A1Lesson 7: Numbers, Counting & Dates
Portuguese ordinal numbers show position or order, agreeing in gender with their nouns, but Brazilians avoid them after tenth, preferring cardinal numbers instead, making "eleventh floor" literally "floor eleven."
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These are the ordinals Brazilians actually use in daily speech:
| Number | Masculine | Feminine | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | primeiro | primeira | 1º / 1ª |
| 2nd | segundo | segunda | 2º / 2ª |
| 3rd | terceiro | terceira | 3º / 3ª |
| 4th | quarto | quarta | 4º / 4ª |
| 5th | quinto | quinta | 5º / 5ª |
| 6th | sexto | sexta | 6º / 6ª |
| 7th | sétimo | sétima | 7º / 7ª |
| 8th | oitavo | oitava | 8º / 8ª |
| 9th | nono | nona | 9º / 9ª |
| 10th | décimo | décima | 10º / 10ª |
Ordinals must match the gender of what they describe:
Brazilians rarely use ordinals past 10th. Instead, they use cardinals:
Never write "1ro" or "2do" – these are Spanish!
Only the first day of the month uses ordinal:
Up to 10: ordinal. After 10: cardinal.
Before noun = ordinal quality:
After noun = cardinal in sequence:
"Último" (last) and "próximo" (next) work like ordinals:
