When a Portuguese speaker says uma dúzia de ovos (a dozen eggs), uns vinte alunos (about twenty students), de duas em duas horas (every two hours), or meia dúzia de palavras (a few words, literally "half a dozen"), they are using a different layer of the number system than the bare cardinals — a layer that English handles with words like "dozen," "couple," "around," "every other," and a fistful of vague quantifiers.
Mastering this layer is what makes your Portuguese sound natural rather than mathematical. Comprei doze ovos is grammatical; comprei uma dúzia de ovos is what a Portuguese person actually says at the market. Cerca de cinquenta pessoas is what you read in the news; umas cinquenta pessoas is what you say to a friend. This page maps out the whole territory: collective nouns, approximation phrases, indefinite quantifiers, distributives, iteratives, and the small set of multiplicatives (duplo, triplo) that survive in modern speech.
Collective nouns: groups of fixed size
These are nouns that name a specific quantity — a dozen, a hundred, a thousand. They are followed by de + the thing being counted. They behave grammatically like ordinary nouns: they take an article, they have a gender, they form plurals.
| Portuguese | Quantity | English |
|---|---|---|
| par | 2 | pair |
| trio | 3 | trio (mostly musical) |
| meia dúzia | 6 | half-dozen |
| dúzia | 12 | dozen |
| quinzena | 15 | fifteen / fortnight (15 days) |
| vintena | ~20 | about twenty |
| trintena | ~30 | about thirty (rare) |
| quarentena | ~40 / 40 days | about forty / quarantine |
| centena | 100 | hundred |
| milhar | 1 000 | thousand |
| milhão | 1 000 000 | million |
Par — the pair
Par (pair) is masculine, very productive, and used both for things that come in matching twos (um par de meias, um par de sapatos) and idiomatically for "a couple of" (um par de coisas).
Comprei um par de sapatos novos para o casamento.
I bought a new pair of shoes for the wedding.
Vou só fazer um par de chamadas e já volto.
I'm just going to make a couple of calls and I'll be right back.
Tenho de comprar um par de meias — todos os meus já estão furados.
I need to buy a pair of socks — all mine have holes in them.
Dúzia — the dozen
The market staple. Dúzia is feminine, meia dúzia is the natural way to say "six of something" when you want to suggest a small, round group. Dúzias in the plural means "lots of" (há dúzias de razões).
Ponha-me uma dúzia de ovos, por favor.
A dozen eggs, please.
Comprei meia dúzia de pastéis de nata para a sobremesa.
I bought half a dozen pastéis de nata for dessert.
Há dúzias de razões para escolher esta universidade.
There are dozens of reasons to choose this university.
Quinzena — the fortnight (and the bimonthly pay packet)
Quinzena literally means "a group of fifteen," but in modern PT-PT it has settled on two specific senses: a fifteen-day period (the equivalent of an English "fortnight" — though English fortnights are 14 days, Portuguese quinzenas are 15) and a half-month. A primeira quinzena de março is the first half of March.
O concerto realiza-se na primeira quinzena de junho.
The concert takes place in the first half of June.
Estamos no início da segunda quinzena do mês.
We're at the start of the second half of the month.
Pagam-me ao fim de cada quinzena.
I get paid at the end of every fortnight.
Vintena, trintena, quarentena
These are approximative: uma vintena means "about twenty," not exactly twenty. Vintena is by far the most common; trintena is rarer; quarentena now mostly means "quarantine" (a forty-day isolation period, the medical sense having largely eclipsed the numerical one).
Apareceram uma vintena de pessoas para o evento.
About twenty people showed up for the event.
Tem uma vintena de anos, no máximo.
He's about twenty, at most.
Os meus pais já estão na quarentena.
My parents are already in their forties. (Older usage; now ambiguous with 'quarantine'.)
Foi posto em quarentena durante duas semanas.
He was put in quarantine for two weeks. (Modern medical sense.)
Centena and milhar
The hundred and thousand as nouns. Both are extremely common — far more common than the equivalent in English, which more often just says "a hundred" or "a thousand" rather than "a hundred of" or "a thousand of."
Há uma centena de livros na minha biblioteca pessoal.
There are about a hundred books in my personal library.
Várias centenas de manifestantes encheram a praça.
Several hundred protesters filled the square.
Mais de uma centena de espécies foram identificadas na floresta.
More than a hundred species were identified in the forest.
Um milhar de pessoas compareceu ao funeral.
A thousand people attended the funeral.
