A collective numeral is a noun that names a group of a fixed (or roughly fixed) size — like English dozen, pair, score, decade. Brazilian Portuguese has a richer and more frequently used set than English, and they behave grammatically like ordinary nouns: they have gender, they pluralize, and they connect to the thing being counted with the preposition de. This page is the bridge between counting (cardinal numbers above 100) and using numbers as determiners. It assumes B1-level comfort with both.
The core set: -ena and friends
The workhorses are built on a transparent system. Notice the pattern:
| Word | Value | Gender | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| uma dúzia | 12 | f. | a dozen |
| meia dúzia | 6 | f. | half a dozen |
| uma dezena | ~10 | f. | (about) ten |
| uma centena | ~100 | f. | (about) a hundred |
| um milhar | ~1.000 | m. | (about) a thousand |
| um par | 2 | m. | a pair |
| uma quinzena | 15 (days) | f. | a fortnight |
Note the gender split: dúzia, dezena, centena, quinzena are feminine (the -a ending is a reliable cue), while milhar and par are masculine. Get the article right and the gender follows.
Preciso comprar uma dúzia de ovos para o bolo.
I need to buy a dozen eggs for the cake.
Ganhei um par de meias de presente, que emocionante.
I got a pair of socks as a gift, how thrilling.
They always take "de"
This is the single most important grammatical fact on the page. A collective numeral is a noun, so it links to the thing it counts with de — never directly. You say uma dúzia *de ovos, exactly as English says "a dozen *of..." would be wrong but "a dozen eggs" is fine. Here Portuguese is actually closer to French (une douzaine d'œufs) than to English: the de is obligatory.
Havia uma centena de pessoas na fila do show.
There were about a hundred people in the line for the concert.
O influenciador tem alguns milhares de seguidores falsos.
The influencer has a few thousand fake followers.
The vague plural: "dozens of," "hundreds of"
This is where collective numerals earn their keep in everyday speech. Put them in the plural and they stop meaning an exact count and start meaning "lots of, on the order of" — precisely like English "dozens of people" or "hundreds of emails."
| Plural form | Rough meaning | English |
|---|---|---|
| dezenas de | tens of, dozens of | dozens of |
| centenas de | hundreds of | hundreds of |
| milhares de | thousands of | thousands of |
| dúzias de | dozens of (lit.) | dozens of |
Dezenas de pessoas se feriram no acidente, segundo a polícia.
Dozens of people were injured in the accident, according to the police.
Recebo centenas de e-mails por dia e não dou conta.
I get hundreds of emails a day and I can't keep up.
Milhares de torcedores lotaram o estádio no domingo.
Thousands of fans packed the stadium on Sunday.
A subtlety for English speakers: English "dozens of" maps most naturally to dezenas de, not dúzias de. Dezenas (literally "tens") is the everyday word for "a couple of dozen, several tens"; dúzias de is heard but feels more literal, tied to the number twelve. When a Brazilian journalist writes "dozens were arrested," it's dezenas foram presas.
Time spans: década, século, milênio, quinzena
A separate family of collectives measures time. These pattern with English and rarely cause trouble, with two exceptions noted below.
| Word | Span | English |
|---|---|---|
| uma quinzena | 15 days | a fortnight |
| uma década | 10 years | a decade |
| um século | 100 years | a century |
| um milênio | 1.000 years | a millennium |
Não vejo meu primo há mais de uma década.
I haven't seen my cousin in over a decade.
A catedral foi construída no século dezesseis.
The cathedral was built in the sixteenth century.
Two practical notes on quinzena. First, it literally means a span of fifteen days — the closest Portuguese gets to English "fortnight" (which is itself rare in everyday English). Second, and far more usefully, in Brazilian workplace and money talk a quinzena often means the 15th of the month as a payday or a half-month pay period: recebo na quinzena ("I get paid on the fifteenth"). Many Brazilians are paid in two installments, on the 15th and the 30th, and quinzena names the first.
Te pago na quinzena, assim que cair o salário.
I'll pay you mid-month, as soon as my salary comes in.
Par: pair, and "a couple of"
Um par is the standard word for a matched two — um par de sapatos (a pair of shoes), um par de luvas (a pair of gloves), um par de óculos (a pair of glasses). But just like English "a couple of," it also softens into "a few" in casual speech:
Me empresta um par de reais aí?
Lend me a couple of bucks, would you?
Comprei um par de tênis novo para a corrida.
I bought a new pair of sneakers for the run.
Be careful not to confuse par (pair) with um casal (a romantic couple, two people in a relationship) — um casal de amigos is a couple (two partners) of friends, while um par de meias is a pair (two items) of socks.
Common Mistakes
❌ Comprei uma dúzia ovos.
Incorrect — collective numerals require 'de': 'uma dúzia de ovos'.
✅ Comprei uma dúzia de ovos.
I bought a dozen eggs.
The missing de is the most common error, because English drops it ("a dozen eggs").
❌ Tinha cem de pessoas na festa.
Incorrect — the bare cardinal 'cem' takes no 'de'; only the collective 'centena' does.
✅ Tinha cem pessoas na festa.
There were a hundred people at the party.
✅ Tinha uma centena de pessoas na festa.
There were about a hundred people at the party.
Don't blend the two systems: cem pessoas (exact, no de) versus uma centena de pessoas (approximate, with de).
❌ Dúzias de pessoas protestaram no centro.
Understandable but unidiomatic — for 'dozens of' (a vague many), Brazilians say 'dezenas de'.
✅ Dezenas de pessoas protestaram no centro.
Dozens of people protested downtown.
❌ Um milhar de fãs lotaram o estádio.
Mismatch — 'milhar' is masculine singular; for a vague many use the plural 'milhares de'.
✅ Milhares de fãs lotaram o estádio.
Thousands of fans packed the stadium.
❌ Ganhei um par de meia.
Incorrect — 'par de' is followed by the plural of the counted noun: 'um par de meias'.
✅ Ganhei um par de meias.
I got a pair of socks.
Key Takeaways
- Collective numerals are nouns: they have gender (uma dúzia, um par), pluralize, and always connect to the counted thing with de.
- The big four — dúzia (12), dezena (~10), centena (~100), milhar (~1.000) — go vague in the plural: dezenas/centenas/milhares de = "dozens/hundreds/thousands of."
- For "dozens of (a vague many)," reach for dezenas de, not dúzias de.
- Quinzena = a fortnight, and in Brazil often the mid-month payday.
- Par = a matched pair; loosely "a couple of." Don't confuse it with casal (a romantic couple).
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Cardinal Numbers 100+A1 — Counting from one hundred upward in Brazilian Portuguese: cem vs cento, the gendered hundreds, invariable mil, milhão/bilhão with 'de', and the rules for 'e'.
- 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'.
- 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'.