A1Lesson 7: Numbers, Counting & Dates
Brazilian Portuguese writes dates in day-month-year order with months lowercase and days as numbers (except the first), while the unique weekday naming system counts market days from Monday as "second-fair" through Friday as "sixth-fair."
Date order: day/month/year (31/12/2024)
Months are not capitalized: janeiro, fevereiro
Only the 1st uses ordinal: primeiro de maio
Days 2-31 use cardinal numbers: dois, três, quatro
Weekdays are market days: segunda-feira (Monday = second market)
Written dates: DD/MM/AA or DD/MM/AAAA
Prepositions: em + month, no dia + date
Seasons are opposite in Southern Hemisphere
Dates run everything in Brazil – from scheduling your visa appointment ("dia quinze de março") to understanding when Carnival hits ("terça-feira de carnaval") to avoiding the confusion of American vs. Brazilian format (03/04 is April 3rd, not March 4th!). Mix up the day/month order and you'll show up for your medical exam a month late, miss your flight because you read 05/06 as May 6th instead of June 5th, or worse – forget that Brazilian summer is December to March and pack winter clothes for a January beach trip!
date: dia + de + month + de + year | weekdays: number + feira | DD/MM/YYYY format
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Brazilian dates follow this pattern:
Examples:
25 de dezembro de 2024 (December 25, 2024)
7 de setembro de 1822 (September 7, 1822)
1º de janeiro (January 1st - only the 1st is ordinal!)
| Day | Portuguese | Note |
|---|
"Nos vemos dia 15" (See you on the 15th)
"A reunião é segunda-feira" (The meeting is Monday)
"Marcamos para o dia 20 de junho" (We scheduled for June 20)
"Volto em março" (I'm coming back in March)
"Meu aniversário é 12 de outubro" (My birthday is October 12)
"Nasceu no dia primeiro de maio" (Born on May 1st)
"Casamos em dezembro de 2020" (We got married in December 2020)
"Faz anos dia 30" (Has birthday on the 30th)
Biggest mistake: reading dates in American format
Brazilian: 03/04 = April 3rd
American: 03/04 = March 4th
Always remember: day comes first in Brazil!
ONLY the first day uses ordinal:
✅ "primeiro de janeiro"
❌ "segundo de janeiro" → ✅ "dois de janeiro"
❌ "terceiro de março" → ✅ "três de março"
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