Milhares de portugueses emigraram nos anos sessenta.
Thousands of Portuguese emigrated in the sixties.
Os danos atingem milhares de euros.
The damages run into thousands of euros.
The plurals centenas and milhares are particularly common, and frequently signal vagueness: "hundreds of," "thousands of." This is the natural Portuguese for English's "tons of," "loads of," "scores of."
Milhão — the million
Milhão (masculine) takes de before another noun, like the others: um milhão de euros, três milhões de habitantes. Note that with cardinals modifying it, the plural is milhões.
Portugal tem cerca de dez milhões de habitantes.
Portugal has about ten million inhabitants.
Ele ganhou um milhão de euros na lotaria.
He won a million euros in the lottery.
Já te disse milhões de vezes para não bateres com a porta.
I've told you a million times not to slam the door.
For more on milhão and large cardinals, see the cardinal numbers 100+ page.
Approximation: "about, around, roughly"
Portuguese has a stack of phrases for approximation, ranging from very informal to very formal. Knowing which to reach for is part of fluency.
| Portuguese | Register | English |
|---|---|---|
| uns / umas + numeral | colloquial | about, around |
| aí uns / aí umas | very colloquial | like, around |
| cerca de | neutral | approximately |
| aproximadamente | formal | approximately |
| à volta de | conversational | around |
| em torno de | formal | around |
| perto de | conversational | close to, nearly |
| quase | neutral | almost |
| mais ou menos | colloquial | more or less, about |
| para aí + numeral | very colloquial | like, around |
Uns and umas — the colloquial workhorse
Uns (m) and umas (f) — the plural indefinite article — placed before a numeral mean "about." This is the construction you will use most often in conversation. Agreement matters: uns vinte rapazes but umas vinte raparigas.
Estavam lá uns vinte alunos quando cheguei.
There were about twenty students there when I arrived.
Demora umas duas horas a chegar de comboio.
It takes about two hours to get there by train.
Custa uns trinta euros, mais ou menos.
It costs around thirty euros, more or less.
Tinha uns dez anos quando isso aconteceu.
I was about ten when that happened.
Faltam uns cinco minutos para chegarmos.
We're about five minutes from arriving.
Cerca de — the neutral approximation
Cerca de is the standard, register-neutral way to approximate. You will see it in news articles, official statements, and educated conversation. Unlike uns/umas, it does not change form for gender or number.
Cerca de cinquenta pessoas assistiram ao concerto.
About fifty people attended the concert.
O voo tem cerca de três horas de duração.
The flight is about three hours long.
Cerca de um terço dos eleitores não foi às urnas.
About a third of voters didn't go to the polls.
Saiu de casa há cerca de uma hora.
He left home about an hour ago.
Aproximadamente — formal
The most formal of the three. Common in scientific writing, statistical reports, and academic prose.
A população é de aproximadamente trezentos mil habitantes.
The population is approximately three hundred thousand.
O ensaio durou aproximadamente noventa minutos.
The trial lasted approximately ninety minutes.
À volta de and em torno de
Both literally mean "around." Less common than cerca de but useful as variations.
O encontro tem à volta de trinta participantes.
The meeting has around thirty participants.
Os preços andam em torno dos dois euros por café.
Prices are around two euros for a coffee.
Perto de and quase — "close to, nearly"
These convey approximation from below — close to but not quite reaching the number.
Já são perto da meia-noite, é melhor irmos para casa.
It's nearly midnight, we'd better head home.
Vivem perto de cinquenta pessoas neste prédio.
Close to fifty people live in this building.
Quase mil estudantes inscreveram-se este ano.
Almost a thousand students enrolled this year.
Tenho quase trinta anos, ainda não me sinto velho.
I'm almost thirty, I still don't feel old.
Para aí — the markedly colloquial
A very Portuguese way to vague-up a number. Para aí trinta means "around thirty, like thirty." Avoid it in writing, but in conversation it is everywhere.
Devem ter para aí trinta anos, não muito mais.
They must be around thirty, not much more.
Ficaram para aí cinco horas no trânsito.
They were stuck in traffic for like five hours.
