Čísla od 0 do 100

Counting to a hundred in Portuguese is regular once you know the first twenty. Two things catch English speakers out: "one" and "two" have feminine forms, and "a hundred" has two words.

This course writes catorze and the Brazilian spellings of 16, 17 and 19, which have -e- where Portugal writes -a-; quatorze is an equally correct spelling of 14. Sessenta and setenta (60 and 70) are a classic pair to mishear: listen for the "ss" against the "t".

Agreement: um / uma, dois / duas

"One" and "two" agree with the noun they count: um café e dois pães de queijo, but uma cerveja e duas águas. The same goes inside bigger numbers: vinte e uma pessoas, trinta e duas páginas. From three upward, numbers have one form. English speakers say *dois cervejas because "two" never changes in English.

Putting tens and units together

Between the tens and the units Portuguese says e, "and": vinte e um (21), trinta e cinco (35), noventa e nove (99). There is no hyphen and no single-word form as in Spanish veintiuno.

Cem and cento

A bare hundred is cem: São cem reais. As soon as anything follows, it becomes cento: cento e um (101), cento e cinquenta (150). So the price tag says R$ 100 and you say cem; at 120 you say cento e vinte.

Numbers in daily life

• Age: Tenho vinte e três anos. - "I have 23 years".
• Money: Custa quinze reais. In Portugal, quinze euros.
• Phone numbers in Brazil are often read in pairs, and many people say meia (short for meia dúzia, half a dozen) for 6 to avoid confusing seis with três: nove, meia, dois...