Telling the Time in Portuguese: Que Horas São?

Ask Que horas são? and answer São duas horas. Minutes are added with e, and Brazil counts down to the next hour with para:

• São duas e meia. - It's half past two.
• São quinze para as nove. - It's quarter to nine.

The one grammar point to watch is the verb: é for one o'clock, são for the rest.

The whole system on one screen

Two things do the work: é against são, and para for the minutes before the hour. Everything else is numbers you already know.

1234

1. 1É uma hora
2. 2São duas horas
3. 3São duas e meia
4. 4São quinze para as três

É uma hora (one o'clock), são duas horas (two o'clock), são duas e meia (half past two), são quinze para as três (quarter to three).

Asking the time: que horas são?

The question is plural, because it asks about hours: literally "what hours are they?".

Or Você sabe que horas são?, do you know what time it is? Put com licença (excuse me) in front when you stop someone in the street:

• Com licença, você tem horas? - Excuse me, do you have the time?

Hora is feminine

One and two have feminine forms, so they agree with hora. Three to twenty do not change (twenty-one and twenty-two use uma and duas again: see the 24-hour clock below).

• uma hora - one hour, one o'clock
• duas horas - two hours, two o'clock
• dez minutos - ten minutes

The same words measure a stretch of time, and context tells you which: Espero uma hora. - I wait an hour.

É uma hora, são duas horas

The verb ser agrees with the number of hours. One is singular; two and above are plural.

The minutes never change the verb: 1:50 is still é, because the hour is still one. Midday and midnight are single moments, so they take é too:

• É meio-dia. - It's midday.
• É meia-noite. - It's midnight.

On the dot: em ponto

Horas alone already means o'clock. To stress that it is exactly the hour, add em ponto:

• São oito em ponto. - It's eight o'clock on the dot.
• A aula começa às nove em ponto. - The class starts at nine sharp.

Half and quarter: e meia, e quinze

After the hour, Portuguese adds the minutes with e (and): hour first, then minutes.

Meia is short for meia hora, half an hour, so it is feminine and never changes, even after the masculine meio-dia:

• São duas e meia. - It's half past two.
• É meio-dia e meia. - It's half past twelve.

In Brazil the quarter hour is simply e quinze. You will rarely hear "quarter" on a Brazilian clock.

Portugal often counts in quarters

European Portuguese often uses um quarto, a quarter, where Brazil says quinze. Both are correct; this course says the Brazilian forms.

To the hour: quinze para as nove

From about twenty to the hour, Brazilians count down to the next hour with para: literally "fifteen to the nine".

The article after para follows the next hour: as for two upwards, a for one, o for midday.

• São quinze para as nove. - It's quarter to nine.
• Faltam dez minutos para as três. - It's ten to three. (literally: ten minutes are missing)

In quick speech para as shrinks to pras: quinze pras nove. Write para as. Counting forward is never wrong either: oito e quarenta e cinco is a perfectly good 8:45.

At what time? às três

"At" with a clock time is the preposition a plus the article that stands for as horas. Joined together, a plus as makes às.

In a sentence:

• A que horas começa o filme? - What time does the film start?
• O filme começa às oito. - The film starts at eight.
• Eu chego à uma e meia. - I'm arriving at half past one.
• Eu almoço ao meio-dia. - I have lunch at midday.

From one time to another, use de plus the article, and por volta de for "around":

• Trabalho das nove às cinco. - I work from nine to five.
• Chego por volta das oito. - I'll arrive around eight.

Midday, midnight and the parts of the day

Meio-dia (midday) is masculine and meia-noite (midnight) is feminine, which is why meio turns into meia between them. Both take the singular é.

To say morning or evening after a clock time, add da:

• às oito da manhã - at eight in the morning
• às três da tarde - at three in the afternoon
• às dez da noite - at ten at night

Without a clock time there is no da: say de manhã and de madrugada, but usually à tarde and à noite (Brazil also says de tarde, de noite):

• Eu trabalho de manhã. - I work in the mornings.
• Ele chegou de madrugada. - He arrived in the small hours.
• Eu estudo à noite. - I study in the evenings.

123

1. 1de manhã
2. 2ao meio-dia
3. 3à noite

De manhã (in the morning), ao meio-dia (at midday), à noite (at night).

The 24-hour clock

Brazilian timetables, cinemas and official notices use the 24-hour clock, written 14h30 or 14:30. Read it as plain numbers: hour, e, minutes.

The hour is still feminine, so 21:00 is vinte e uma, not "vinte e um". Meia and para belong mainly to the 12-hour clock, so a timetable usually reads 14:30 as catorze e trinta. Brazil also spells fourteen quatorze; both spellings are correct.

• O trem sai às catorze horas. - The train leaves at 14:00.

In conversation most people switch back to the 12-hour clock: às duas da tarde.

Mistakes English speakers make

Em três horas is a real phrase, but it means within three hours, not at three o'clock.

What to do next

1. Each time you check a clock today, say the time aloud, é or são included.
2. Revise numbers and quantities, then add dates with days, months and time expressions.
3. Do the drill below, then carry on with the Portuguese course.