Portuguese Big Numbers: Hundreds, Mil, Milhão and the Billion Trap
By Michael McGettrickUpdated 11 October 2026
Past a hundred, Portuguese numbers add three surprises: the hundreds agree with the noun, and behave like opposites, and a billion is not the same number in Lisbon as in . Zero to a hundred is in Portuguese numbers.
Quick check
Three quick questions on what you have just read. The full practice is further down.
Pick the right one
0/3Choose the correct word for the big number.
pessoas. (a thousand people)
Dois de pessoas. (two million people)
Um de pessoas. (a million people)
The whole system on one screen
| Number | Portuguese | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | | the hundreds agree |
| 1,000 | | no |
| 2,000 | | still no -s |
| 1,020 | | |
| 1,250 | | no |
| 1,000,000 | | a noun: |
| 2,000,000 | | plural |
The hundreds agree with the noun
From 200 to 900, the hundreds behave like adjectives: - with a masculine noun, - with a feminine one.
| No. | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | | |
| 300 | trezentos | trezentas |
| 400 | quatrocentos | quatrocentas |
| 500 | quinhentos | quinhentas |
| 600 | seiscentos | seiscentas |
| 700 | setecentos | setecentas |
| 800 | oitocentos | oitocentas |
| 900 | novecentos | novecentas |
Three of them are worth learning as words, because they do not simply glue the unit onto -centos the way seiscentos and setecentos do:
| No. | Portuguese | Next to the unit |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | | |
| 300 | trezentos | |
| 500 | quinhentos | |
The e after mil
Inside the hundreds, goes between every part, as below a hundred: trezentos , 345. After , appears only when what follows is a round hundred or a number under a hundred:
| No. | Portuguese | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1,020 | | under a hundred: |
| 2,500 | quinhentos | a round hundred: |
| 1,250 | | no |
| 3,999 | novecentos | no |
Years are one whole number, never split into pairs as English does:
novecentos- 1999.- It is 2026.
Mil and milhão: opposites
is a number; is a masculine noun, like . That one fact explains every difference:
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| plural | no: | yes: |
| no: | yes: |
| no: | yes: |
| agrees with | the noun: | |
agrees with)agrees with)
and contracts in Brazil sometimes write so that nothing can be added in front; in speech it is always plain .
For thousands as a vague crowd, the noun is : , thousands of people.
The billion trap
Brazil counts in thousands of millions, as English does. keeps the older long scale, where bilião is a million million:
| English | Brazil | EP |
|---|---|---|
| a million | | |
| a billion | bilhão | |
| a trillion | trilhão | bilião |
A Lisbon headline about bilião is a thousand times bigger than the English billion your eye reads into it. Like , all of these take : bilhão .
The decimal comma, and prices
Portuguese swaps the English punctuation. The comma is the decimal, read aloud as vírgula:
vírgula- 3,5 (three point five)
Brazil groups thousands with a point, 1.000; officially uses a space, 1 000, though you will see the point there too. So 2.500 on a Brazilian price tag is two thousand five hundred, and 2,5 is two and a half.
Prices are read in whole units and cents:
| Price | Said as | Where |
|---|---|---|
| R$ 2,50 | | Brazil |
| R$ 2,50 | | Brazil, casual |
| 2,50 € | (cêntimos) | EP |
Mistakes English speakers make
| Wrong | Right | Why |
|---|---|---|
| um | | |
| mils | | |
| um | | |
| | |
| the hundreds agree | |
novecentos | years are one whole number | |
| bilião for a billion | | EP: bilião is a million million |
| 2,5 read as 2,500 | two and a half | the comma is the decimal |
What to do next
- Say this year and your birth year aloud as whole numbers.
- Read three prices off a Brazilian or Portuguese shop website.
- Go back to zero to a hundred, or on to fractions and quantities.