devido

Devido is a word in Portuguese that can function as an adjective and as part of the common prepositional phrase de-vido a meaning “due to” or “because of.” It also appears as the past participle of the verb dever in certain grammatical forms, and as an adjective meaning owed or due.

As an adjective, devido agrees with the noun it modifies. The masculine singular form is devido, the feminine singular is devida, the masculine plural is devidos, and the feminine plural is devidas. It conveys meanings such as owed, due, or proper depending on the context. Examples include pagamento devido (due payment) and quantia devida (amount owed). In legal and financial language, it often describes obligations that are legally due.

The phrase de-vido a is a common preposition meaning “due to” or “because of,” used to introduce a cause or reason. It is equivalent to por causa de and is followed by a noun or noun phrase, with the appropriate contraction if a definite article is present, as in devido ao tempo ruim (due to bad weather) or devido à chuva (due to the rain).

As a past participle of dever in compound tenses and passive-like constructions, devido can appear in phrases such as impostos devidos (taxes owed) or responsabilidades devidas. In this sense, it functions similarly to the English “owed” and often appears in formal or administrative prose.

Etymology traces devido to Latin debitum, the neuter form of the past participle related to obligation and owed duties. The word has retained the core sense of owing or being due across its uses in modern Portuguese.