Indefinite quantifiers: vague amounts without a number
When you don't want to commit to even an approximate count, Portuguese offers a rich set of vague quantifiers.
| Portuguese | English | Register |
|---|---|---|
| uns quantos / umas quantas | a few, several | neutral |
| vários / várias | several | neutral |
| uma série de | a series of, a lot of | neutral |
| um monte de | a load of, a heap of | colloquial |
| imensa gente / imensos | loads of people | PT-PT colloquial |
| uma data de | a bunch of, lots of | colloquial |
| poucos / poucas | few | neutral |
| muitos / muitas | many | neutral |
| imenso / imensa | tons (of), loads (of) | PT-PT |
| quase nenhum/nenhuma | almost none | neutral |
Tenho uns quantos amigos em Coimbra que ainda não vi este ano.
I have a few friends in Coimbra I haven't seen yet this year.
Há várias razões para considerarmos esta proposta.
There are several reasons to consider this proposal.
Apareceu um monte de gente para a inauguração.
A whole load of people showed up for the opening.
Estava imensa gente na praia ontem.
There were tons of people on the beach yesterday.
Comprei uma data de coisas no centro comercial.
I bought a bunch of stuff at the shopping centre.
Sobraram poucos bilhetes para o concerto.
There are few tickets left for the concert.
Multiplicatives: double, triple, quadruple
Portuguese has a series of multiplicative adjectives, but only the first two are in regular use. Beyond triplo, native speakers usually paraphrase.
| Portuguese | English | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| duplo / dobro | double | common |
| triplo | triple | common |
| quádruplo | quadruple | rare |
| quíntuplo | quintuple | very rare |
| séxtuplo, séptuplo, óctuplo, nónuplo, décuplo | sixfold, sevenfold, etc. | literary |
Duplo is the adjective ("double agent" = agente duplo); o dobro is the noun ("the double of, twice as much as"). They are not interchangeable.
O preço subiu para o dobro em cinco anos.
The price doubled in five years.
Esta empresa faturou o triplo do ano passado.
This company turned over triple last year's revenue.
O acordo foi assinado em duplo exemplar.
The agreement was signed in two copies.
Pago o dobro se entregares hoje.
I'll pay double if you deliver today.
Trabalhar em casa rendeu-me o triplo do que esperava.
Working from home earned me triple what I expected.
For "four times" and beyond, Portuguese normally uses quatro vezes mais (four times more), cinco vezes maior (five times bigger), and so on:
Hoje custa quatro vezes mais do que custava em mil novecentos e oitenta.
Today it costs four times more than in 1980.
A área da nova fábrica é seis vezes maior que a antiga.
The new factory's area is six times bigger than the old one.
Distributives: "every two days," "every three minutes"
To say "every X" of something, Portuguese uses one of two patterns:
- cada + cardinal + noun: cada dois dias (every two days), cada três minutos (every three minutes).
- de X em X + noun: de duas em duas horas (every two hours), de cinco em cinco minutos (every five minutes).
The second pattern is more characteristically Portuguese and slightly more emphatic; the first is more compact.
Tenho de tomar este comprimido cada oito horas.
I have to take this pill every eight hours.
O autocarro passa de quinze em quinze minutos.
The bus comes every fifteen minutes.
O médico vê-o de seis em seis meses.
The doctor sees him every six months.
Em Lisboa há um café a cada esquina.
In Lisbon there's a café on every corner.
Os contadores são lidos de dois em dois meses.
The meters are read every two months.
For "each one (individually)," use cada um/cada uma:
Cada um de nós tem uma opinião diferente.
Each of us has a different opinion.
Cada aluno deve trazer um caderno.
Each student should bring a notebook.
Iteratives: "once, twice, three times"
The basic series uses vez (time, occasion) preceded by a cardinal. Singular uma vez; plural vezes from two onwards.
| Portuguese | English |
|---|---|
| uma vez | once, one time |
| duas vezes | twice, two times |
| três vezes | three times |
| muitas vezes | often, many times |
| poucas vezes | rarely, few times |
| raras vezes | rarely |
| às vezes | sometimes |
| de vez em quando | from time to time |
| uma vez por outra | now and then |
| todas as vezes | every time |
| cada vez (mais) | each time (more) |
Já vi este filme três vezes e ainda choro no fim.
I've seen this film three times and I still cry at the end.
Vou ao Porto duas vezes por mês.
I go to Porto twice a month.
De vez em quando apetece-me sair sozinho.
From time to time I feel like going out alone.
A vida está cada vez mais cara em Lisboa.
Life is getting more and more expensive in Lisbon.
Foi a primeira vez que viajei sozinha.
It was the first time I travelled alone.
É a milésima vez que te peço para arrumares o quarto!
It's the thousandth time I'm asking you to tidy your room!
