Portuguese Numbers: How to Count in Portuguese

In this post, we'll cover all Portuguese numbers from 0 - 1,000 and beyond. You'll learn how to count in Portuguese, and how to learn these numbers as quickly as possible.

By the end of this article, you'll know:

How to count from 0 – 1,000 + in Portuguese The tips and tricks to learn Portuguese numbers quickly Cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers in Portuguese

Although learning Portuguese can be challenging, learning how to count in Portuguese is not too difficult, especially if you already speak other romance languages.

Sure, there are certain numbers that you just need to remember. But most Portuguese numbers are part of a simple pattern, just like most Latin languages.

Ready to get started? Let’s discover how to count from 0 – 1,000+ in the Portuguese language.

Numbers in Portuguese: Counting from 1 – 100

In the table below you will find numbers 1 to 100 in written Portuguese.

Try to memorize as much as you can. Then, we'll show you how to remember these numbers.

How to Count from 1 – 10 in Portuguese

Naturally, we'll start from the beginning and look at the numbers 1 - 10.

1 - um/uma

2 – dois/duas

3 – três

4 – quatro

5 – cinco

6 – seis

7 – sete

8 – oito

9 – nove

10 – dez

You'll notice that there are two versions of “one” .um/uma. and “two” .dois/duas..

If you have just started learning Portuguese then you will know that these are the masculine and feminine forms of the number.

Um is the masculine version of one, whilst uma is the feminine version.

They need to agree with the gender of the thing that's being counted, and this is the same in all Portuguese-speaking countries.

See the below examples:

🇵🇹 eu comprei um abacaxi – “I bought one pineapple”🇵🇹 tenho dois carros – “I have two cars”🇵🇹 você pode me passar uma taça – “Can you pass me one cup?”🇵🇹 eu contei duas vezes já – “I already told you two times”

Note that um/uma can mean “a” as well as “one”.

Unlike in English and several other European languages, neither Brazilian Portuguese nor European Portuguese distinguishes between these two words.

So, for example, the first sentence above could also be translated as simply “I bought a pineapple”.

How to Count from 11 – 19 in Portuguese

Once you have learned how to count to 10 in Portuguese, try learning the numbers 11 - 19.

11 – onze

12 – doze

13 – treze

14 – catorze

15 – quinze

16 – dezesseis/dezasseis

17 – dezessete/dezassete

18 – dezoito

19 – dezenove/dezanove

In the three cases above, you'll notice two separate words for one number. Don't worry, there's a simple explanation for this.

The first word is used in Brazil (Brazilian Portuguese numbers) and the second is used in Portugal (European Portuguese numbers). So, for example, Brazilians say “dezenove” but Portuguese people say “dezanove”.

Whilst these are very subtle differences, they will affect your Portuguese pronunciation and could determine whether or not you sound like a native speaker!

These language differences have nothing to do with masculine forms and feminine forms. They are simply country differences.

Portuguese numbers 1-100: Multiples of 10

As is the case with any other Latin language, it is easy to learn all the numbers in Portuguese up to 100 once you have learned the above and all multiples of 10.

20 – vinte

30 – trinta

40 – quarenta

50 – cinquenta

60 – sessenta

70 – setenta

80 – oitenta

90 – noventa

These multiples of 10 are pretty easy to learn.

You'll notice that all of these numbers from 40 upwards end in -enta, and all of them except vinte have an obvious relationship with their root digit – e.g. “oito” and “oitenta”.

How to Remember these Portuguese Numbers with a Pattern

In order to say a number between a multiple of 10, such as 99, follow this pattern:

Pick the correct multiple of ten (let's say noventa) Translate the number from the units column (in this case nove) Join them together with an e – noventa e nove.

Unlike with 16 (dezesseis), 17 (dezessete)and 19 (dezenove), you write this as three separate words. This pattern is the same for all numbers between twenty and ninety-nine.

NOTE: In European Portuguese, you do not change the e to an a.

Once you have learned how to say “one hundred” – _cem -_you'll know how to count from 1 to 100 in Portuguese.

And, remember, when counting in Portuguese, for any number ending in one or two, you need to use the correct form of um/uma or dois/duas.

See the below examples:

🇵🇹 Somos vinte e duas pessoas**– “there are twenty-two of us” (literally: “we're twenty-two people)🇵🇹Li trinta e um livros esse ano já**– “I've already read thirty-one books this year”

'Hundreds' Numbers in Portuguese

Now, let's learn how to say multiples of 100 in Portuguese. Once you've learned this, you'll know how to say any number up to one thousand.

Like many other European languages (Latin ones anyway), Portuguese numbers in the hundreds (600, 700, 800, etc) have masculine and feminine forms. This means that they need to agree with the noun next to which they appear.

The masculine form ends in -os and the feminine form in _-as._These numbers in Portuguese written are as below:

200 – duzentos/duzentas

300 – trezentos/trezentas

400 – quatrocentos/quatrocentas

500 – quinhentos/quinhentas

600 – seiscentos/seiscentas

700 – setecentos/setecentas

800 – oitocentos/oitocentas

900 – novecentos/novecentas

This is pretty easy when put into practice. The hundreds number_is_centos,_and the number which indicates the number of hundreds stays the same. For example, four-hundred is _quatro (four) + centos/centas (hundreds).

The only ones that don't follow this pattern in the target language are duzentos, trezentos, and _quinhentos._So, you just need to learn these, which can be a little challenging for English speakers.

