• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Street Smart Brazil

We teach smart Portuguese

  • Contact
  • My Account
  • Cart
  • Policies
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Service
    • Disclaimer
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Speak Portuguese With Ease
  • Home
  • About
  • Shop for Lessons
  • Starter Kit
  • Testimonials
  • Resources
  • Blog
How to Ask and Say the Time in Portuguese: All You Need to Know

How to Ask and Say the Time in Portuguese: All You Need to Know

posted on January 26, 2016

How to Ask and Say the Time in Portuguese: All You Need to Know

Imagine getting late to that special date because you didn’t understand the time. No one wants that to happen, right? In this video lesson, I will show you all you need to know in order to ask and say the time in Portuguese. I will also show you  3 major rules and 11 quick tips to say the time in Portuguese and avoid common mistakes.

First Things First

To say the time, or to understand it when someone tells you the time, you need to know the numbers. I happen to have a video lesson on the numbers 🙂 Check it out here.

Here is other relevant vocabulary:

  • (a) hora = hour
  • (o) minuto = minute
  • (o) segundo = second
  • (o) relógio = clock, watch

3 Ways to Ask the Time in Portuguese

Here are the three most common ways to ask the time in Portuguese.

You can always add “por favor” (= please) in front, or at the end, of the question.

  1. Que horas são? = What time is it?
  2. Tem horas? = Do you have the time?
  3. Que horas? = What time?

How to Say the Time in Portuguese

The really simple way

Say it is 3:10. In English, you say:

  • Three ten.

In Portuguese you say:

  • Três e dez.

Notice that in Portuguese you need to use the proposition “e” between the hours and the minutes.

The whole phrase

3:10. In English you say:

  • It is three ten.

In Portuguese:

  • São três e dez.

More about how to use the verb below.

How to Say 10 to four

Use the preposition para and use the definite article:

  • 3:50 = São 10 para as quatro

Here is a tip:

In spoken Brazilian Portuguese, we almost always contract para as into pras:

  • 3:50 = São dez pras quatro
  • 2:45 = São quinze pras três

3 Things that You Need to Know to Say the Time in Portuguese

1. Use the verb Ser

As you saw in the previous example:

  • São três e dez.

And also in the question:

  1. Que horas são?

2. Use the number for the hour in the feminine

The numbers 1 and 2 have a feminine and a masculine version:

  • 1 = um / uma
  • 2 = dois / duas

Hora is a feminine noun. Therefore, the numbers need to be in their feminine form to agree with the noun that they refer to:

  • 1:00 = Uma hora.
  • 2:00 = Duas horas.

Even if you omit the word horas when you say the time, you still need to use the numbers in their feminine form.

To learn more about the gender of nouns, visit this lesson.

To learn about the gender of adjectives, click here.

3. The verb Ser agrees with the nearest number

In English, you use the verb To Be in the singular.

In Portuguese, the verb Ser agrees in number (singular or plural) with the first number you say.

You may be asking: “What do you mean by ‘agree with the first number’?” I mean the number in the sentence that is closer to the verb.

Look at these two examples:

  • 3:10 = São três e dez.
  • 1:10 = É uma e dez.

11 Quick Tips to Say It Right in Portuguese

  1. In Brazil, we do not use the format “it is 10 past 3” to say the time.
  2. To say it is midday, use the verb in the singular: É meio-dia.
  3. To say it is midnight: É meia-noite.
  4. To say half an hour: Meia hora.
  5. Therefore, to say 6:30: São seis e trinta or São seis e meia.
  6. To say it is 12:30PM: É meio-dia e meia. So many Brazilians say this wrong. They say “meio dia e meio”. But we are talking about a half hour, and hora is a feminine noun. So you need to say “meio dia e meia (hora)”
  7. To say it is 3:45: São quinze pras quatro. We do not use the word quarter to say the time in Brazil.
  8. To say AM = da manhã. For example: São 10 da manhã.
  9. To say PM= da tarde (afternoon) and da noite (evening). For example: São 4 da tarde. São 11 da noite.
  10. When it is between 1 and 5am: da madrugada. So, 2am = duas da madrugada.
  11. In Brazil, we usually use military time in formal occasions like business meetings and flight times, for example.

Here are the hours in the 24-hour format:

1 pm = 13

2 pm = 14

3 pm = 15

4 pm = 16

5 pm = 17

6 pm = 18

7 pm = 19

8 pm = 20

9 pm = 21

10 pm = 22

11 pm = 23

I have a little trick to help you memorize this. The time is the second digit in the military time minus 2 😉

I hope this will help you when planning meetings and fun outings in Brazil. Want to feel confident about your Portuguese? Learn with the Street Smart Brazil team. Book a Trial Lesson to get started.

