Numbers in Portuguese | Learn to count from 1-1000

In this post I will be telling you all about the Numbers in Portuguese till 1000!

You will see that except from some minor exceptions, numbers in European Portuguese make quite a lot of sense!

To study Portuguese numbers, try to use them in sentences everyday of your Portuguese practise (or everyday in the interaction with other people if you are in a Portuguese speaking country) as much as you can.

I found out along the years that numbers are always a dread for students of any language. It is a bit like Math ahah! But have no fear. I will try to make the European Portuguese Numbers easy for you to get them!

So, with no further ado, let us start!

Numbers in Portuguese | 1-10

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1- Um/ Uma

2- Dois/ Duas

3- Três 

4- Quatro

5- Cinco

6- Seis

7- Sete

8- Oito

9- Nove

10- Dez

Audio example

These are the first ten numbers in Portuguese, as you can see, and they constitute the basics for many of the numbers that follow. I highlighted “um/uma” and “dois/duas”, because these can take the masculine and the feminine forms. This will be further explained below, as well as all the other highlighted numbers.

Numbers in Portuguese | 11-20

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Now let us take a look at the following numbers:

11- Onze

12- Doze

13- Treze

14- Catorze

15- Quinze

16- Dezasseis

17- Dezassete

18- Dezoito

19- Dezanove

20- Vinte

Audio example

Numbers in Portuguese | 21-29

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So now we are done with the “worst” part. Once you know these numbers, you will be able to go further very easily. From now on, you just have to add the first nine numbers to the ones that come next. It seems a bit hard when explained, but just do as follows:

21- Vinte e Um/ Uma

22- Vinte e Dois/ Duas

23- Vinte e Três

24- Vinte e Quatro

25- Vinte e Cinco

26- Vinte e Seis

27- Vinte e Sete

28- Vinte e Oito

29- Vinte e Nove

Audio example

Numbers in Portuguese | 30-100

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So, did you get the picture? From now on, all you need to know is how the round numbers (30, 40, 50…) are called and then you are good to go until 100. So, here they are:

30- Trinta

40- Quarenta

50- Cinquenta

60- Sessenta

70- Setenta

80- Oitenta

90- Noventa

100- Cem

Audio example

Be aware that there are some spelling differences between European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese, also concerning numbers.

In this case I am covering European Portuguese, so if you are studying the Brazilian variant, you should check the differences before you move on.

Also, if you want to find out more about differences between these two kinds of Portuguese, you can go to my previous blog post here.

Numbers in Portuguese | 100-1000

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At this point, we want to go and get the first nine numbers again to say 101, 102, 103….be aware, however, that “cem” transforms into “cento”. Check it out:

101- Cento e Um/ Uma

102- Cento e Dois/ Duas

103- Cento e Três

104- Cento e Quatro

105- Cento e Cinco

106- Cento e Seis

107- Cento e Sete

108- Cento e Oito

109- Cento e Nove

Audio example

Easy, right?

To do the rest of the numbers until 200, we just have to pick all the other numbers between 10 and 99, so 110, 147 and 199 would be, for example:

110- Cento e Dez

147 – Cento e Quarenta e Sete

199 – Cento e Noventa e Nove

Audio example

So, all we need now, once again, is the round numbers (200, 300, 400….) and we will be good to go and reach 1000. Here they are:

200- Duzentos/ Duzentas

300- Trezentos/ Trezentas

400- Quatrocentos/ Quatrocentas

500- Quinhentos/ Quinhentas

600- Seiscentos/ Seiscentas

700- Setecentos/ Setecentas

800- Oitocentos/ Oitocentas

900- Novecentos/ Novecentas

Audio example

Still with me?

If you want to check it, let us say you want to write 248, 897 and 999.

Can you think of it?

How would it be?

(Check out the answer at the end of this post).

Please also notice that the 200, 300 and 500 are a bit different, but all the others – 400, 600, 700, 800 and 900 – are a mix between the numbers 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 with centos (which means hundreds), therefore they literally mean four-hundred, six-hundred, seven-hundred and so on.

Another thing you should take into consideration is that the numbers 200 to 900 can also take the feminine version of the word. That happens when the subject of the sentence is feminine, like in the example “Eu tenho quinhentas cadeiras”, which means “I have 500 chairs” (seriously, does anyone have so many chairs? aha!). “Chair” is feminine and therefore the number takes the feminine form.

And now, the “grand finale”, we reached our super-duper amazing number 1000 in European Portuguese.

1000 – Mil 

Audio example

Yes, such a big fuss for such a small word. But well, it is an important one to know!

Difficulties that may (or may not) arise with Portuguese Numbers (1-1000)

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Um/Uma or Dois/Duas

As I previously mentioned, these numbers are the only ones that assume masculine, feminine, singular and plural forms. So, if I want to say “One/A chair”, I will say “Uma cadeira”. On the other hand, if I want to say “Two chairs”, I will have to use the form “Duas cadeiras”. If the word is masculine, however, I will use the masculine forms. So, let´s say we wanted to write “One/A boy”, we would have to use “Um rapaz”, and if we wanted to say “Two boys”, we would have to write “Dois rapazes”. Simple, or?

Be also aware that when you have numbers that use 1 or 2 (besides the obvious numbers 1 and 2), like 101, 202, 302 and so on, you also have to adapt it to the feminine or masculine forms, depending on the subject. So, if you say “101 chairs”, you will have to say “Cento e Uma cadeiras”. Chair is feminine and therefore I have to adopt the feminine version of the number. On the other hand, if I were to say “202 cars”, as “carros” is masculine I would say “Duzentos e dois carros”, thus using the masculine form of the number.

Três and Treze

While teaching European Portuguese to different students along the years, I realised that many of them have difficulties distinguishing between três e treze, especially in terms of pronunciation. If you happen to be one of these people, please check the audio helpers I posted within this post.

Cinco, Quinze, Cinquenta and Quinhentos

Do you still remember these numbers? They mean five, fifteen, fifty and five hundred and just like in the previous case I mentioned, many students tend to mix them up pretty badly. If you need some audio aids, please refer to the audio examples I posted along with these numbers.

So, I hope you have enjoyed this post, at least as much as I enjoyed putting it together. I am going to say goodbye for now, but before here is the answer to the little quiz above:

248 – Duzentos e Quarenta e Oito

897 – Oitocentos e Noventa e Sete

999- Novecentos e Noventa e Nove

There are more exercises available in the materials section. Make sure to check them out.

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If you got all these numbers right, well done! If not, just don’t give up and keep trying and I am sure you will get there in no time!

Counting in Portuguese is also an important part of my European Portuguese Master Course. I cover this and many other topics in detailed video lectures.

Do you have any questions about the Numbers in Portuguese? Is it difficult to learn Portuguese Numbers?

Please leave a comment below and let me know =)

Beijinhos for now,

Mia.