More Portuguese Numbers in the Hundreds

Finally, remember to separate the hundreds, units, and tens portion of any number with an e:

121 – cento e vinte e um

487 – quatrocentos e oitenta e sete

701 – setecentos e um

811 – oitocentos e onze

940 – novecentos e quarenta

'Thousands' and Beyond Numbers in Portuguese

So far, we've learned numbers in Portuguese up to 1,000. You should now be able to count this far.

But what about numbers in the thousands? In Portuguese,'mil' means “(one) thousand” and ummilhão means “one million”.

In the plural, 'milhão' becomes 'milhões' but the word 'mil' does not change.

So you'd say vinte e trêsmil (23,000) but doismilhões (2,000,000).

A billion in Portuguese is um bilhão,_often spelled in Brazil as _um bilião.

Normally, it is not necessary to add an 'e' when linking hundreds and thousands. For example:

1,202 – mil duzentos e dois

2,052 – dois mil cincuenta e dois

👍 You need to insert an e if the number is an exact multiple of one hundred:

1,200 – mil e duzentos

5,300 – cinco mil e trezentos

2,400 – dois mil e quatrocentos

34,200 – trinta e quatro mil 2 duzentos

👍 You need to add an e in spoken and written Portuguese when linking separate thousands and units:

2,009 – dois mil e nove

3,009 – três mil e nove

6,002 – seis mil e dois

2,002 – dois mil e dois

4,009 – quatro mil e nove

👍 In Portuguese, when using milhões, you don't have “a million things” (um milhão coisas) like in English. Instead, you have “a million of things”: um milhãodecoisas.

Decimal Points and Commas

In the English language, we make long numbers easier to read or understand by placing a comma in between each group of three digits. For example, five million is written “5,000,000”.

For fractional numbers, we separate numbers by placing a decimal point (e.g. 3.14159) wherever appropriate.

In Portuguese, this numerical/grammatical practice exists but is used in different ways.

As is the case in most European languages, large numbers are split up using dots, and fractional numbers are written using a decimal comma – the vírgula da casa decimal:

🇵🇹 A população do Brasil e 208.494.900- The population of Brazil is 208,494,900

🇵🇹**O valor de pi é 3,1419**- The value of Pi is 3.1419

Notice that we'd use the comma and decimal point the other way round here?

Ordinal and Cardinal Numbers in Portuguese

In this post so far, we've been through _cardinal numbers_in Portuguese – “one, two, three”, etc.

But what about if you want to use ordinal numbers? – “first, second, third”, etc.

Well, here they are. You'll notice they are much like Spanish, French and Italian, which is no real surprise!

These are used in European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese.

1st – primeiro

2nd – segundo

3rd – terceiro

4th – quarto

5th – quinto

6th – sexto

7th – sétimo

8th – oitavo

9th – nono

10th – décimo

Remember, like cardinal numbers, ordinal numbers in Portuguese work like regular adjectives. This means that they have to agree in gender and number with the word they refer to:

🇵🇹**a primeira mulher** – “the first woman” 🇵🇹****o terceiro carro– “the third car” 🇵🇹****os terceiros grupos– “the third groups” 🇵🇹_**_as quartas maçãs** – “the fourth apples”

Ordinal numbers in Portuguese for multiples of 10

20th – vigésimo

30th – trigésimo

40th – quadragésimo

50th – quinquagésimo

60th – sexagésimo

70th – septuagésimo

80th – octogésimo

90th – nonagésimo

100th – centésimo

Then you can combine these words to get other numbers:

11th – décimo primeiro

34th – trigésimo quarto

How easy is that? Almost as easy as English 😉

Using Numbers for Dates and Years

Take a look at this date - “1979”. In English, if we are saying this like a year or date, we'd say “nineteen seventy-nine”.

On the other hand, if you're simply referring to the number, you'd say “one thousand, nine hundred and seventy-nine”.

In Portuguese, and many other languages, to say the same of the year you just say the regular name of the number.

So the year 1973 in Portuguese is mil novecentos, setenta e nove.

🇵🇹*“*Eu nasci em 1979” - “I was born in 1979”

A Phrase Relating to Numbers

In Portuguese, it is common to use a fixed phrase instead of a specific number. This is also the case in English.

Think about it, sometimes we may ask for half a dozen apples instead of six, or refer to 50 years as _“_half a century.”

Below, you'll find a common phrase relating to Portuguese numbers found only in Brazilian Portuguese.

“Meia” in Brazilian Portuguese

In Brazil it is common to hear people saying the word meia when reading a list of numbers. This is another way to say “six”, and it comes from meia dúzia – “half dozen”.

Think about the fact that in English we often say “oh” instead of “zero” when providing a phone number. Well, Brazilians do the same, except they replace seis with meia.

Summarizing what we've learned about Portuguese Numbers

We've covered a lot in this article, so let's recap the main points.

✅ Cardinal numbers in Portuguese work a lot like English numbers, so you'll have no problem learning Portuguese numbers from 0 - 1,000.

✅ Ordinal numbers are very similar to Spanish and Italian, and Portuguese numbers for dates and years are written just like the numbers in English.

✅ In Portuguese, we use decimal points for fractions of a number.

✅ Finally, Brazilian Portuguese is different from European Portuguese in several ways, including numbers.We hope you have found this article useful and that you now feel confident counting in Portuguese.

If you're serious about learning Portuguese and becoming fluent faster, why not take a look at our full list of Portuguese Courses? Good luck!