Age and phone numbers in Portuguese

Level A1

Age and phone numbers in Portuguese

You are filling in two details for a fictional classmate: an age and a phone number. For age, Portuguese counts the years with ter; for a phone number, keep the digits in their order. Use invented details throughout this lesson.

Years and contact numbers

Ano means year; anos means years. Here telefone means phone number, rather than the device. Both words are masculine. Recall vinte = 20, trinta = 30 and e = and: trinta e um is 31. The digits you will need are zero = 0, um = 1, dois = 2, três = 3 and quatro = 4. Play the cards and repeat this small set. If you need to introduce yourself first, Meu nome é… means My name is…; no spelling is needed.

Ask an age; answer with tenho

Quantos anos você tem? means How old are you?: quantos means how many, anos is years, você is you and tem means you have here. Learn this complete age question. Recall tenho = I have and tem = you have with você. Portuguese uses ter for age, where English uses be: Tenho vinte anos. means I am twenty years old, not I have twenty objects.

Eu (I) can be left out: Tenho… already tells us who is speaking. Replace vinte with trinta e um for 31. Keep e between the tens and the unit, and keep anos plural: 31 is more than one, even though the number ends in um. Listen to both answers, then change only the age.

Tenho 20 / 31 anos

Give a number one digit at a time

Seu telefone? is a short conversational prompt: Your phone number? Seu is your here; meu is my. To introduce the answer, use Meu telefone é… (My phone number is…); é means is. Learn these as useful formulas, without a full possessive chart.

The invented local number is 3031-4020. Read each digit: três, zero, três, um; quatro, zero, dois, zero. The pause separates two blocks of four, and the hyphen is not spoken. Do not add e between separate digits: trinta e um is an age of 31, while três, um gives the two digits 3 and 1. Play the number, look away and write what you hear, preserving every zero. These are telephone digits, not a number in the millions.

Meu telefone é 3031-4020

Two details for a fictional classmate

Ana asks Leo's age and then his phone number. Leo is 20 and gives the invented number 3031-4020. Listen once for the two types of information, then again for the digits. A bare number answers Seu telefone? naturally; Meu telefone é… is available when you want to introduce it. Take each role and repeat the four turns.

Change the age, keep the digits

Imagine Leo is now 31; his invented number is still 3031-4020. Before playing the examples, answer the age question, ask for the phone number, then introduce and read it aloud; use the four models below to check those parts in order. No birthday, real contact details or spelling is required.

Remember: Quantos anos você tem? asks the age; Tenho… anos gives it; Seu telefone? asks for the number. In an age, trinta e um stays one quantity, joined by e; a phone number can be said digit by digit, preserving the zeros.

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