When we think of numbers, the first thing that comes to mind is learning to count. But there's actually a lot hidden behind those symbols seemingly saying the exact same thing as in our native language.

Counting: have you tried eavesdropping on Portuguese children playing hide and seek (brincar às escondidas)? There's a slight melody to it which really helps memorizing numbers 1-20;

Money: 2,50€ we say dois Euros e cinquenta/meio (two Euro and fifty/half)

House number: despite the lack of any order in numbering our houses, we use ordinal numbers (1º; note that the little º indicates masculine, since it refers to 'apartamento'), followed by left or right, 'esquerdo'/'esq.' or 'direito'/'dto'.

Phone number: landlines will start with a 2, followed by another digit indicating the region's code. We tend to group it into 3s, eg. 214 592 339. We tend to read them as individual digits: dois, um, quatro... The same happens for mobile numbers; the difference is that they start with a 9, followed by another digit indicating the operating company, eg. 934 286 788.

Bigger numbers: the year is a classic one; saying we are in the year 20(twenty) 22(twenty-two) will not work in Portuguese; you really need to read the full number: dois mil e vinte e dois.

If you have enjoyed this quick lesson and would like to learn more Portuguese outside of the box, then please contact Catarina from The Language Unschool - catarina@thelanguageunschool.com