Quantity and Selection Questions in Portuguese

In Brief

Use quanto, quanta, quantos, and quantas to ask “how much?” or “how many?” The form agrees with the noun: quanto tempo, quanta água, quantos livros, quantas pessoas. Use qual for one choice or identity and quais for more than one: Qual preferes? and Quais são os teus?

Overview

Portuguese uses one family of question words to ask about an unknown quantity and another to ask someone to identify or select something. Quanto asks about an amount or number. Qual asks which item, answer, or option is meant. These words are interrogatives—words that turn missing information into the focus of a question.

This is an A1 topic because it appears constantly in practical situations: asking a price, ordering food, finding out someone’s age, choosing a train, or comparing products. The basic patterns are short and regular. The main point that English-speaking learners must remember is agreement: English has fixed how much and how many, but Portuguese changes quanto to match the gender and number of the noun.

Portuguese questions often keep the same basic word order as statements. There is no equivalent of English auxiliary do in Which do you prefer? For example, Preferes este (“You prefer this one”) becomes Qual preferes? (“Which one do you prefer?”). In writing, the question mark identifies the sentence as a question; in speech, intonation also helps.

How It Works

Asking about quantity with quanto

A noun is a word for a person, place, thing, or idea, such as irmão, casa, água, or tempo. When quanto comes with a noun, it normally agrees with that noun in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural).

Form	Noun type	Usual meaning	Example
quanto	masculine singular	how much	Quanto tempo? — How much time?
quanta	feminine singular	how much	Quanta água? — How much water?
quantos	masculine plural	how many	Quantos dias? — How many days?
quantas	feminine plural	how many	Quantas pessoas? — How many people?

The noun’s grammatical form controls the agreement, not the English translation. Dinheiro is masculine, so Portuguese says quanto dinheiro. Água is feminine, so it is quanta água. For countable things, Portuguese usually uses a plural noun: quantos bilhetes (“how many tickets”) and quantas malas (“how many suitcases”).

The most useful pattern is:

quanto/a/os/as + noun + verb + rest of question

• Quantos irmãos tens? — How many siblings do you have?
• Quantas línguas fala? — How many languages do you speak?
• Quanto café queres? — How much coffee do you want?

The question word can also stand alone when the missing item or amount is already clear:

• Quanto custa? — How much does it cost?
• Quantos queres? — How many do you want?
• Comprei maçãs. Quantas queres? — I bought apples. How many do you want?

When it stands for an understood noun, quanto still follows that noun where the form is clear. Because maçãs is feminine plural, the follow-up question uses quantas. In Quanto custa?, however, quanto asks for the amount of the price and appears in its default masculine singular form.

Asking a price

The standard all-purpose price question is:

• Quanto custa? — How much does it cost?
• Quanto custam os bilhetes? — How much do the tickets cost?

Notice that custar agrees with the thing being priced: singular custa, plural custam. Quanto itself remains singular here because it means “what amount,” not “how many things.” You can also ask Quanto é? (“How much is it?”), especially when asking for a total, but Quanto custa? is the clearest beginner pattern for the price of an item.

Asking about time, distance, and measurement

The same agreement pattern works with measurements:

• Quanto tempo demora? — How long does it take?
• A que distância fica? — How far away is it? (a different common construction)
• Quantos quilómetros são? — How many kilometres is it?
• Quantas horas dura o voo? — How many hours does the flight last?

For age, Portuguese normally asks literally “How many years do you have?”:

• Quantos anos tens? — How old are you? (informal tu)
• Quantos anos tem? — How old are you? / How old is he or she?

Do not translate the English structure word for word. Portuguese uses ter (“to have”), not ser or estar (“to be”), for age.

Choosing or identifying with qual and quais

Qual and quais ask for a choice or an identity. They agree only in number, not in gender.

Number	Form	Example
singular	qual	Qual preferes? — Which one do you prefer?
plural	quais	Quais são os teus? — Which ones are yours?

The form depends on whether the expected answer is one item or several:

• Qual é o teu número? — What is your number?
• Quais são os teus livros? — Which are your books?
• Qual destes autocarros vai para o centro? — Which of these buses goes downtown?
• Quais destas opções são gratuitas? — Which of these options are free?

A very common identification pattern is:

qual/quais + ser + identified item

• Qual é a tua morada? — What is your address?
• Quais são os horários disponíveis? — What are the available times?

English often uses what in these questions, although Portuguese uses qual because the speaker wants a specific answer from a possible set. So qual does not always translate as English which.

Qual, que, or o que?

These three forms overlap in English translation, but their jobs are not identical.

Portuguese form	Core use	Example
qual/quais	selecting or identifying an answer	Qual é o teu nome? — What is your name?
que + noun	asking which kind or which item	Que livro estás a ler? — What/Which book are you reading?
o que	asking “what?” without a following noun; asking about an action or definition	O que queres? — What do you want?

For a safe beginner rule, use qual é...? when requesting a specific identifying detail: Qual é o teu email? Use que + noun when the noun follows directly: Que filme queres ver? Use o que when “what” stands alone: O que aconteceu?

Usage differs somewhat across the Portuguese-speaking world. In Brazilian Portuguese, qual + noun is common in everyday questions such as Qual filme você quer ver? In European Portuguese, que + noun is often more natural in the same position: Que filme queres ver? Both varieties readily use Qual é...? and standalone Qual...?.

Prepositions before the question word

A preposition is a short linking word such as de (“of/from”), com (“with”), or para (“for/to”). If the answer requires a preposition, the question normally keeps it before qual or quanto:

• De qual gostas mais? — Which one do you like best?
• Com quais colegas trabalhas? — Which colleagues do you work with?
• Para quantas pessoas é a mesa? — For how many people is the table?
• Por quanto vendeste o carro? — How much did you sell the car for?

