Day 11: Numbers and prices

Course › Week 2: Everyday actions

Thursday, 8 a.m. Before work, Emma tries the bakery on the corner that Seu Zé told her about. In Brazil a padaria is also a café: you can sit at the counter and have breakfast.

Warm-up: do you remember?

Before anything new, pull these out of memory. They come from earlier days, some from yesterday and some from weeks ago. Getting one wrong is useful: it shows you what to look at again.

1. They love the beach. (a mixed group)______
2. I prefer to read.______
3. ___ você está? Estou bem, obrigada.Como Quem Qual
4. Who lives here?______
5. Eu tenho ___ chaves.duas dois um
6. Eu ______ (ser) estudante.I’m a student.
7. quinze5 15 14
8. A Emma ______ (ter) vinte e nove anos.Emma is twenty-nine.

Show all answers

1. Eles adoram a praia.
2. Eu prefiro ler.
3. Como você está? Estou bem, obrigada.
4. Quem mora aqui?
5. Eu tenho duas chaves.
6. Eu sou estudante.
7. quinze 15
8. A Emma tem vinte e nove anos.

Listen and read

Listen once without reading and try to catch the two prices. Then read and check.

Did you understand?

1. What does Emma order first?A coffee and a juice A coffee with milk and a cheese bread An orange juice and a cake
2. How much is the orange juice?19 reais 9 reais 7 reais
3. How much does Emma pay in total?R$ 22,50 R$ 20,50 R$ 32,50
4. How does she pay?In cash With Pix By debit card

Show all answers

1. What does Emma order first? A coffee with milk and a cheese bread
2. How much is the orange juice? 9 reais
3. How much does Emma pay in total? R$ 22,50
4. How does she pay? By debit card

Numbers from 21 to 100

You know 0 to 20 from day 4. Now learn the tens.

For the numbers in between, say the ten, then e (and), then the unit: "twenty and one", "thirty and two".

Um and dois still change for feminine words, as they did on day 4: vinte e uma pessoas (21 people), trinta e duas mesas (32 tables).

Three big numbers you'll need for prices and rents:

"A thousand" is just mil, never um mil. The rest of the hundreds come on day 24.

Quanto custa?

Brazil's money is the real. More than one are reais, and one real has 100 centavos.

Prices are written with R$ in front and a comma before the centavos: R$ 12,50. To read one aloud, say the reais, then e, then the centavos. The word centavos is usually dropped.

• R$ 12,50: doze reais e cinquenta
• R$ 8,90: oito reais e noventa
• R$ 1,00: um real
• R$ 0,75: setenta e cinco centavos
• R$ 100,00: cem reais

Custar (to cost) is a regular -ar verb. Use custa for one thing and custam for more than one.

• Quanto custa o café? — Custa sete reais.
• Quanto custam os livros? — Custam noventa reais.

Quanto é? is what you say at the register when you want the total. Caro and barato match the thing they describe: O bolo é caro. A bolsa é cara. O pão é barato.

At the bakery

Eu quero and Me vê are fixed phrases for now. Quero comes from querer (to want) and vê from ver (to see), two verbs you'll learn properly later. Neither phrase is rude: said with por favor and a smile, this is exactly how Brazilians order at a counter.

• Eu quero um café, por favor.
• Me vê dois pães de queijo, por favor.
• Eu quero uma água e um suco de laranja.

The plural of pão is pães: one of the few words in -ão that doesn't go to -ões.

Buying and paying

Comprar (to buy) and pagar (to pay) are regular -ar verbs.

• Eu compro pão na padaria. I buy bread at the bakery.
• A gente paga com cartão. We pay by card.
• Eles pagam em dinheiro. They pay in cash.

Practice

Pick the number or the sentence.

1. 21vinte e dois trinta e um vinte e um
2. 36trinta e seis sessenta e três trinta e sete
3. 48quarenta e seis quarenta e oito oitenta e quatro
4. 67setenta e sete sessenta e sete setenta e seis
5. 75sessenta e cinco cinquenta e sete setenta e cinco
6. 99noventa e oito oitenta e nove noventa e nove
7. 500quinhentos quinze cinquenta
8. R$ 8,50oito reais e cinco oitenta e cinco reais oito reais e cinquenta
9. You want to know the price of a coffee.Quanto custa o café? Onde fica o café? Quantos anos tem o café?
10. The attendant asks "Mais alguma coisa?" and you don’t want anything else.Muito prazer. Quanto custa? Só isso, obrigado.

Show all answers

1. 21 vinte e um
2. 36 trinta e seis
3. 48 quarenta e oito
4. 67 sessenta e sete
5. 75 setenta e cinco
6. 99 noventa e nove
7. 500 quinhentos
8. R$ 8,50 oito reais e cinquenta
9. You want to know the price of a coffee. Quanto custa o café?
10. The attendant asks "Mais alguma coisa?" and you don’t want anything else. Só isso, obrigado.

