Olá, queridos alunos! Aqui é a Virginia, sua professora brasileira.
In this lesson, you will learn how to use ordinal numbers in Portuguese.
I prepared a PDF with exercises so you can practice what you learn in this lesson.
Fill out the form below to download your PDF.
What are cardinal and ordinal numbers?
Cardinal numbers are those used to quantify things. 1 (um), 2 (dois), 3 (três) are cardinal numbers.
Ordinal numbers are those used to indicate the order or position of something. 1st (primeiro), 2nd (segundo), 3rd (terceiro) are ordinal numbers.
An important detail on ordinal numbers is that they vary in gender (feminine or masculine) and can vary in number (singular or plural). For example:
A primeira convidada chegou. (The first guest arrived. – feminine)
O primeiro convidado chegou. (The first guest arrived. – masculine)
Eles foram os primeiros a chegar. (They were the first to arrive. – plural)
Now, let’s review the ordinal numbers until the 100th position. Watch the video to hear the pronunciation of each number. I recommend that you practice repeating all the numbers out loud to improve your pronunciation.
1º – primeiro
2º – segundo
3º – terceiro
4º – quarto
5º – quinto
6º – sexto
7º – sétimo
8º – oitavo
9º – nono
10º – décimo
From then on, we will join the number “décimo” with the units from 1 to 9:
11º – décimo primeiro
12º – décimo segundo
13º – décimo terceiro
14º – décimo quarto
15º – décimo quinto
16º – décimo sexto
17º – décimo sétimo
18º – décimo oitavo
19º – décimo nono
20º – vigésimo
From then on, again, we will join the number “vigésimo” with the units from 1 to 9:
21º – vigésimo primeiro
22º – vigésimo segundo
23º – vigésimo terceiro
And so forth. We always stick to this pattern.
The next tens are:
30º – trigésimo
40º – quadragésimo
50º – quinquagésimo
60º – sexagésimo
70º – septuagésimo
80º – octogésimo
90º – nonagésimo
100º – centesimo
How often are ordinal numbers used?
The ordinal numbers from “primeiro” to “trigésimo” are used often, but the higher numbers are not often used, so don’t worry about memorizing everything.
Normally, when we need to talk about the order of something using a higher number, we change the structure of the sentence a little and we use cardinal numbers. For example:
Pedro chegou em quinquagésimo sétimo lugar. (Pedro finished in fifty-seventh place.)
So complicated!
We prefer to say:
Pedro chegou na posição cinquenta e sete. (Pedro finished in position fifty-seven).
Most common situations where we use ordinal numbers
1) When we talk about the floors in a building. For example:
Carlos trabalha no vigésimo segundo andar. (Carlos works on the twenty-second floor.)
2) To list items. For example:
Primeiro: descongelar; segundo: retirar a embalagem; terceiro: esquentar. (First: thaw out; second: remove the packaging; third: heat up.)
3) To talk about the order of arrival. For example:
Joana chegou em sétimo lugar na corrida. (Joana finished in seventh place in the race.)
4) To talk about a position in a ranking. For example:
O livro do autor ficou em trigésimo lugar no ranking da Revista Época. (The book’s author came in thirtieth place in the ranking by Revista Época.)
When we don’t use ordinal numbers in Portuguese
We don’t use ordinal numbers to talk about the days of the month, with the exception of the first day. For example:
O dia primeiro de maio é feriado no Brasil. (The first of May is a holiday in Brazil.)
Meu aniversário é no dia vinte e cinco de junho. (My birthday is on the twenty-fifth of June.)
We also don’t use ordinal numbers to talk about centuries. For example:
Gosto de ler romances do século dezenove. (I like reading nineteenth century novels.)
Download the PDF with exercises to practice what you learned in this lesson.
See you next time! Bye, bye!
