Numbers, time, money

Everything you need to understand a price, read a clock, and agree a day.

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Grammar

1. Numbers 0–20

Only um and dois change for gender. uma cerveja, duas cervejas. Every other number is fixed.

seis is often replaced by meia (MAY-ah) when reading out digits — short for meia dúzia, half a dozen. It exists because seis and três are easy to confuse on a phone line. You will hear it in phone numbers, room numbers, and addresses.

2. Tens

Compounds use e (and), in English order:

Unlike German, the order matches English. Twenty-one is vinte e um — twenty and one, in that order.

3. Hundreds and thousands

cem vs cento: exactly 100 is cem. Anything from 101 up is cento e…. So cem reais but cento e vinte reais.

Hundreds agree in gender: duzentos reais (m), duzentas pessoas (f).

mil never takes um. It is mil reais, not um mil reais.

Reading a full number: 1.250 = mil duzentos e cinquenta. The e goes before the last element only.

4. Money

The currency is the real (hey-AW), plural reais (hey-AIS). Written R$.

The comma is the decimal point and the dot separates thousands — the opposite of English convention. R$ 1.250,50 is one thousand two hundred fifty reais and fifty centavos.

When there are cents, the word reais is usually dropped: R$ 7,90 is said sete e noventa.

Asking the price:

5. Telling the time — the clock

Time uses ser, and the verb agrees with the number.

meia here means half — três e meia is literally "three and a half".

One is singular, everything else is plural. É uma, São duas, São três… That is the only agreement rule.

6. Saying at a time

Use às — the contraction of a + as (ch. 06):

à and às sound exactly like a and as. The accent is written-only.

7. Parts of the day

Attach with da/de to disambiguate a 12-hour clock time:

• às três **da tarde** — at 3pm
• às oito **da noite** — at 8pm
• às sete **da manhã** — at 7am

Brazilians speak in the 12-hour clock and write in the 24-hour clock. A sign reading 18h is read aloud either as dezoito horas or, conversationally, seis da tarde.

8. Days of the week

Days are numbered, counting from Sunday as the first day.

In speech, -feira is dropped. People say segunda, terça, quarta, quinta, sexta. You will almost never hear the full form spoken.

Days are lowercase in Portuguese.

Using them:

Note the gender: **na** segunda (feminine) but **no** domingo (masculine).

9. Months

All lowercase, all masculine.

Using them: em + month.

• em março — in March
• no mês que vem — next month
• no mês passado — last month

10. Dates

Day before month, always. Joined by de.

The first of the month is primeiro, not um. Every other day uses the ordinary number: dois de junho, trinta de abril.

Asking: Que dia é hoje? (kee JEE-ah eh OH-zhee) — What's today's date?

11. Duration, frequency, and approximation

por volta das três and lá pelas três both mean around three. Às três em ponto means at three sharp.

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Examples

Prices

Understanding a spoken price

The three things that go wrong, and the fix.

And the universal fix: Pode escrever o preço? — Can you write the price down? Reading a number is trivial; hearing one is not.

Telling time

Opening hours and appointments

Days and dates

Duration

Quantities

Reading digits aloud

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What to take from this chapter

1. Numbers run in English order — vinte e um, twenty and one.
2. Only um/uma and dois/duas change for gender.
3. seis becomes meia when reading digits out.
4. Comma is the decimal point; dot marks thousands.
5. Time uses ser: É uma hora, São duas horas. At a time uses às.
6. Weekdays are numbers, counting from Sunday. Drop -feira when speaking. na segunda, no domingo.
7. Dates: day before month, joined by de. The 1st is primeiro.
8. When you cannot hear a number, ask for it in writing.