Questions & Answers about O ano tem doze meses.
Why does the singular word mês have an accent mark, but the plural meses doesn't?
The singular word for month is mês. The circumflex accent tells you to stress that syllable and gives the vowel a closed sound. When you make it plural by adding -es to make meses, the normal pronunciation rules naturally put the stress on the second-to-last syllable. Because the natural stress lands in the right place, the accent mark is dropped!
How do you pronounce the two 's' letters in meses?
They actually make completely different sounds! In Portuguese, a single 's' sitting between two vowels makes a "z" sound, so the middle 's' in meses sounds like a "z". Meanwhile, in Portugal, an 's' at the very end of a word makes a "sh" sound. So, meses is pronounced roughly like "meh-zesh".
Why is tem used here instead of têm?
Does the number doze change depending on the gender of the noun?
No, it doesn't. You might remember from earlier lessons that the numbers one (um/uma) and two (dois/duas) change to match whether the thing being counted is masculine or feminine. However, most higher numbers, including doze, stay exactly the same whether you are counting masculine words like meses or feminine words.
Learn O ano tem doze meses and more in Portuguese
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free