Once you pass one hundred, Brazilian Portuguese introduces three new features that English doesn't have: the hundreds agree in gender (just like um/uma and dois/duas did below 100), the word for "thousand" is invariable, and milhão/bilhão behave like nouns — they pluralize and demand the preposition de before what they count. Master these three points and you can read any number aloud. If you haven't yet, review Cardinal Numbers 1-100 first.
Cem versus cento
As previewed in the 1–100 page, cem is exactly 100 (and stands before a noun: cem pessoas). The instant a smaller number follows, it becomes cento e:
O estádio recebeu cem mil torcedores.
The stadium held a hundred thousand fans.
Ainda faltam cento e cinquenta páginas para terminar o livro.
I still have a hundred and fifty pages left to finish the book.
So: cem (100), but cento e um (101), cento e vinte e três (123), cento e noventa e nove (199). There is never an um before cem or cento.
The hundreds — they agree in gender
From 200 upward, the hundreds have full masculine and feminine forms, ending in -os or -as. This is the key surprise of this page.
| Number | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | duzentos | duzentas |
| 300 | trezentos | trezentas |
| 400 | quatrocentos | quatrocentas |
| 500 | quinhentos | quinhentas |
| 600 | seiscentos | seiscentas |
| 700 | setecentos | setecentas |
| 800 | oitocentos | oitocentas |
| 900 | novecentos | novecentas |
The agreement is governed by the noun being counted. Money in reais (masculine) takes the -os form; pessoas or casas (feminine) takes -as.
Esse celular custou quinhentos reais na promoção.
This phone cost five hundred reais on sale.
Duzentas pessoas assinaram o abaixo-assinado.
Two hundred people signed the petition.
A empresa demitiu oitocentos funcionários no ano passado.
The company laid off eight hundred employees last year.
Note the slightly irregular spellings: quinhentos (500, not cincocentos) and seiscentos / setecentos (600/700), which look almost identical and are easily confused.
Mil — one thousand, invariable
The word mil (1,000) is a fixed building block. Unlike the hundreds, it never changes form and never takes an article. You don't say um mil — just mil. To multiply it, you simply place a number in front: dois mil, três mil, dez mil, cem mil.
| Number | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| 1.000 | mil |
| 2.000 | dois mil |
| 15.000 | quinze mil |
| 100.000 | cem mil |
| 999.000 | novecentos e noventa e nove mil |
Because mil is invariable, the number in front of it still agrees with the counted noun if it's a hundred: duzentas mil pessoas (200,000 people, feminine because pessoas), duzentos mil reais (masculine).
O carro novo saiu por cento e vinte mil reais.
The new car came to a hundred and twenty thousand reais.
Duzentas mil pessoas foram às ruas no domingo.
Two hundred thousand people took to the streets on Sunday.
Notice that Brazilian Portuguese uses a period as the thousands separator (1.000) and a comma for decimals — the exact reverse of English. So 1,500.75 in English is written 1.500,75 in Brazil.
Milhão and bilhão — these are nouns
This is where Portuguese behaves very differently from English. Million and billion are not adjectives like mil — they are nouns. That means two things:
- They pluralize: um milhão, dois milhões, três bilhões.
- When they're immediately followed by the thing being counted, they require the preposition de.
| Number | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000,000 | um milhão | — |
| 2,000,000 | — | dois milhões |
| 1,000,000,000 | um bilhão | — |
| 5,000,000,000 | — | cinco bilhões |
O Brasil tem mais de duzentos milhões de habitantes.
Brazil has more than two hundred million inhabitants.
A obra vai custar dois bilhões de reais.
The project will cost two billion reais.
The de is dropped only when the number is not "round" — that is, when something stands between the milhão and the noun: dois milhões e quinhentos mil reais (no de, because the number continues). Compare um milhão *de habitantes (round) with um milhão e meio **de habitantes (also takes *de, because meio still leaves it round-ish — but dois milhões, trezentos mil habitantes drops it). The reliable rule: if the noun comes right after milhão/bilhão, use de; if a smaller number intervenes, no de.
A startup foi vendida por um milhão e meio de dólares.
The startup was sold for one and a half million dollars.
Where "e" goes in big numbers
The connector e is the trickiest part of reading large numbers aloud. The principle: e joins a hundred to the tens/units that complete it, but it is not sprinkled between every group.
The simple version of the rule:
- Always put e between hundreds and tens, and between tens and units: cento e vinte e três, trezentos e quarenta e cinco.
- Put e directly after a "round" hundreds-of-thousands group only when nothing else follows in the lower group: mil e quinhentos (1,500), dois mil e duzentos (2,200).
- Drop the e between the thousands and the lower group when the lower group is not a single round hundred or a bare tens/units block: dois mil trezentos e cinquenta (2,350).
| Number | Read aloud |
|---|---|
| 123 | cento e vinte e três |
| 1.500 | mil e quinhentos |
| 2.350 | dois mil trezentos e cinquenta |
| 1.999 | mil novecentos e noventa e nove |
| 345.678 | trezentos e quarenta e cinco mil seiscentos e setenta e oito |
Ele nasceu em mil novecentos e noventa e nove.
He was born in nineteen ninety-nine.
Common Mistakes
❌ A casa custou quinhentas mil reais.
Incorrect — 'reais' is masculine, so the hundred must be 'quinhentos'.
✅ A casa custou quinhentos mil reais.
The house cost five hundred thousand reais.
Learners over-apply feminine agreement; the gender follows the counted noun, and reais is masculine.
❌ O país tem duzentos milhões habitantes.
Incorrect — milhões is a noun and needs 'de' before the counted noun.
✅ O país tem duzentos milhões de habitantes.
The country has two hundred million inhabitants.
This is the most common large-number error English speakers make, because English million takes no preposition.
❌ Paguei um mil reais.
Incorrect — 'mil' never takes 'um' in front.
✅ Paguei mil reais.
I paid a thousand reais.
❌ A entrada custa cem e vinte reais.
Incorrect — above 100 you must switch from 'cem' to 'cento'.
✅ A entrada custa cento e vinte reais.
The ticket costs a hundred and twenty reais.
❌ Custou R$ 1,500.
Incorrect — Brazil uses a period for thousands, a comma for decimals.
✅ Custou R$ 1.500.
It cost R$ 1,500.
Key Takeaways
- cem = exactly 100; cento e... for 101–199.
- The hundreds (200–900) agree in gender with the counted noun: duzentos reais, duzentas pessoas.
- mil is invariable and takes no um; multiply it with a preceding number (dois mil).
- milhão/bilhão are nouns: they pluralize (milhões) and take de before the counted noun (dois milhões de pessoas).
- Brazil writes thousands with a period and decimals with a comma: 1.500,75.
Now practice Portuguese
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Cardinal Numbers 1-100A1 — How to count from zero to one hundred in Brazilian Portuguese, including the gendered forms um/uma and dois/duas and the role of 'e'.
- Numbers: OverviewA1 — A map of Brazilian Portuguese numbers — gender agreement on um/uma, dois/duas and the hundreds, the reversed comma-decimal/period-thousands punctuation, and the 'e' that links the parts.
- Percentages and Math OperationsA2 — How Brazilian Portuguese reads percentages with 'por cento', the four arithmetic operations, multiples like dobro/triplo/metade, and the phone-number 'meia'.
- Numerals as DeterminersA1 — Numbers used to determine nouns — why most cardinals are invariable but 'um/uma', 'dois/duas' (and the hundreds) agree in gender, how ordinals sit before the noun, and the gender of 'meio/meia'.