Todo Dia or O Dia Todo? Learn How To Say It! (With Video)

I had the idea to write this post while I was teaching a class yesterday. My student had a few questions; he was confused about how to say “every day” and “the whole day” in Portuguese. It can be a bit confusing, I admit.

Portuguese Lesson - Todo Dia or O Dia Todo? Learn How To Say It! — Todo dia or O dia todo?

The picture above says:

Ontem passei o dia todo passeando em São Francisco!

= Yesterday I spent the entire day driving around San Francisco!

So here it goes, a few expressions that will not be confusing to you anymore.

Todo dia = Todos os Dias = Every day

There are two ways to say “every day”:

Todo dia

Todos os dias

Todo dia and todos os dias are interchangeable.

Exemplos:

Dani malha todo dia. (Dani works out every day)
Mariana come chocolate todos os dias. (Mariana eats chocolate every day)

O dia todo = Todo o dia = the whole day, the entire day

Now comes what can be a bit confusing. Here is how you say “the whole day”:

O dia todo

Todo o dia

O dia todo and todo o dia are interchangeable. I feel that “o dia todo” is easier and more common.

Exemplos:

Ontem Leonardo passou o dia todo na praia. (Yesterday Leonardo spent the whole day at the beach)
É uma longa viagem de São Francisco a Recife. Às vezes, leva todo o dia para chegar lá. (It is a long trip from San Francisco to Recife. Sometimes it takes the whole day to get there.)

This is a very important pattern as it applies to all other similar expressions. Yesterday’s class inspired great “aha!” moments. I hope this post can help you, too. Please check out the tables below for more.

Every week	Toda semana	Janete joga baralho toda semana. (Janete plays cards every week)
Every week	Todas as semanas	Diogo escreve novos artigos todas as semanas. (Diogo writes new articles every week)

Every weekend	Todo fim de semana	Eu vou à praia todo fim de semana. (I go to the beach every weekend)
Every weekend	Todos os fins de semana	Helena visita os pais dela todos os fins de semana. (Helena visits her parents every weekend)

Every month	Todo mês	Tiago e Clara fazem trabalho voluntário todo mês. (Tiago and Clara do volunteer work every month)
Every month	Todos os meses	Vanessa vai à Lake Tahoe todos os meses. (Vanessa goes to Tahoe every month)

Every year	Todo ano	Eu vou ao Brasil todo ano. (I go to Brazil every year)
Every year	Todos os anos	Ricardo troca de carro todos os anos. (Ricardo changes his car every year)

The whole week	A semana toda	João trabalha a semana toda. (João works the whole week)
The whole week	Toda a semana	Marcos passou toda a semana gripado. (Marcos spent the whole week with a cold)

The whole weekend	O fim de semana todo	Vitória passou o fim de semana todo ensaiando. (Vitória spent the whole weekend rehearsing)
The whole weekend	Todo o fim de semana	Rosa passou todo o fim de semana preparando a apresentação. (Rosa spent the whole weekend preparing the presentation)

The whole month	O mês todo	Estou de férias e quero viajar o mês todo. (I am on vacation and want to travel the whole month)
The whole month	Todo o mês	Glória vai ficar todo o mês de julho na Bahia. (Glória will stay the whole month of July in Bahia)

The whole year	O ano todo	Carol quer viajar o ano todo. (Carol wants to travel the whole year)
The whole year	Todo o ano	Cecília sempre passa todo o ano esperando suas férias. (Cecília always spends the whole year waiting for her vacation)

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