A1 (Beginner)Lesson 9: Numbers, Counting & Dates
Portuguese numbers follow predictable patterns after twenty, but the forms from eleven to fifteen need to be learned individually, and some numbers like "two" change gender to match what they're counting, making "two beers" grammatically different from "two coffees."
0–20 have unique forms — just memorize them.
um/uma (1) and dois/duas (2) change to match the gender of what you're counting.
21–99: tens + e + unit — vinte e um, quarenta e sete.
100 alone = cem; 101–199 = cento e… (cento e dez).
200–900 also agree in gender: duzentos / duzentas.
e ("and") joins hundreds, tens and units: trezentos e quarenta e cinco.
1000 = mil — never "um mil".
On the phone, Brazilians often use meia (= half a dozen) for 6; seis is also correct.
0-20: unique forms | 21-99: tens + e + units | 100-999: hundreds + e + tens/units
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Numbers are survival Portuguese — you need them the moment you ask "Quanto custa?" at the feira, give someone your phone number, or say how old you are ("Tenho vinte e cinco anos"). Mix them up and you'll hand over fifty reais for fifteen reais of bananas. And when that cute Brazilian rattles off "nove, oito, meia, cinco…", you'll want to catch every digit — meia is 6, not some secret code, and getting it wrong means texting a stranger instead of your new crush.
A new lesson, and a genuinely useful one. Most of Portuguese counting is regular — once you've got 0–20 and the tens, you build almost anything by gluing the parts together with e ("and"). Three small rules do the heavy lifting: gender on a couple of numbers, the e connector, and two special words (cem and mil).
Start with these basic forms:
| # | word | # | word |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | zero | 11 | onze |
| 1 | um / uma | 12 | doze |
| 2 | dois / duas | 13 | treze |
| 3 | três | 14 | catorze / quatorze |
"Quanto custa?" "Doze reais." (How much? Twelve reais.)
"Custa cento e cinquenta reais." (It costs 150 reais.)
"São vinte e cinco reais." (That's 25 reais.)
"Quero duas cervejas." (I want two beers.)
"Mesa para quatro pessoas." (Table for four people.)
"Tem duzentas pessoas na festa." (There are 200 people at the party.)
"Tenho vinte e três anos." (I'm 23 years old.)
Both are correct for 14 and both are used in Brazil.
For cardinal numbers, cem is 100; for 101–199, use cento e…:
✅ cem reais · ✅ cento e dez reais · ❌ "cento reais"
1000 is just mil, never "um mil". (But you do say dois mil, três mil for 2000 and 3000.)
It's easy to forget that 200+ agrees with the noun:
When reading phone numbers or codes digit by digit, Brazilians often use meia for 6. It is short for meia dúzia ("half a dozen", half of twelve). This can help distinguish 6 from três (3). Seis is also correct and used: it is not automatically replaced in every context.
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