Ordinal numbers express rank or order — first, second, third — and in Brazilian Portuguese they do two things English ordinals never do: they agree in gender and number with the noun (a primeira vez, os primeiros dias), and in everyday speech they are quietly abandoned above "tenth" in favor of plain cardinals. Knowing both halves of that story is what separates a textbook learner from someone who sounds Brazilian.
The first ten — the ones you actually use
These are the ordinals you will hear constantly. Memorize them with confidence; everything above them is built from these roots.
| Number | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | primeiro | primeira |
| 2nd | segundo | segunda |
| 3rd | terceiro | terceira |
| 4th | quarto | quarta |
| 5th | quinto | quinta |
| 6th | sexto | sexta |
| 7th | sétimo | sétima |
| 8th | oitavo | oitava |
| 9th | nono | nona |
| 10th | décimo | décima |
Mind the accents: sétimo and décimo are proparoxytones (stress on the third-to-last syllable) and always carry an acute accent. Dropping it is a spelling error.
É a primeira vez que venho ao Brasil.
It's the first time I've come to Brazil.
Ele ficou em terceiro lugar na maratona.
He came in third place in the marathon.
They agree like adjectives
Unlike cardinals (where only um and dois inflect), every ordinal agrees in both gender and number, exactly like a regular adjective. This is intuitive once you see that an ordinal is essentially describing the noun: the first day, the first days.
| Masculine | Feminine | |
|---|---|---|
| Singular | o primeiro dia | a primeira vez |
| Plural | os primeiros dias | as primeiras vezes |
Os primeiros dias de aula sempre são os mais difíceis.
The first days of class are always the hardest.
Ela foi uma das primeiras mulheres a se formar em engenharia na época.
She was one of the first women to graduate in engineering back then.
The tens, hundreds, and beyond
Above ten, ordinals follow a Latin-derived pattern. You'll encounter these in formal, legal, and academic writing more than in conversation.
| Number | Ordinal |
|---|---|
| 20th | vigésimo |
| 30th | trigésimo |
| 40th | quadragésimo |
| 50th | quinquagésimo |
| 100th | centésimo |
| 1000th | milésimo |
Compound ordinals stack each part, and every part agrees: the twenty-first time is a vigésima primeira vez. Both words go feminine.
Hoje comemoramos o vigésimo aniversário da empresa.
Today we're celebrating the company's twentieth anniversary.
Abbreviations: º and ª
Brazilian Portuguese abbreviates ordinals with a small raised circle (º for masculine, ª for feminine) — not the degree sign and not the English "st/nd/th." These are called ordinal indicators.
- 1º = primeiro, 1ª = primeira
- 5º = quinto, 5ª = quinta
- 2º andar = segundo andar (second floor)
- 5ª série = quinta série (fifth grade)
O escritório fica no 3º andar, sala 302.
The office is on the 3rd floor, room 302.
Meu filho está na 5ª série este ano.
My son is in 5th grade this year.
The big secret: Brazilians switch to cardinals
Here is the most useful real-world insight on this page. In everyday Brazilian speech, ordinals are robust up to décimo (10th). Beyond that, speakers overwhelmingly switch to cardinal numbers because the higher ordinals (vigésimo, trigésimo segundo, centésimo) feel stiff and bookish.
So a Brazilian says:
- página vinte — "page twenty" (not vigésima página)
- apartamento trinta e dois — "apartment thirty-two"
- o ano dois mil — "the year two thousand"
Abram o livro na página vinte e três, por favor.
Open your book to page twenty-three, please.
Eles moram no apartamento quarenta e cinco.
They live in apartment forty-five.
This same logic governs two formal conventions:
Royalty and popes. Names use ordinals up to ten, then cardinals. So Dom Pedro II is read Dom Pedro segundo (ordinal, because ≤10), but João XXIII (Pope John 23rd) is read João vinte e três (cardinal, because >10).
Dom Pedro Segundo foi o último imperador do Brasil.
Dom Pedro the Second was the last emperor of Brazil.
Centuries. Same rule: século X is read século décimo but século XXI is read século vinte e um — a cardinal, because it's above ten. You'll almost never hear vigésimo primeiro século in speech.
Estamos no início do século vinte e um.
We're at the start of the twenty-first century.
Common Mistakes
❌ É a primeiro vez que faço isso.
Incorrect — 'vez' is feminine, so the ordinal must be 'primeira'.
✅ É a primeira vez que faço isso.
It's the first time I'm doing this.
English ordinals don't agree, so learners forget that Portuguese ones do.
❌ Estamos no vigésimo primeiro século.
Awkward — Brazilians read centuries above ten as cardinals.
✅ Estamos no século vinte e um.
We're in the twenty-first century.
❌ Moramos no quadragésimo segundo apartamento.
Unnatural — nobody counts apartments with high ordinals.
✅ Moramos no apartamento quarenta e dois.
We live in apartment forty-two.
❌ Leia a 5th página.
Incorrect — use the Portuguese ordinal indicator ª, not English 'th'.
✅ Leia a 5ª página.
Read the 5th page.
❌ Dom Pedro dois inaugurou a estação.
Incorrect — a monarch's number ≤10 is read as an ordinal.
✅ Dom Pedro Segundo inaugurou a estação.
Dom Pedro the Second inaugurated the station.
Key Takeaways
- Learn primeiro–décimo cold; they appear everywhere and all agree in gender and number (-o, -a, -os, -as).
- Abbreviate with º / ª (1º, 5ª), never English suffixes.
- Above tenth, conversational Brazilian uses cardinals (página vinte, apartamento trinta).
- For monarchs, popes, and centuries: ordinal if ≤10 (Pedro Segundo, século décimo), cardinal if >10 (João vinte e três, século vinte e um).
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
- 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'.
- 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.
- Fractions and DecimalsB1 — How to say fractions and decimals in Brazilian Portuguese: ordinal denominators, the '-avos' suffix, meio vs metade, and reading the decimal comma as 'vírgula'.