Telling the time in Brazilian Portuguese

Level A1

Telling the time in Brazilian Portuguese

This lesson teaches you to ask the time in Brazilian Portuguese, give it, and say when something happens. Brazilians ask "what hours are they?", Que horas são?, and answer in the plural too: São três horas. There's no everyday word for "a quarter" on the clock — you say e quinze and quinze para as — and you'll see the 24-hour clock on every timetable. Ask a stranger with o senhor or a senhora; with a friend, use você or no pronoun at all, as in the two conversations at the end.

Hour, minute, quarter of an hour, noon and midnight

Morning, afternoon, evening and night — noite is both

Asking the time: Que horas são?

Que horas são?

Asking a stranger politely: Com licença, o senhor tem horas?

Com licença, o senhor tem horas?

Telling the time: São três horas, São seis e dez

São três horas.

É uma hora but são duas: when the verb is singular

The verb agrees with the hour, so English "it's" becomes é for one o'clock, noon and midnight, and são for everything else. Say é uma hora, é meio-dia, Já é meia-noite!, but são duas horas and Já são onze da noite, vai dormir!

The minutes don't change anything: it's é uma e meia, singular, and são duas e meia, plural. Never say "é três horas", which sounds as wrong to a Brazilian as "it are three" does to you.

Clock times, the everyday way and on the 24-hour clock

TimeEveryday24-hour clock
1:00uma horatreze horas
3:00três horasquinze horas
3:05três e cincoquinze e cinco
3:10três e dezquinze e dez
3:15três e quinzequinze e quinze
3:30três e meiaquinze e trinta
3:40vinte para as quatroquinze e quarenta
3:45quinze para as quatroquinze e quarenta e cinco
3:50dez para as quatroquinze e cinquenta
12:00meio-diadoze horas
12:30meio-dia e meiadoze e trinta
0:00meia-noitezero hora

Past and to: e dez, e meia, quinze para as nove

For minutes past the hour, add e, "and", and drop horas: São seis e dez, ten past six. Half past is e meia, "and a half", feminine because hora is: São sete e meia. Brazilians rarely say "a quarter" here; a quarter past two is just duas e quinze.

For "to", say the minutes, then para as and the next hour (para a uma before one o'clock, para o meio-dia before noon, para a meia-noite before midnight): São vinte para as cinco, twenty to five, and São quinze para as nove, a quarter to nine. In speech para as is shortened to pras: quinze pras nove.

In the morning, in the afternoon, at night: da manhã, da tarde, da noite

To say which part of the day a time is in, add da manhã, da tarde or da noite after it: às sete da manhã, às duas da tarde. There's no a.m. or p.m. in Portuguese.

Noite covers both the English evening and night, so 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. are both da noite: O jantar é às oito da noite. After midnight, Brazilians go back to da manhã, or say da madrugada for the small hours, as in duas da madrugada.

Without a clock time, say de manhã, à tarde, à noite: Eu só tomo café de manhã. For today, add hoje: hoje à tarde, this afternoon.

At seven, at noon: às sete, ao meio-dia, à meia-noite

"At" a time is a, which joins the article in front of the hour, so it changes form. Most hours are às, with the accent: O correio abre às nove? One o'clock and midnight are feminine and singular, so they take à: à uma, à meia-noite, as in A festa termina à meia-noite.

Meio-dia is masculine, so noon takes ao: Nós almoçamos ao meio-dia. In speech às sounds just like as, so the accent only shows in writing; learn às sete, ao meio-dia and à meia-noite as set phrases.

Timetables and the 24-hour clock: às dezenove e trinta

Bus and train times, opening hours and TV listings in Brazil use the 24-hour clock, and you read them out as numbers joined by e: O trem sai às dezenove e trinta, at 19:30. On the 24-hour clock there's no e meia and no para as: 15:45 is quinze e quarenta e cinco.

Out loud, people still say meio-dia and meia-noite even when a sign says 12h or 0h, as in A padaria fecha ao meio-dia; doze horas and zero hora, as in the table, sound like an announcement. In conversation, Brazilians switch back to the everyday clock, so a friend would say sete e meia for the same train.

In ten minutes: daqui a dez minutos

daqui a dez minutos

Asking a stranger in the street: Com licença, o senhor tem horas?

Two friends late for the cinema: Que horas começa o filme?

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