Learning Portuguese

There is some variation in the spelling of numbers between European and Brazilian Portuguese. The numbers given below should be sufficient to enable you to work out all of the numbers in-between. Numbers that are not in bold-type are given as examples of how you would combine the bold-type components.

Instead of using a full stop to indicate a decimal point, the Portuguese language requires a comma (or ‘vírgula’ in Portuguese). So a number containing a decimal fraction (take for example, ‘2.34’), is written and spoken with a comma like this: 2,34 = dois vírgula três quatro.

In a similar vein, whereas in English we use a comma to separate our thousands from our millions, etc., the Portuguese use a full stop (or ‘ponto’). So one million and three is written like this: ‘1.000.003’. In order to help you get used to this, I have written the numerals below using the Portuguese style.

Cardinal Numbers (Números Cardinais)

0	zero
1	um/uma
2	dois/duas
3	três
4	quatro
5	cinco
6	seis
7	sete
8	oito
9	nove
10	dez
11	onze
12	doze
13	treze
14	catorze (Brazilians sometimes use quatorze)
15	quinze
16	dezasseis (Brazilian: dezesseis)
17	dezassete (Brazilian: dezessete)
18	dezoito
19	dezanove (Brazilian: dezenove)
20	vinte
21	vinte e um/uma
22	vinte e dois/duas
23	vinte e três
30	trinta
31	trinta e um/uma
40	quarenta
50	cinquenta (Brazilians use a diaeresis: cinqüenta)
60	sessenta
70	setenta
80	oitenta
90	noventa
100	cem (note: ‘cem’ is only used if the next 2 digits are zeros – otherwise, use ‘cento’)
101	cento e um/uma
102	cento e dois/duas
120	cento e vinte
121	cento e vinte e um/uma
122	cento e vinte e dois/duas
200	duzentos/duzentas
201	duzentos/duzentas e um/uma
300	trezentos/trezentas
400	quatrocentos/quatrocentas
500	quinhentos/quinhentas
600	seiscentos/seiscentas
700	setecentos/setecentas
800	oitocentos/oitocentas
900	novecentos/novecentas
1.000	mil
1.001	mil e um/uma
1.985	mil novecentos e oitenta e cinco (the first ‘e’ is dropped)
2.000	dois mil/duas mil
3.000	três mil
10.000	dez mil
100.000	cem mil
100.001	cem mil e um/uma
101.000	cento e um/uma mil
125.000	cento e vinte e cinco mil
500.000	quinhentos mil
735.346	setecentos e trinta e cinco mil trezentos e quarenta e seis
1.000.000	um milhão (unlike 'mil', the preceeding number [in this case, um] is required with milhão and bilião)
1.537.469	um milhão quinhentos e trinta e sete mil quatrocentos e sessenta e nove
1.000.000.000	mil milhão (um bilhão in Brazil)
1.000.000.000.000	um bilião (um trilhão in Brazil)

The word ‘e’ (meaning ‘and’), as used when speaking or writing numbers in full, appears more frequently in Portuguese than in English. It is generally used between all major components (the bold-type numbers), but for every group of 3 numbers (thousand, million, billion, etc.), the ‘e’ is dropped unless the last 2 digits of the group are both zero. Hence…

1.200.300	um milhão e duzentos mil e trezentos
1.214.379	um milhão, duzentos e catorze mil, trezentos e setenta e nove
1.200.379	um milhão e duzentos mil, trezentos e setenta e nove
1.214.300	um milhão, duzentos e catorze mil e trezentos

Ordinal Numbers (Números Ordinais)

English Notation	Portuguese Notation	Portuguese Words
1st	1o/1a	primeiro/primeira
2nd	2o/2a	segundo/segunda
3rd	3o/3a	terceiro/terceira (‘terça’ is occasionally used as a short-cut in compound words – eg. ‘terça-feira’)
4th	4o/4a	quarto/quarta
5th	5o/5a	quinto/quinta
6th	6o/6a	sexto/sexta
7th	7o/7a	sétimo/sétima
8th	8o/8a	oitavo/oitava
9th	9o/9a	nono/nona
10th	10o/10a	décimo/décima
11th	11o/11a	décimo primeiro/décima primeira
12th	12o/12a	décimo segundo/décima segunda
20th	20o/20a	vigésimo/vigésima
21st	21o/21a	vigésimo primeiro
30th	30o/30a	trigésimo/trigésima
40th	40o/40a	quadragésimo/quadragésima
50th	50o/50a	quinquagésimo/quinquagésima (Brazilians use the diaeresis: qüinquagésimo/a)
60th	60o/60a	sexagésimo/sexagésima
70th	70o/70a	septuagésimo/septuagésima (the ‘p’ is virtually silent – Brazilian spelling: setuagésimo/a)
80th	80o/80a	octagésimo/octagésima
90th	90o/90a	nonagésimo/nonagésima
100th	100o/100a	centésimo/centésima

So, ‘one fifth’ is ‘um quinto’, etc. Note though, that the Portuguese use cardinal numbers for dates, not ordinal like we do (see section on days, dates and times).

