Dropping the Plural in Brazilian Portuguese

Informal speech in Brazil may avoid the plural altogether by using “a gente” – for we, and “todo mundo” – the entire world/everyone,  for they. Both forms use 3rd person singular.

It is also becoming common in colloquial or slang Portuguese to hear people dropping the final –s on plural nouns as it happens in French. For example: as casas – the houses, becomes “as casa.” This way of speaking is not at all considered to be good grammar, however it is becoming more and more common, especially I have found, in Rio de Janeiro. In very poor areas, favelas, you will hardly hear any pluralized nouns, only the prefixes “as” or “os” give away that the word is supposed to be plural.