Brazilian time expressions are highly idiomatic and impossible to assemble word by word. Já já means "in just a sec," em cima da hora means "at the last minute," and the pair daqui a pouco / agora há pouco splits cleanly between future and past in a way that catches every learner. This page sorts the essential time chunks by what they do — asking the time, signaling urgency, locating events in the near future or recent past, and describing frequency.
Asking and telling: "que horas são?"
The standard way to ask the time is Que horas são? (literally "what hours are they?"), with the verb in the plural because horas is plural.
Com licença, que horas são?
Excuse me, what time is it?
Já tá na hora, vamos embora.
It's time already, let's get going.
Tá na hora ("it's time," literally "it's at/in the hour") signals that the moment has arrived to do something. It's one of the most useful time chunks you'll learn.
The future/past split: "daqui a pouco" vs "agora há pouco"
This is the pair to burn into memory. They look related but point in opposite directions in time.
Daqui a pouco = "in a little while," pointing to the near future. Literally "from here to a little [time]."
Daqui a pouco eu te ligo, tô terminando uma coisa.
I'll call you in a little while, I'm finishing something up.
Agora há pouco (or just há pouco) = "a little while ago," pointing to the recent past. Literally "now there-was a little [time]."
Ele saiu agora há pouco, você acabou de perder.
He left a little while ago, you just missed him.
The hinge is the preposition logic: daqui a ("from here to") projects forward; há (the existential "there is/was," related to haver) reaches backward into elapsed time. Confusing them produces sentences that point the wrong way in time — saying you'll do something "a little while ago."
Degrees of soon: "já já" and "daqui a pouco"
Brazilian Portuguese has a graded scale of "soon," and já já sits at the very near end.
Calma, já já eu chego aí.
Hang on, I'll be there in just a sec.
O ônibus passa já já, é só esperar um pouquinho.
The bus comes any second now, just wait a little.
Já já (doubling já) intensifies "right away" into "in just a moment" — sooner than daqui a pouco. It's warm, casual, and reassuring. Note again that já here means "right away," not "already."
Urgency and timing: "na hora," "em cima da hora," "tô atrasado"
These describe how an action sits relative to its scheduled moment.
Cheguei em cima da hora, o avião já tava embarcando.
I got there at the very last minute, the plane was already boarding.
Ele paga as contas sempre na hora, nunca atrasa.
He always pays the bills on time, never late.
Em cima da hora (literally "on top of the hour") = "at the last minute, cutting it close." Na hora = "on time / right when it happens / on the spot" — context decides which. And the essential apology for lateness:
Desculpa, tô atrasado, peguei trânsito.
Sorry, I'm late, I hit traffic.
Tô atrasado/atrasada ("I'm late," agreeing in gender) is the standard phrase. Note the adjective atrasado with estar, not a verb.
Earlier and later, before and after
A gente conversa mais tarde, agora tô ocupado.
We'll talk later, I'm busy right now.
Chega cedo amanhã, antes das oito se der.
Get here early tomorrow, before eight if you can.
Mais tarde ("later"), cedo ("early"), tarde ("late"). Antes ("before") and depois ("after") order events:
Primeiro a gente come, depois resolve o resto.
First we eat, then we deal with the rest.
Frequency and duration
De vez em quando eu pego um cinema no fim de semana.
Now and then I catch a movie on the weekend.
Ela reclama o tempo todo, não para nunca.
She complains all the time, never stops.
De vez em quando ("now and then, occasionally," literally "from time to when") is the standard for occasional frequency. For duration covering a whole span, o dia todo ("all day") and o tempo todo ("the whole time / constantly"):
Fiquei em casa o dia todo, nem saí.
I stayed home all day, didn't even go out.
Don't confuse o tempo todo (constantly) with de vez em quando (occasionally) — they're near-opposites.
"Hoje em dia": these days
For "nowadays / these days," Brazilians say hoje em dia (literally "today in day"), used for general present-era statements.
Hoje em dia quase ninguém escreve carta à mão.
These days hardly anyone writes letters by hand.
How this differs from English
English keeps "ago" and "in [a while]" as separate little words tacked onto a duration; Portuguese encodes direction in the construction itself — daqui a for the future, há for the past — so a learner can't just translate "a little while" and add a tense. English also has nothing as compact as já já for "any second now," and de vez em quando packs "from time to time" into a single fixed unit. Finally, "I'm late" is an adjective state in Portuguese (estou atrasado, agreeing with gender), not the bare adjective "late" — you can't say eu sou tarde.
Common Mistakes
❌ Daqui a pouco eu te liguei.
Incorrect — 'daqui a pouco' is future, but the verb is past
✅ Daqui a pouco eu te ligo.
I'll call you in a little while.
Daqui a pouco points forward; pair it with a future/present, never a past tense.
❌ Ele saiu daqui a pouco.
Wrong direction — this says he left 'in a little while' (future)
✅ Ele saiu agora há pouco.
He left a little while ago.
For the recent past, use agora há pouco / há pouco, not daqui a pouco.
❌ Eu sou atrasado.
Incorrect — uses 'ser', implying a permanent trait
✅ Tô atrasado.
I'm late (right now).
Lateness is a temporary state: estar atrasado. Ser atrasado would label someone as chronically/inherently behind (and can be offensive).
❌ Eu trabalho de vez em quando o tempo todo.
Contradictory — mixes 'occasionally' with 'constantly'
✅ Eu trabalho o tempo todo.
I work all the time.
De vez em quando (occasionally) and o tempo todo (constantly) are opposites; don't combine them.
❌ Que hora é? (asking the clock time)
Usually wrong — the time question is plural
✅ Que horas são?
What time is it?
The standard question is plural: Que horas são? (Que hora é? exists only for "at what specific hour," a different question.)
Key Takeaways
- Daqui a pouco = near future; agora há pouco = recent past. Direction lives in a (ahead) vs há (behind).
- Já já = "in just a sec," sooner than daqui a pouco; já here means "right away."
- Em cima da hora = last minute; na hora = on time / on the spot; tô atrasado = I'm late (estar + agreeing adjective).
- De vez em quando (occasionally) is the opposite of o tempo todo (constantly).
- Ask the time with Que horas são? (plural).
Now practice Portuguese
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Prepositions of TimeA2 — The Brazilian Portuguese system of temporal prepositions — em, a/às, de, por, durante, desde, até, há, daqui a — and the crucial daqui-a (future) vs. há (past) split for measuring distance in time.
- Expressions and Idioms: OverviewA1 — How high-frequency fixed phrases work as pre-assembled chunks that let you sound fluent before you can build the grammar from scratch.
- Daily Life ExpressionsA1 — The few dozen everyday chunks — tudo bem, com licença, deixa pra lá, fica tranquilo, pois é — that carry most routine Brazilian interaction.
- Weather ExpressionsA1 — Brazilian weather talk is subjectless — tá calor, tá chovendo, faz frio — and leans on vivid fixed exclamations; learners must drop the English 'it' entirely.