Days, Dates, and Times

The Days of the Week (Os Dias da Semana)

The Months of the Year (Os Meses do Ano)

The year is given as a complete number in Portuguese.  So for example, 1999 is given as ‘one thousand nine hundred and ninety nine’ rather than ‘nineteen ninety nine’.  The day of the year is given as the cardinal number rather than ordinal, (for example, they say the equivalent of ‘day 4’ rather than ‘the fourth’) – except for the first, which is normally ordinal (‘primeiro’).

Going back further into history, you may need to refer to dates as ‘AC’ (antes [de] cristo) which means ‘BC’ or ‘Before Christ’, and ‘DC’ (depois [de] cristo) – which means ‘AD’ (anno domini – the year of our lord).

The Seasons (As Estações)

The Time (A Hora)

Comments

Written by Leandro on 2006-04-22 05:38:49 IP: 201.26.1.42 Brazil uses the construction 'Dez para a uma' as an equivalent to 'uma menos dez'

Quinze dias Written by Joyce on 2008-03-06 04:54:52 IP: 87.103.61.57 Hi just found your site - it looks fantastic.  I think that in Portugal people talk about a week and a fortnight in a different way to English when talking about a duration of time for e.g. going on holiday for 2 weeks would be going on holiday for 15 days... or coming back in 1 week, coming back in 8 days.... is this correct?

Quinze dias Written by Administrator on 2008-03-06 09:03:14 IP: 80.3.252.130 Yes a fortnight is said as 'quinze dias', literally meaning 15 days, but typically referring to 14 days. As far as I know though, a week is usually said as 'uma semana' and refers to 7 days - I have not heard of anyone saying 'oito dias'.

Oito dias Written by Cláudia on 2009-03-30 19:50:18 IP: 89.180.75.204 Actually, "oito dias" is used very frequently in Portuguese (e.g. "Volto daqui a oito dias", like Joyce said). It's used mainly when you want to refer to the same day of the week you're in, only in a different week (e.g. you're going away on Monday 14th and coming back on the 21st, which is also a Monday). As it happens with the usage of "quinze dias", though, "oito dias" actually refers to a seven-day period

Oito Dias Written by Administrator on 2009-03-31 09:14:13 IP: 81.103.153.54 I stand corrected!

Great Site! Written by eugene on 2010-07-14 05:31:37 IP: 118.216.76.103 Thank you for this wonderful site. As a beginner, both posts and comments are super helpful.

Written by Karen on 2010-07-27 14:49:44 IP: 81.178.32.70 I have only looked at your website a few time and have found it very helpful, thank you   Its good to find a website that does Portuguese European as everywhere i look I can only find Brazil's version of Portuguese

How to express the time Written by Marcel on 2011-06-13 22:28:29 IP: 83.163.1.199 In denoting the time I'm missing two ways to express time.  First I'm missing the "digital way" of expressing time, a means that (probably) came up when the digital (wrist) watches appeared. When it is e.g. 2:53 PM, one can say in Portuguese "são duas (catorze) e cinquenta e três". Probably, this way of denoting the time is not used much by elderly people for obvious reasons...  The second way is to use the verb "faltar", which means "to lack, to miss" in English. Taking the same time again, one can say (and numerous even do) "faltam sete (minutos) para as três". This is just another way of looking at the time, expressing how much time is "lacking" to the full hour. This is not just confined to denoting the time on the clock, one can also use this verb in "ainda faltam umas duas horas e meia para chegar a Lisboa" (= it will still take some 2.5 hours before arriving in Lisbon). Quite a useful verb to know since it is not used infrequently.  With respect to denoting the time, the words "minutos" and "hora(s)" are facultative (and are mostly left out even). However, I do think it is necessary to add 'a' after para, so the examples should read "(são) dez para a uma" and "(são) dez para as duas".

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