tudo vs. todo

By James Hall / / (2) Beginning Portuguese
tudo and todo in Portuguese

Todo mundo (everyone) gets confused about these. Tudo in Portuguese sounds so much like todo & toda that it's tough to keep them straight ~ even though these are three of the most-used words in the language.

TUDO = all, everything for GENERAL things.
TODO & TODA = all, everything for SPECIFIC things (things that you can name)

Actually, they're called indefinite pronouns. A linguist would describe them like this: their job is to "represent either count nouns or noncount nouns". Say what?!

But seriousy. These are just words that convey all, every, ETC.

To keep them straight you just need to think of tudo as everything. Tudo and toda are used when talking about non-specific things.

For example, when you say tudo bem, you're saying everything's fine. Tudo bom = everything's good. There's no gender to it because you're saying that tudo is bem - the weather, your job, your mom, the president, and the world in general. Tudo. EVERYTHING. No gender needed.

Eu já vi tudo. » I've already seen it all.
Ela comeu tudo. » She ate everything.
Tudo já foi feito. » Everything was already done.
Tudo vai dar certo. » Everything's going to work out.

*To learn how DAR get's used to say things like work out, see this post about DAR.

Tudo já foi feito. » Everything was already done.

Tudo (everyone) gets confused over these two very-common words:
TUDO has no plural. It is all and everything and itself a sort of plural without having a plural.

TODO & TODA have exactly the same meaning ~ but are used to talk about a very specific use of all and every.

Ela sai todo dia. » She goes out every day.

*Even though it seems like todo dia is more than one it's singular! It's the same as we say, every day. You CAN say this in the plural in the same way that we say, all of the days: todo os dias. That's plural, though the meaning is equal to todo dia!

todo = masculine (pl: todos)

Nós gastamos todo o dinheiro. » We spent all of the money.

*O dinheiro is of course, singular. Could you say, todos os dinheiros~? I guess so if you were talking about different types of monies; todos os dinheiros.

Todo mundo está aqui. » Everyone is here.

*You'll hear todo mundo all the time (tempo todo!). It literally means all the world.

Todos os dias. » All the days (every day).

*Brazilians will use todo dia & todos os dias almost interchangeably. Use either! Todo dia is more conversational.

toda = feminine (pl: todas)

Ela liga toda hora. » She calls every hour (all the time).
Elas ouviram todas as músicas. » They heard all the songs.

*It's feminine because of as músicas ~ not because of elas! It could have been, Eles ouviram todas as músicas.

Todas as mulheres estão malhando. » All the women are working out.

*Here it's as mulheres that makes it todas.

Tudo, Todo & Toda : Examples

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tudo in portuguese