On the contrary, Portuguese probably uses the definite article more than any other language that I know of - it is riddled with articles. They use them in all sorts of places that you would not expect. For example Eu limpei o meu carro - I cleaned the my car.

When brazilians speak it is sometimes very hard to hear the articles but they are there

Hello, Eliah! Like Alice pointed, it's a bit complex the use of articles in Portuguese language. However, many times in the speech, the articles are almost inaudible, either because they are pronounced softly, or because they are connected to the previous or following word when it ends or starts with a vowel. I listened to João Gilberto singing this song in two different videos to confirm and in both I heard "tristeza e A melancolia". Maybe you probably can't hear it because he pronounces the "a" in "tristezA" almost together with the "e" and the article "a". The sound of "a" I heard was very soft, but it was there.

Hi Eliah! This is a complicated matter. There are three cases regarding articles: 1)When they're mandatory; 2)When they're optional; 3)When they can't be used. I did some research to try to answer your question and help you understand these rules. However, as Michael already pointed out, sometimes it's hard to hear the articles when we speak. Here are links to two wesites in which these rules are explained very clearly: https://pt.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artigo_(gramática) http://m.brasilescola.uol.com.br/gramatica/artigo.htm

Thank you Lucas, Sophia, and everyone else for the answers!