Ordinal + vez
To say "for the first time," "for the second time," etc., use the ordinal:
Pela primeira vez na vida, fiquei sem palavras.
For the first time in my life, I was speechless.
Pela terceira vez este mês, a água acabou.
For the third time this month, the water's run out.
Foi pela última vez que o vi vivo.
It was the last time I saw him alive.
Idiomatic uses worth knowing
A short selection of phrases that involve numbers but cannot be translated literally:
Disse meia dúzia de palavras e foi-se embora.
He said a few words and left. (literally 'half a dozen words' = 'a handful of words')
Há uma data de coisas que não te disse ainda.
There are loads of things I haven't told you yet.
Estive um milhão de horas à espera.
I waited a million hours. (hyperbole)
Em duas penadas resolvemos isto.
We'll sort this out in two shakes. (PT colloquial)
Não há duas sem três.
Things come in threes. (literally 'there are no two without three')
Common mistakes
❌ uma dúzia ovos
Collective nouns require *de* before the counted noun.
✅ uma dúzia de ovos
a dozen eggs
❌ uns vinte raparigas
*Uns/umas* must agree in gender with the noun. *Raparigas* is feminine, so *umas*.
✅ umas vinte raparigas
about twenty girls
❌ cerca quinze pessoas
*Cerca de* always takes the preposition *de*. Don't drop it.
✅ cerca de quinze pessoas
about fifteen people
❌ cada dois dia
*Cada* takes a singular noun, but with the cardinal the noun goes plural to match the cardinal.
✅ cada dois dias
every two days
❌ de dois para dois dias
The construction is *de X em X*, not *de X para X*.
✅ de dois em dois dias
every two days
❌ Comprei uma dúzia ovos.
Same problem — *de* is mandatory between the collective noun and what is being counted.
✅ Comprei uma dúzia de ovos.
I bought a dozen eggs.
❌ É o duplo do preço (when meaning 'twice as much').
*Duplo* is the adjective; the noun is *dobro*. *É o dobro do preço* — it's twice the price.
✅ É o dobro do preço.
It's twice the price.
Key takeaways
- Collective nouns (par, dúzia, centena, milhar, milhão) take de before the counted noun: uma dúzia de ovos, uma centena de livros.
- Meia dúzia de often means "a handful of," not literally six.
- Approximation: uns/umas + numeral (colloquial, agrees with gender), cerca de (neutral), aproximadamente (formal).
- Uns vinte alunos and cerca de vinte alunos mean the same thing in different registers.
- Quinzena = a fifteen-day period or half-month. Quarentena has shifted to mean "quarantine" almost exclusively today.
- Indefinite quantifiers: vários, uns quantos, um monte de, imensa gente. Choose by register.
- Multiplicatives beyond duplo/triplo are paraphrased: quatro vezes mais rather than quádruplo.
- Duplo is the adjective; dobro is the noun. Pago o dobro (I'll pay double, noun); agente duplo (double agent, adjective).
- Distributives: cada + cardinal + noun (cada dois dias) or de X em X + noun (de duas em duas horas).
- Iteratives: uma vez, duas vezes, três vezes. For "for the Nth time," use pela + ordinal + vez: pela primeira vez, pela última vez.
Related Topics
- Numbers OverviewA1 — An orienting tour of the Portuguese number system — cardinals, ordinals, fractions, decimals, percentages, dates, and the quirks of agreement, formatting, and PT-PT vs PT-BR usage.
- Cardinal Numbers 1-100A1 — How to count from um to cem in European Portuguese — gender agreement, the e conjunction, PT-PT spellings (dezasseis, dezassete, dezanove), and the cem-vs-cento boundary at one hundred.
- Cardinal Numbers 100+A1 — Hundreds, thousands, millions, and beyond in European Portuguese — gender agreement of duzentas/trezentas, the cem/cento split, mil as invariable, milhão with de, and the long-scale bilião that traps English speakers.
- Ordinal NumbersA2 — Primeiro, segundo, terceiro and the rest of the Portuguese ordinal series — how they form, how they agree in gender and number, and where everyday speech replaces them with cardinals.
- Fractions and DecimalsA2 — How European Portuguese expresses parts of a whole — meio, metade, um terço, três quartos — and decimal numbers, where the comma replaces the period as separator.
- Percentages and Mathematical ExpressionsA2 — How European Portuguese reads percentages, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, powers, and roots — including verb agreement with percentage subjects and the difference between vezes and multiplicado por.