Portuguese Days of the Week

The days of the week in Portuguese are a combination of ordinal numbers and feira for Monday through Friday.

Monday	segunda-feira
Tuesday	terça-feira
Wednesday	quarta-feira
Thursday	quinta-feira
Friday	sexta-feira
Saturday	sábado
Sunday	domingo
today	o dia
week	a semana
weekend	o fim de semana
today	hoje
tomorrow	amanhã

The days from Monday to Friday have this name because they were called according to the fair (feira) that used to take place in that day a long time ago. A “feira” is a set of tents pitched in the street where you can buy vegetables, fruits, and other food items.

Portuguese Months of the Year

The months of the year in Portuguese are quite similar to the words in English.

January	janeiro
February	fevereiro
March	março
April	abril
May	maio
June	junho
July	julho
August	agosto
September	setembro
October	outubro
November	novembro
December	dezembro
month	o mês
the first of [a month]	primeiro de [month]
year	o ano

To say a specific day of a month, use cardinal (two, three, four, etc.) and not ordinal numbers (second, third, fourth, etc.) except for the first of the month when you do use primeiro. Also notice that the date is written with the day first, and then the month: 16/04/2005 – Dezesseis de abril de dois mil e cinco.

The Seasons in Portuguese

spring	primavera	in the spring	na primavera
summer	verão	in the summer	no verão
autumn	outono	in the autumn	no outono
winter	inverno	in the winter	no inverno

Remember that Brazil is in the southern hemisphere, so the seasons are the opposite of those in the northern hemisphere, i.e. it is summer in January and winter in July.

Learn how to say the directions in Portuguese:

north	norte	northeast	nordeste
south	sul	southeast	sudeste
east	leste	northwest	noroeste
west	oeste	southwest	sudoeste

right	à direita
left	à esquerda
straight ahead	sempre em frente

Portuguese Plural Nouns

There are four main ways to form plural nouns in Portuguese:

1. Words that end in -l : drop the l and put -is if the word does not have an i before the l. If it has an e you change it to é to make the same sound.

pastel (pastry) – pastéis

2. Words that end in -ão : it has no rule. Sometimes you change it to -ões or -ães, or just add -s, depending on the word. It’s better to memorize the plural when you learn the word.

coração (heart) – corações

mão (hand) – mãos cão (dog) – cães

3. Words that end in -s or -z : have no plural form, so the singular and plural are the same.

ônibus (bus)

óculos (glasses) arroz (rice)

4. All other words : just add an -s.

pêra (pear) – pêras maçã (apple) – maçãs guaraná (soda) – guaranás

Learn how to say the family members and some animals in Portuguese

family	família	nephew	sobrinho
parents	pais	niece	sobrinha
husband	marido / esposo	cousin (m)	primo
wife	esposa / mulher	cousin (f)	prima
father	pai	relatives	parentes
mother	mãe
son	filho	dog	cachorro/cão
daughter	filha	cat	gato
children	filhos	bird	pássaro
sister	irmã	fish	peixe
brother	irmão	horse	cavalo
grandfather	avô	goat	cabra
grandmother	avó	pig	porco
grandson	neto	cow	vaca
granddaughter	neta	rabbit	coelho
uncle	tio	turtle	tartaruga
aunt	tia	mouse	rato

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