Comments

Fractions
Written by Joce on 2006-01-12 18:49:37 IP: 64.201.181.145

How would you write a fraction 1-1/4 in Portuguese? Does the hyphen remain or is it written with a space 1 1/4?

Written by Leandro on 2006-04-22 09:23:18 IP: 80.3.128.8

The hyphen should be not be used, because it would be mistaken by the subtraction sign("-"), so the expression '1-1/4' actually refers to the number '3/4'.

Bilhão
Written by Ricardo Barreira on 2006-06-04 14:17:30 IP: 82.211.206.190

I've never heard anyone say "bilhão", the common form is "bilião".

Bilhão
Written by Administrator on 2006-06-04 14:39:50 IP: 80.3.128.4

Thank you for the correction. I have updated the main text (bilhão is apparently the Brazilian way of writing it).

Pronouncing Fractions
Written by Llewellyn on 2006-06-30 14:39:25 IP: 80.3.128.8

How would you verbalise fractions in Portuguese? Say, 1.76 percent.

Pronouncing Fractions
Written by Administrator on 2006-06-30 14:44:09 IP: 80.3.128.8

As Portuguese uses a comma (or "vírgula") where we use a full stop (or "point"), you would say "um vírgula sete seis por cento", or alternatively "um vírgula setenta e seis por cento".

Great Job
Written by Lewis on 2007-02-27 03:13:04 IP: 71.142.34.1

I have found no mistakes in your work. It helped me learn and i thank you!1 :grin

Seis and meia
Written by l3p3r on 2007-08-05 12:12:04 IP: 124.187.255.56

Thanks for this resource!
I originally found this page trying to find out why some people pronounce 'seis' as 'meia' and I eventually found the answer on wikipedia;

'meia' is 'half', literally 'half a dozen' and is commonly used when reading out phone numbers.

The wiki article suggests this is to prevent confusion between seis and the very similar sounds três.

Bilião
Written by Leonor on 2007-11-30 14:06:41 IP: 84.90.128.23

Hi!
I am portuguese and I found this website when I was doing homework and started reading it just for fun.
Anyway, here's a tip: in Europe, people use the word "bilião" for 1.000.000.000.000. For 1.000.000.000, we use "mil milhões" (a thousand millions). I think bilião is only used this way in Brazil.
By the way, great website!

Bilião
Written by Administrator on 2007-11-30 14:20:58 IP: 80.3.252.130

You are quite right, Portugal still use the long scale whereas the UK has more recently adopted short scale usage, in line with the US. Brazil also uses short scale. I have updated the text above accordingly. For more information about long and short scale, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales

Written by Pete on 2008-01-23 02:57:51 IP: 77.221.172.120

I am in awe of this site, and very much appreciate the effort that you have put in. I am attempting to learn European Potuguese, and some basics would be appreciated (if possible). Whilst hello , how are you, Etc.. are covered very well, the other basic is numbers. I can pronounce "How much?", but for pronuciation on numbers I'm left to having to trawl through very good pronunciation guides from yourself, and then cross referencing. Numeracy is at the heart of most languages - especially for beginners such as I. can I respectfully recomend that soundtracks be added to your numbers section? Asking "how much?", or "which tram?", "what time?", or even "which room?" is useless without recognition of numeracy. I congratulate you on a superb website. I have found none better (despite my comment regarding numbers).

Audio
Written by Administrator on 2008-01-23 08:47:15 IP: 80.3.252.130

Well, I haven't had time to link up the audio to the text on this page, but you will find all of the audio clips for numbers here: www.learningportuguese.co.uk/audio/numbers/

...and a few other things in the root audio folder:
www.learningportuguese.co.uk/audio/

This site........
Written by Raymond Chiimba on 2009-09-09 15:38:12 IP: 196.25.53.129

What a monumental piece of work and labour of love!

Pronounciation
Written by Benlita Pinto on 2011-02-26 19:33:57 IP: 115.184.31.66

The numbers are really easy in Portuguese. A little similar to French numbers. But Portuguese is easier.

Thank you!
Written by Phil on 2012-09-08 21:16:33 IP: 68.43.117.137

I have been searching everywhere to find out how to verbalize a decimal number in Portuguese. I have looked in grammar books and elsewhere, but your site was the first place where I found an answer. Thank you so much for the time and effort you put into this amazing resource!

Can feminine forms of 1 and 2 be used in
Written by Melvyn Hunt on 2013-03-16 12:49:20 IP: 109.224.139.187

Thank you for this site. I wonder if you can tell me whether the feminine forms of 1 and 2 -- uma and duas -- can ever be used in telephone numbers, house numbers, post codes, etc, or whether they are only used to specify the quantity of a feminine noun.

Uma, Duas
Written by Administrator on 2013-03-16 12:53:20 IP: 82.14.68.33

As far as I know they are only used with feminine nouns, although sometimes the noun is implied but not stated (eg. when telling the time, the word 'horas' is feminine, but is not always spoken if it is obvious from the context, hence 'às duas' = 'at two [o'clock]')

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