Brazilian Portuguese lessons via Skype

Related Posts:

  • 12 Ways to Say You are Welcome in Brazil - Portuguese lesson
  • 8 Power Tips to Learn Verb Conjugation – Portuguese lesson
  • 5 Ways to Say However in Portuguese – Portuguese lesson

About Luciana Lage

I’m Luciana, founder of Street Smart Brazil. I am so happy to be able to help you in your Portuguese speaking journey! Teaching Portuguese as a foreign language was one of the best things that could have happened in my life. I’ve had the privilege of teaching Portuguese at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of San Francisco. Now I am fully dedicated to the Street Smart Brazil community.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Liv Romax

    April 6, 2021 at 7:51 pm

    Dear Luciana:
    I am a languages teacher with the Toronto District School Board, in Canada, and I have used some of your excellent materials to illustrate some of my Portuguese classes. I have always credited you and I have passed the links to Street Smart Brazil to all my students, so you may have received some inquiries for lessons from them. I want to make sure that by using your materials as support for my teachings, I am not infringing any copyrights. If so, please let me know, so I can correct the situation, for my peace of mind.
    Thank you very much e… Parabéns pela qualidade das suas lições.

    Reply
    • Luciana Lage

      April 9, 2021 at 12:32 pm

      Oi, Liv! Muito obrigada for checking in and for your kind words ♥ I appreciate that you credit Street Smart Brazil and am happy that my lessons can help your students.

      Reply
  2. Sylvie marie

    November 29, 2016 at 11:42 pm

    obrigado

    Reply
    • Luciana Lage

      November 30, 2016 at 8:40 am

      Obrigada por visitar o blog!

      Reply
  3. macy

    March 19, 2016 at 1:19 am

    this is helpful

    Reply
    • Luciana Lage

      March 21, 2016 at 2:28 pm

      Ótimo 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Want to see your pic by your comment? Get a free custom avatar at Gravatar.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • Brazil
  • Brazilian music
  • Brazilian Portuguese
  • Business Culture
  • Culture and History
  • Flashcards
  • Food
  • Grammar
  • Idiomatic Expressions
  • Learning Languages
  • Pronunciation
  • Resources
  • Video lessons
  • Visiting Brazil
  • Vocabulary

Schedule a Trial Session

Testimonials

Street Smart Brazil impressed me with the structure and outgoing personalities! I was able to learn the language 2 months before I went to Brazil and I can say it was because of Street Smart Brazil. … Read more
Jonathan
Loved the experience. All the material I have learned I have not lost. I continue using my Brazilian Portuguese on a daily basis. I continue to discover more on my own through literature, music, film,… Read more
Krystal
Learning a new language can be one of the most challenging things you can do. The individualized and wholly personal tact of teaching at Street Smart Brazil makes it a challenge that you will want to … Read more
Gary
Street Smart can certainly claim to be a one-stop shop for its students’ Portuguese needs. It has done a remarkable job in rigorously selecting a group of teachers who meet the highest standards in … Read more
Carlos

Find Resources

Make your learning fun and easy with good resources.
Learn More

51 Portuguese Idioms – Speak Like a Brazilian

You will learn each expression inside a real-life context: everyday situations that could happen to any of us.
Purchase Now >

Recent Posts

  • Meio or Meia? How to say KIND OF in Portuguese
  • Family Vocabulary in Portuguese
  • The Power of Rehearsal to Improve Language Learning
  • Learn the Numbers in Portuguese: All you need to know
  • The Difference Between ESTE, ESSE, ISSO in Portuguese

Search

Cart

Classes

  • Trial Lesson
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Subscription
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Packages
  • Celpe-Bras Prep Classes with Street Smart Brazil

Footer Subscribe

Books

  • 51 Portuguese Idioms
  • Master the Word MESMO in Portuguese

Footer Video CTA

Subscribe to my YouTube channel to get all the new video lessons

Subscribe

https://youtu.be/xoNtWBolAzE

Footer Full CTA

Book a Trial Lesson today to get started.

Get Started Now

Footer CTA

Street Smart Brazil

  • About
  • Shop For a Portuguese Class
  • Testimonials
  • Blog

Portuguese Classes

  • Trial Lesson
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Subscription
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Packages
  • Celpe-Bras Prep Classes with Street Smart Brazil

Books

  • 51 Portuguese Idioms
  • Master the Word MESMO in Portuguese


Street Smart Brazil, LLC

phone 415.573.8180
email info@streetsmartbrazil.com
Oakland, California

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Disclaimer
  • Sitemap

© 2014–2023 Street Smart Brazil, All Rights Reserved.