Complete each sentence. A verb in brackets needs the right form; an English word in brackets tells you which word is wanted.

1. Quanto ______ (custar) o pão de queijo?How much is the cheese bread?
2. Quanto ______ (custar) os sucos?How much are the juices?
3. Eu ______ (comprar) pão na padaria.I buy bread at the bakery.
4. A gente ______ (pagar) com cartão.We pay by card.
5. Vocês ______ (pagar) em dinheiro?Do you (all) pay in cash?
6. O bolo custa dez ______. (the currency)The cake costs ten reais.
7. O pão custa um ______. (the currency)The bread roll costs one real.
8. A bolsa é muito ______. (expensive)The bag is very expensive.
9. Me ______ um café, por favor.Give me a coffee, please.
10. Eu gosto muito ______ padaria da esquina. (of the)I really like the bakery on the corner.
11. Ela ______ (ter) trinta e dois anos.She’s thirty-two years old.

Show all answers

1. Quanto custa o pão de queijo?
2. Quanto custam os sucos?
3. Eu compro pão na padaria.
4. A gente paga com cartão.
5. Vocês pagam em dinheiro?
6. O bolo custa dez reais.
7. O pão custa um real.
8. A bolsa é muito cara.
9. Me vê um café, por favor.
10. Eu gosto muito da padaria da esquina.
11. Ela tem trinta e dois anos.

Write it in Portuguese. Write the numbers as words.

1. How much does the coffee cost?______
2. How much is it?______
3. It costs twenty reais.______
4. I want a coffee, please.______
5. The cake is expensive.______
6. We pay by card. (use nós)______
7. She buys bread at the bakery.______
8. I’m forty-five years old.______

Show all answers

1. Quanto custa o café?
2. Quanto é?
3. Custa vinte reais.
4. Eu quero um café, por favor.
5. O bolo é caro.
6. Nós pagamos com cartão.
7. Ela compra pão na padaria.
8. Eu tenho quarenta e cinco anos.

Put the words in order.

1. How much is the orange juice?______
2. I want a cheese bread, please.______
3. The coffee costs seven reais fifty.______
4. I don’t pay in cash.______
5. We buy bread at the bakery.______

Show all answers

1. Quanto custa o suco de laranja?
2. Eu quero um pão de queijo, por favor.
3. O café custa sete reais e cinquenta.
4. Eu não pago em dinheiro.
5. A gente compra pão na padaria.

Listen and write what you hear. Write the numbers as words.

1. ______How much is the coffee?
2. ______That’s twelve reais fifty.
3. ______I’ll pay by card.
4. ______The juice costs nine reais.
5. ______Give me a coffee with milk, please.
6. ______It’s very expensive!

Show all answers

1. Quanto é o café?
2. São doze reais e cinquenta.
3. Eu pago com cartão.
4. O suco custa nove reais.
5. Me vê um café com leite, por favor.
6. É muito caro!

Speak and write

Say each one out loud, then open the model answer and compare.

1. You're at the bakery. Order a coffee with milk and two cheese breads.

   Show a model answer

   Bom dia! Eu quero um café com leite e dois pães de queijo, por favor.

2. Ask how much the cake costs.

   Show a model answer

   Quanto custa o bolo?

3. The attendant says "São dezoito reais." Ask if they take cards, and say how you'll pay.

   Show a model answer

   Vocês aceitam cartão? Eu pago com cartão. Débito, por favor.

4. Say these prices out loud: R$ 37,90, R$ 64,00 and R$ 0,50.

   Show a model answer

   Trinta e sete reais e noventa. Sessenta e quatro reais. Cinquenta centavos.

5. Quantos anos você tem?

   Show a model answer

   Eu tenho vinte e nove anos.

6. Say what you buy at the bakery and what you think of the prices.

   Show a model answer

   Eu compro pão e café na padaria. O café é barato, mas o bolo é caro.

Write: a short conversation at a bakery between you and the attendant. Order two things, ask a price, hear the total and say how you'll pay. Write every number as a word, then read both parts out loud.

Verb workout

Type each form from memory, then say it out loud.

comprar to buy · Present

1. eu ______comprar · present
2. você ______comprar · present
3. nós ______comprar · present
4. eles ______comprar · present

Show all answers

1. eu compro
2. você compra
3. nós compramos
4. eles compram

The full guide to comprar: every tense, examples and ten more sentences →

pagar to pay · Present

1. eu ______pagar · present
2. a gente ______pagar · present
3. nós ______pagar · present
4. vocês ______pagar · present

Show all answers

1. eu pago
2. a gente paga
3. nós pagamos
4. vocês pagam

The full guide to pagar: every tense, examples and ten more sentences →

Flashcards

Spend about ten minutes on today’s words. Mark a card “I know it” only when the answer comes straight away.