De zero a cem: numbers up to 100

Zero a vinte: the first numbers

The numbers from 0 to 15 are single words to learn by heart. From 16 to 19 you can hear “ten and six”: dezesseis, dezessete, dezoito, dezenove. These are the Brazilian spellings – Portugal writes dezasseis, dezassete, dezanove. For 14 both catorze and quatorze are correct. Only um and dois change with the gender of the noun: um café, uma água, dois cafés, duas águas. All the other numbers stay the same: três cafés, três águas.

Vinte e um, trinta e dois: the tens

After 20 every number is built the same way: the ten, then e (“and”), then the unit – vinte e um (21), trinta e dois (32), quarenta e cinco (45). The word e is never left out. The rule of gender travels with the last word: vinte e um reais, but vinte e uma pessoas; trinta e dois livros, but trinta e duas casas. Exactly 100 is cem.

R$ 12,50: prices in reais

Brazil pays in reais – one real, two reais – and a real has 100 centavos. Prices are written with a comma: R$ 12,50. In full you say doze reais e cinquenta centavos; in a shop people often shorten it to doze e cinquenta. One real is masculine, so the numbers take the masculine form: um real, dois reais, vinte e um reais. To ask the price, say Quanto custa? – Quanto custa o suco? – or, for the total, Quanto é?.

– Quanto custa o pão de queijo? – Três reais e cinquenta centavos.– How much is the cheese bread? – Three reais and fifty centavos.