Dates and larger amounts in Brazilian Portuguese
A restaurant offers a fixed-price dinner. You need to confirm the date, time and total price. Read the date as day de month de year, then build larger amounts from a hundred-word and numbers you already know. Keep the month and hundred lists as references; start by using a few combinations.
Recover the time and price
Que horas? means ‘What time?’; Às oito horas. means ‘At eight o'clock.’ Quanto custa? asks ‘How much does it cost?’; Custa dez reais. means ‘It costs ten reais.’ Reais is the plural of real, Brazil's currency. Custa stays singular here because you are asking about one dinner or one total.
Recover vinte (20), um (1), dois (2), seis (6), cinquenta (50) and e (‘and’): vinte e um is 21; vinte e seis is 26.
Que horas?
Às oito horas.
Quanto custa?
Custa dez reais.
Confirm one reservation
A is the restaurant worker; B is the customer. Reserva is a restaurant reservation. Learn Para que dia é a reserva? as a useful question: ‘What date is the reservation for?’ Para que dia asks ‘for which day’, é means ‘is’, and a is the feminine ‘the’ before reserva. Here dia asks for a calendar date.
Listen once for the three details: 20 November 2026, eight in the evening, and R$250 for the whole fixed-price dinner. B asks about the price after giving the time. The Portuguese hour does not itself specify morning or evening; this dinner context supplies that.
- A
Para que dia é a reserva?
- B
Vinte de novembro de dois mil e vinte e seis.
- A
Que horas?
- B
Às oito horas.
- B
Quanto custa?
- A
Custa duzentos e cinquenta reais.
A month reference in four groups
Use the twelve cards as four small groups: janeiro–março, abril–junho, julho–setembro, outubro–dezembro. Each card has its translation and audio. Start with janeiro (January), novembro (November) and dezembro (December), which the date examples use; consult the other months when needed. Portuguese month names normally start with a lowercase letter, unlike English ones.
Day, month, then year
In the pattern, dia is ‘day’, mês is ‘month’ and ano is ‘year’. 20/11/2026 is vinte de novembro de dois mil e vinte e seis. The two de words join the day, month and year. Unlike a US-style numeric date, this puts the day before the month. Use ordinary counting numbers for these dates, such as vinte (20) and vinte e um (21), rather than English ‘twentieth’ or ‘twenty-first’. For day 1, the usual form is primeiro: primeiro de janeiro, ‘the first of January’.
The year can be left out when it is already clear. For the current year in this lesson, keep dois mil e vinte e seis together as the supplied expression for 2026. It is available to say with the model; you do not need to derive other years or learn the system above 1000. Listen to the full date, then try the two shorter dates.
dia de mês de ano
Vinte de novembro de dois mil e vinte e seis.
Primeiro de janeiro.
Vinte e um de dezembro.
A reference from 100 to 1000
Use cem for exactly 100. Before a remainder in 101–199, use cento: cento e um is 101. For 200–900, consult the paired hundred-words. Join the hundred-part to a nonzero remainder with e: duzentos e cinquenta = 250. Tens and units also keep e: novecentos e noventa e nove = 999. The endpoint 1000 is mil, without um in this number name.
These are masculine forms, suitable for the reais in our prices; some hundred-words change before feminine nouns. This table is a written reference, with no audio. You will hear 100, 101, 250 and 1000 in the price examples next. Do not try to memorize every combination now.
Use the amount to understand a price
The frame is familiar: Custa + amount + reais. The audio examples give R$100, R$101, R$250 and R$1000. Notice the difference between cem and cento e um. To make another price within the range, choose the hundred-word in the table and add a smaller number with e. For example, 210 is duzentos e dez. The table supplies the pieces; the four spoken examples give you models.
Custa 100 / 101 / 250 / 1000 reais
Custa cem reais.
Custa cento e um reais.
Custa duzentos e cinquenta reais.
Custa mil reais.
Pass on the new details
Another fixed-price dinner is available. Your note says 21/12, 20:00, total R$101. Before looking at the examples, give a friend three short Portuguese answers: the date without a year, the time, and the price. Use the month cards and hundred table if needed. Then compare your answers with the three lines and listen. To add 2026, use the supplied de dois mil e vinte e seis after the month.
Keep the three pieces apart: day de month (de year), à/às with the clock time, and Custa with the price. Start with the dates and amounts used here; the grouped references help you make a new combination.
Vinte e um de dezembro.
Às oito horas.
Custa cento e um reais.