you prefere the intelligent woman or the beautiful women.
As
pessoas
pobres
são
mais
gordas
que
as
ricas.
The
persons
poor
are
more
thick
than
the
rich.
Poor people are thicker than rich people.
Construction like the happy, the beautiful, the poor etc.. refers to a property of the referenced noun. The happy are all the people who have this property. One property is constitutive for the noun. The same thing happens with the catholics, the moslems, the butchers etc.. However in most languages a distinction is to be made between feminine and masculine, singular or plural.
It is possible as well to refer to the property itself. In the sentence "the good in human beings" the good refers to nothing. It is an abstract notion that needs to be specified, but it doesn't refer to someone who has this property.
1) The good (people / bananas) can be worse than the evil (people / bananas).
2) He believes in the good of human nature.
In 1) we have a property of someone / someone. In 2) we refer to the property itself.
In masculine / singular, o bom, the good, is therefore ambiguous. It can refer to the constitutive property of someone / something or to the property itself. (Spanish is different concerning this issue. Spanish has a neutral definitive article, lo: el bueno = the good (property of a person) <=> lo bueno = the good (refers to the property itself)
Copiar
o
bom
é
melhor
que
inventar
o
ruim.
To copy
the
good
is
better
than
to invent
the
bad.
O
belo
nutre
o
espírito
e
o
ilumina.
The
beautiful
nourish
the
spirit
and
it
enlighte.
The beautyiful nourish the spirit and enlighte it. .
O
estranho
é
como
um
quarto
escuro
em
que
não
vemos
nada.
The
strange
is
like
a
room
dark
in
which
not
we see
nothing.
The unknownn is like a dark room in which we see nothing.
