Uso do hífen (Acordo Ortográfico)
Uso do hífen (Acordo Ortográfico) means “The rules for when to use (or drop) the hyphen in compound and prefixed words after the 2009 Spelling Agreement.”. With prefixes, use a hyphen when the second element begins with the SAME letter the prefix ends in: anti-inflamatório, micro-ondas, super-resistente, inter-regional, auto-observação. Formation: prefixo + hífen (mesma letra / h / sub-,ob-,ad-+r) · prefixo + palavra junta (letras diferentes) · além-, recém-, ex-, vice-, pós-, pré-, pró- + hífen sempre · substantivos compostos · ênclise/mesóclise
The rules for when to use (or drop) the hyphen in compound and prefixed words after the 2009 Spelling Agreement.
C1Formation
prefixo + hífen (mesma letra / h / sub-,ob-,ad-+r) · prefixo + palavra junta (letras diferentes) · além-, recém-, ex-, vice-, pós-, pré-, pró- + hífen sempre · substantivos compostos · ênclise/mesóclise
Explanation
With prefixes, use a hyphen when the second element begins with the SAME letter the prefix ends in: anti-inflamatório, micro-ondas, super-resistente, inter-regional, auto-observação. When the letters DIFFER, the elements join with no hyphen, doubling r or s if needed: autoescola, antissocial, semicírculo, extraescolar, coautor. Always hyphenate before H (super-homem, anti-herói, pré-história) and after sub-, ob-, ad- before r (sub-região). The prefixes além-, aquém-, recém-, sem-, ex-, vice-, pós-, pré- and pró- (stressed) always take a hyphen: recém-nascido, ex-marido, vice-presidente, pós-graduação, pré-escola. Compound nouns keep their hyphen (guarda-chuva, segunda-feira, arco-íris), as do verbs with enclisis or mesoclisis (dá-me, fazê-lo, dar-se-á). The Agreement dropped many hyphens, so when in doubt, the words have probably joined.
Examples
Note
This is a purely orthographic Portuguese matter with no clean Spanish parallel — Spanish hardly ever hyphenates prefixes (antisocial, microondas, exmarido, all joined). Watch the doubled s: anti + social becomes antissocial, not anti-social.
FAQ
Uso do hífen (Acordo Ortográfico) — what does it mean and how is it used?
The rules for when to use (or drop) the hyphen in compound and prefixed words after the 2009 Spelling Agreement.. With prefixes, use a hyphen when the second element begins with the SAME letter the prefix ends in: anti-inflamatório, micro-ondas, super-resistente, inter-regional, auto-observação. When the letters DIFFER, the elements join with no hyphen, doubling r or s if needed: autoescola, antissocial, semicírculo, extraescolar, coautor. Always hyphenate before H (super-homem, anti-herói, pré-história) and after sub-, ob-, ad- before r (sub-região). The prefixes além-, aquém-, recém-, sem-, ex-, vice-, pós-, pré- and pró- (stressed) always take a hyphen: recém-nascido, ex-marido, vice-presidente, pós-graduação, pré-escola. Compound nouns keep their hyphen (guarda-chuva, segunda-feira, arco-íris), as do verbs with enclisis or mesoclisis (dá-me, fazê-lo, dar-se-á). The Agreement dropped many hyphens, so when in doubt, the words have probably joined.
Uso do hífen (Acordo Ortográfico) — how do you form it?
prefixo + hífen (mesma letra / h / sub-,ob-,ad-+r) · prefixo + palavra junta (letras diferentes) · além-, recém-, ex-, vice-, pós-, pré-, pró- + hífen sempre · substantivos compostos · ênclise/mesóclise
Uso do hífen (Acordo Ortográfico) — any usage notes?
This is a purely orthographic Portuguese matter with no clean Spanish parallel — Spanish hardly ever hyphenates prefixes (antisocial, microondas, exmarido, all joined). Watch the doubled s: anti + social becomes antissocial, not anti-social.