Mastering Portuguese numbers

One of the great difficulties when you are learning a language is mastering the numbers in the language, and of course learning the numbers in Portuguese there are some difficulties.

But here you will learn how the numbers are written and the rules that we must use when we are speaking in Portuguese

If you’re new to the language, it’s important to know that every word in Portuguese is either masculine or feminine. In some cases, that means you’ll need to make sure that a number agrees with the gender of the object/subject it’s describing.

All ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc.) have a masculine and a feminine form.

In contrast, only some cardinal numbers (one, two, three etc..) have a gender.

Masculine and feminine gender rules apply to the numbers “um/uma” (one), “dois/duas” (two) and all the hundred’s from 200: “duzentos/duzentas” (200), “trezentos/trezentas” (300), “quatrocentos/quatrocentas” (400), “quinhentos/quinhentas” (500), “seiscentos/seiscentas” (600), “setecentos/setecentas” (700), “oitocentos/oitocentas” (800) and “novecentos/novecentas” (900).

Brazilian Portuguese numbers 0-20

0 — zero

1 — um/uma (masculine/feminine)

2 — dois/duas (masculine/feminine)

3 — três

4 — quatro

5 — cinco

6 — seis (Note: the word “meia” is used when the cardinal six is part of a phone number).

7 — sete

8 — oito

9 — nove

10 — dez

11 — onze

12 — doze

13 — treze

14 — catorze

15 — quinze

16 — dezesseis

17 — dezessete

18 — dezoito

19 — dezenove

20 — vinte

For the tens, there are “dez” (10), “vinte” (20), “trinta” (30), “quarenta” (40), “cinquenta” (50), “sessenta” (60), “setenta” (70), “oitenta” (80) and “noventa” (90).

From 20, units are linked with the word “E” (and):

Vinte e um (21) (literally translated to twenty and one)

Trinta e dois (32) (thirty and two)

Quarenta e três (43) (forty and three)

Cinquenta e quatro (54) (fifty and four)

Remember, gender rules apply to the hundreds just after 200.

Cem (100, its plural form is “centos”)

Duzentos/duzentas (200, masculine/feminine)

Trezentos/trezentas (300, masc/fem)

Quatrocentos/quatrocentas (400, masc/fem)

Quinhentos/quinhentas (500, masc/fem)

Seiscentos/seiscentas (600, masc/fem)

Setecentos/setecentas (700, masc/fem)

Oitocentos/oitocentas (800, masc/fem)

Novecentos/novecentas (900, masc/fem)

When it comes to connecting hundreds with tens and units, the same rule applies:

cento e dez (110)

duzentos e vinte e dois (222)

trezentos e cinquenta e nove (359)

quatrocentos e quatro (404)

Thousands are quite easier: “mil” (1,000), ”dois mil” (2,000), ”três mil” (3,000), ”quatro mil” (4,000), ”cinco mil” (5,000), ”dez mil” (10,000), ”vinte mil” (20,000) and ”cem mil” (100,000).

The main difference is in the usage of ”e” when linking thousands and hundreds:

The word ”e” only follows hundreds digits that contain two zeros.

mil e cem (1,100)

dois mil e duzentos (2,200)

três mil e trezentos (3,300)

When the hundred is followed by other units, only the tens and ones will have the ”e” connector.

mil cento e um (1,101)

quatro mil quinhentos e dez (4,510)

nove mil oitocentos e trinta e sete (9,837)

For “Millions” in Brazilian Portuguese, we use a short scale system to name its largest numbers:

million — milhão (singular) or milhões (plural)

billion — bilhão, bilhões

trillion — trilhão, trilhões

quadrillion — quatrilhão, quatrilhões

quintillion — quintilhão, quintilhões

sextillion — sextilhão, sextilhões

Ordinal numbers in Portuguese

All ordinal numbers have a gender. When you’re writing these them in numeric form, a “ ° ” symbol will follow masculine digits while “ ª “ is placed after feminine ones. Pay attention to how this works with the first 10 ordinal numbers:

1st 1°/1ª primeiro/primeira

2nd 2°/2ª segundo/segunda

3rd 3°/3ª terceiro/terceira

4th 4°/4ª quarto/quarta

5th 5°/5ª quinto/quinta

6th 6°/6ª sexto/sexta

7th 7°/7ª sétimo/sétima

8th 8°/8ª oitavo/oitava

9th 9°/9ª nono/nona

10th 10°/10ª décimo/décima

From 11th ahead, ordinal numbers follow the same ordered pattern, the tenth is followed by the first/second/third/fourth.

11th 11°/11ª décimo primeiro/décima primeira

12th 12°/12ª décimo segundo/décima segunda

13th 13°/13ª décimo terceiro/décima terceira

14th 14°/14ª décimo quarto/décima quarta

15th 15°/15ª décimo quinto/décima quinta

16th 16°/16ª décimo sexto/décima sexta

17th 17°/17ª décimo sétimo/décimo sétima

18th 18°/18ª décimo oitavo/décima oitava

19th 19°/19ª décimo nono/décima nona

20th 20°/20ª vigésimo/vigésima

21st 21°/21ª vigésimo primeiro/vigésima primeira

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