Number to Words (Brazilian Portuguese)

The written amount as a legal safeguard

When a document shows the amount in figures and in words, the words make fraud and error much harder: changing a digit is easy; changing words is obvious. That is why contractual practice and the law value the written form. On a check, Brazil's Law 7.357/1985 (art. 12) is explicit: if the amount in figures and the amount in words disagree, the written amount prevails.

In contracts generally, a clause stating that the written amount prevails over the figure in case of conflict is common. Writing the amount clearly therefore protects both parties, and this is where an automatic conversion helps avoid the classic slip of writing "one thousand two hundred" where the figure said 1,250.

• Checks: the written amount prevails (Law 7.357/1985, art. 12).
• Contracts: a common clause gives the words priority.
• Reduces fraud and typos in amounts.
• Useful on receipts, promissory notes and petitions.

Cardinal and currency side by side

Example 1, a currency amount in reais: 1,250.50 in Reais mode becomes "mil duzentos e cinquenta reais e cinquenta centavos" in Portuguese. Note the agreement: it is "reais" (plural) and "centavos", and the "e" separates the whole part from the cents.

Example 2, a cardinal number: 1,234 in Cardinal mode becomes "mil duzentos e trinta e quatro" in Portuguese and "one thousand two hundred thirty-four" in English. The same number, two spellings, ready to copy.

Portuguese "e" placement and agreement

In Portuguese, "e" joins the tens and units to the hundreds ("duzentos e trinta", "trinta e quatro") and appears before the last value group. That is why 1,200 is "mil e duzentos", but 1,234 is "mil duzentos e trinta e quatro", with no "e" after "mil" when tens or units follow. The tool applies these rules automatically.

Agreement details worth a review: "um real" (singular) versus "dois reais" (plural); "centavos" in the plural except "um centavo"; and, in documents, check gender when the value accompanies a noun. For very large values (in the trillions), reread carefully before inserting the text into an official instrument.

Why the English output skips "and"

English has two competing conventions. British usage inserts "and" between the hundreds and the rest ("one hundred and twenty-three"). American usage, the one used on US checks and legal instruments, omits it ("one hundred twenty-three") and reserves "and" for a single job: separating the whole amount from the cents ("one hundred dollars and fifty cents"). Since this tool targets US English, its output follows the American rule throughout.

"Hundred" itself never takes a plural when it is preceded by a number: "three hundred", never "three hundreds". Under US commercial law (UCC § 3-114), the written words on a check control over the numeral box if the two disagree, the same principle behind Brazil's Check Law cited above.