Nessas

Nessas is a Portuguese demonstrative determiner used before feminine plural nouns to express the sense of "in those" or "those" in a given context. It is formed as a contraction of the preposition em (in/on) with essas (feminine plural form of essa), yielding em essas, which becomes nessas in standard usage.

Etymology and grammar notes: nessas derives from em (a preposition meaning in or on) combined with essas (this/that in feminine plural). It is the feminine plural counterpart of nessa, the feminine singular form corresponding to em essa. In practical terms, nesses and nessas are used with masculine plural nouns (em esses) and feminine plural nouns (em essas) respectively. The choice of nessas depends on the gender and number of the noun that follows.

Usage and examples: Nessas situations, pessoas costumam reconsiderar suas escolhas. In those situations, people often rethink their choices. Nessas semanas, houve várias mudanças no projeto. In those weeks, there were several changes to the project. Nessas circunstâncias, é prudente manter a cautela. In those circumstances, it is prudent to be cautious. Nessas frases, a palavra nessas funciona como um marcador de referência espacial, temporal ou situacional.

Variant forms and related terms: Nessas is closely related to nessa (singular feminine), nesa (alternative form in some dialects), and nesses (masculine plural). The form chosen depends on the gender and number of the noun it modifies, as well as the syntactic role (prepositional phrase versus determiner in a noun phrase).

See also: Portuguese demonstratives; em + demonstratives; lista de formas de essa.