This is a useful way to build the question: first imagine the answer—Gosto mais deste (“I like this one best”)—then retain the required link when replacing the answer with a question word: De qual gostas mais?

Examples in Context

Portuguese	English	Note
Quanto custa?	How much does it cost?	Standard price question
Quanto custam estas sandálias?	How much do these sandals cost?	Custam agrees with the plural item
Quanto dinheiro levas contigo?	How much money are you taking with you?	Masculine singular dinheiro
Quanta água bebes por dia?	How much water do you drink per day?	Feminine singular água
Quantos irmãos tens?	How many siblings do you have?	Masculine plural, informal tu
Quantas noites vão ficar?	How many nights are you going to stay?	Feminine plural noites
Quantos anos tem a sua filha?	How old is your daughter?	Age uses ter
Quanto tempo demora o comboio?	How long does the train take?	Literally “how much time”
Qual preferes, o azul ou o verde?	Which do you prefer, the blue one or the green one?	One choice expected
Qual é a palavra-passe?	What is the password?	Specific identifying information
Quais são os teus?	Which ones are yours?	Several items are expected
Quais destas sobremesas não têm leite?	Which of these desserts contain no milk?	Selection from an explicit set
De qual gostas mais?	Which one do you like best?	Gostar requires de
Para quantas pessoas quer reservar?	For how many people would you like to book?	Useful restaurant question
Há quanto tempo estudas português?	How long have you been studying Portuguese?	Duration continuing to the present

Common Mistakes

Leaving quanto unchanged before every noun

• Wrong: Quanto pessoas vêm?
• Right: Quantas pessoas vêm?
• Why: Pessoas is feminine plural, so quanto must become quantas.

Matching quanto to the person asking instead of the noun

• Wrong: Quanta tempo temos?
• Right: Quanto tempo temos?
• Why: Agreement follows tempo, a masculine singular noun. The speaker’s gender is irrelevant.

Using singular qual for a plural answer

• Wrong: Qual são os teus livros?
• Right: Quais são os teus livros?
• Why: More than one book is being identified, so use plural quais. The verb is plural too: são.

Translating English age questions literally

• Wrong: Quanto velho és?
• Right: Quantos anos tens?
• Why: Portuguese expresses age with ter + number + anos, literally “to have ... years.”

Adding an English-style do-support verb

• Wrong: Qual fazes preferir?
• Right: Qual preferes?
• Why: Portuguese does not add an auxiliary equivalent to English do/does merely to form a present-tense question.

Dropping a required preposition

• Wrong: Qual gostas mais?
• Right: De qual gostas mais?
• Why: The verb is gostar de. Turning its object into a question does not remove de.

Usage Notes

In conversation, context often allows the noun to disappear. A shop assistant may ask Quantos? after you point to bread rolls, while someone choosing shirts may ask Qual? The endings can carry useful information: quantas? tells the listener that the understood noun is feminine plural.

Forms of address affect the verb but not the question word. European Portuguese commonly contrasts informal Quantos anos tens? with more formal or third-person Quantos anos tem? Brazilian Portuguese commonly uses Quantos anos você tem?; você takes a third-person verb form. Avoid reading tem alone as automatically formal, because it can also mean “he/she has,” and context decides the subject.

European and Brazilian Portuguese also differ in some everyday vocabulary and phrasing, but the agreement of quanto and the singular/plural contrast qual/quais are shared. With a noun immediately after “which/what,” que livro...? is especially useful across varieties, while qual livro...? is particularly frequent in Brazil.

Beyond the Basics

You do not need to master all of these patterns at A1, but you will meet them often later.

Duration with há quanto tempo

Há quanto tempo...? asks how long a situation has continued or how long ago something happened. The verb tense and context clarify the meaning:

• Há quanto tempo moras aqui? — How long have you lived here?
• Há quanto tempo chegou? — How long ago did he/she arrive?

Related answers use há: Moro aqui há três anos (“I have lived here for three years”). A future interval instead commonly uses daqui a: Daqui a quanto tempo voltas? (“How soon will you be back?”).

Exclamations with quanto

The same forms can introduce exclamations rather than genuine questions:

• Quanto tempo! — It’s been so long!
• Quanta gente! — So many people!
• Quantas coisas aconteceram! — So many things happened!

There may be an exclamation mark and no request for an answer, but agreement remains the same.

Relative forms: o qual, a qual, os quais, as quais

At higher levels, you will see o qual, a qual, os quais, as quais meaning “which” or “whom” in relative clauses—clauses that add information about something already mentioned: a empresa para a qual trabalho (“the company for which I work”). These article-bearing forms agree in gender and number. They are a separate use from the beginner interrogative qual/quais, so do not add an article automatically to ordinary questions such as Qual preferes?

Quanto as “as much as” or “all that”

Outside questions, quanto appears in structures such as tanto quanto (“as much as”) and Tudo quanto disse era verdade (“Everything that he/she said was true”). Recognising these uses prevents you from assuming that every quanto begins a quantity question.

Practice Tips

1. Use a four-box drill. Choose one noun for each form—tempo, água, livros, pessoas—and make a question with quanto, quanta, quantos, and quantas. Replace the nouns daily while keeping the agreement accurate.
2. Practise real choices. Put two or more objects in front of you and ask Qual preferes? for one choice, then Quais preferes? when several choices are allowed. Answer with Prefiro este/esta or Prefiro estes/estas.
3. Build from the answer. Start with Gosto deste, Trabalho com estas pessoas, or A mesa é para quatro pessoas. Replace the unknown part while preserving the preposition: De qual...?, Com quais...?, Para quantas pessoas...?

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Basic Questions — introduces Portuguese question words, question order, and intonation.