Há vs. A in Portuguese: Talk About Time in the Past and Future
Há dois dias points backward to an elapsed period; daqui a duas horas points forward to a future moment.
Real Life Portuguese · 5 min read · Updated October 14, 2026
The short answer
In a time expression, há can say that something happened a certain amount of time ago. The reference point is now: há dois dias means two days ago. The same form can describe how long a situation has lasted when it continues into the present.
Use há to look back from now
Do not confuse this time use of há with a meaning “to” or “in” for a future time. In careful writing, the accent helps distinguish há from a.
Cheguei há dois dias.
I arrived two days ago.
Moro aqui há três anos.
I have lived here for three years.
Ela saiu há pouco.
She left a little while ago.
Use a or daqui a for a point in the future
A can mark the amount of time remaining before a future event. Daqui a duas horas means two hours from now. A useful contrast is yesterday versus tomorrow: olhei o e-mail há duas horas (I looked at the email two hours ago) and vou olhar de novo daqui a duas horas (I’ll look again in two hours).
A reunião começa daqui a vinte minutos.
The meeting starts in twenty minutes.
Vamos voltar a este assunto daqui a uma semana.
We’ll return to this topic in a week.
O ônibus chega daqui a cinco minutos.
The bus arrives in five minutes.
Put it into practice
Use há for elapsed time and a or daqui a for time ahead. Ask whether you are measuring backward from now or forward to a future event.
Quick practice
Which Portuguese example matches “The bus arrives in five minutes”?
Choose an answer to check yourself.
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