Portuguese Fractions and Quantities: Meio, Metade, Dúzia
By Michael McGettrickUpdated 11 October 2026
Between a bare number and a measurement sit the quantity words: halves, thirds, a dozen, a hundred or so. Portuguese has a word for each, and the one trap is that half changes for gender. Whole numbers are in Portuguese numbers.
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| Portuguese | English | Works as |
|---|---|---|
quilo | half a kilo | adjective, agrees |
| half an hour | adjective, agrees |
| half of the cake | noun + |
terço | a third of the students | noun + |
turma | a quarter of the class | noun + |
dobro | double the price | noun + |
dúzia | a dozen eggs | exactly twelve |
centena | about a hundred | a rough count |
Half: meio, meia and metade
Before a noun, half is an adjective and agrees with it:
| Portuguese | English | Noun's gender |
|---|---|---|
quilo | half a kilo | masculine |
litro | half a litre | masculine |
| half an hour | feminine |
dúzia | half a dozen | feminine |
Two compounds you will hear daily: , midday, and , midnight.
is a noun, a half, with for what is halved:
.- Half of the students live nearby.
As an adverb meaning a bit or rather, never changes, even before a feminine adjective:
.- She is a bit tired.
Thirds, quarters and doubles
terço and work like English a third and a quarter, with before the thing divided:
terço- a third of the students
For double, Portuguese has two words with two jobs:
| Word | Job | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
duplo / dupla | something itself doubled | dose dupla | a double dose |
dobro | twice the amount | dobro | double the price |
A dozen, a hundred or so: the collective words
These nouns name a group. Strictly, dezena, centena and are ten, a hundred and a thousand (a maths class uses dezena for the column), but in everyday speech they make a figure sound like an estimate:
| Portuguese | Meaning | Exact? |
|---|---|---|
| a pair, a couple | yes, two |
dúzia | a dozen | yes, twelve |
dezena | about ten | roughly |
centena | about a hundred | roughly |
| about a thousand | roughly |
década | a decade | ten years |
dúzia .- I bought a dozen eggs.centena .- There were about a hundred people.décadas- two decades ago
Compare , which claims exactly a hundred, with centena , which is a guess.
Measurements and distance
Measurements combine a number with the unit. Brazil writes with a circumflex, with an acute:
| Portuguese | English | Where |
|---|---|---|
| half a metre | both |
| ten kilometres | Brazil |
| ten kilometres | EP |
How far away something is: + distance + + the place. Time distances work the same way:
.- We live fifteen kilometres from the beach..- The school is ten minutes from here.
Speed takes in Brazil: , a hundred kilometres an hour. EP also says .
Mistakes English speakers make
| Wrong | Right | Why |
|---|---|---|
| | |
| the adverb never changes | |
| o do | | half of something is |
| o duplo do | dobro | twice the amount is dobro |
| distance from a place starts with | |
| centena = 100 | about a hundred | centena rough |
What to do next
Fractions, collective quantities and distances sit on the Pearson Edexcel GCSE Portuguese specification at Foundation and Higher tier.
- Describe a shopping list with
,anddúzia. - Say how far your home is from three places, with
+ distance +. - Go back to big numbers, or practise in the Portuguese course.