Lesson 4 - Eating out

Food glorious food!
Many people like to dine out (jantar fora) in Portugal and it is affordable, even a trip to the local 'pastelaria' can be a treat. 

So let's see if you have been paying attention.
How would you say; "I would like a pastel de nata please"? Use what you have learned and just take out the drink and replace it with pastel de nata. Easy isn't it?

Bom dia, quero um pastel de nata, se faz favor.

Bom dia, quero um café com leite e um pastel de nata, se faz favor.

Practice saying those until you know them by heart.
I shall side track a little here and give you some useful nouns. As mentioned before nouns are masculine and feminine in Portuguese so when we learn them we learn the article - 'the' at the same time so we learn the gender of each noun:

the = a(f) 'eh' 
         o(m) 'oo'

Learn off by heart.

Português	Gen	Inglês	Fonetica
o garfo a faca a colher o prato o guardanapo a mesa a cadeira a jarra a ementa a sopa a garrafa a janela (o) pão a manteiga	m f f m m f f f f f f f m f	the fork the knife the spoon the plate the napkin the table the chair the jug the menu the soup the bottle the window (the) bread the butter	oo gar-foo eh  fah- keh eh coo- lyair oo prah-too oo gwar-deh-nah-poo eh mey-zeh eh cah-day-reh eh Jah-rreh (roll r) eh eh-men-teh eh so-peh eh gah -rra-feh eh- jah-nell-eh oo pow(n) (don’t raise your tongue ;)) eh man-tay-geh

For a little extra help with pronunciation of the above, please click here

O garfo está na mesa - the fork is on the table
A água está na jarra - the water is in the jug
A manteiga está no pão - the butter is on the bread


Below you will find a typical menu. Ordering from a menu should be easy for you now. How about translating it?
I can't do all the work. ;)

Lesson 3 - Getting a table

By now you should be able to greet people and order basic drinks, obviously I am not going to list all drinks but you can find a pretty good list here.
If you are curious on the spot as to what something is called you can always ask:

Como se chama isto? - What is this called? 
(coh-moo se shama ishtoo)

The word for wine is 'vinho' - pronounced 'vee-nyoo' and never 'veenoh' (makes me shudder) The 'h' in the middle of a word is pronounced like a 'y' (Think of it as an upside down y;  h = ‘ɥ’ ) Minha - my / mine (f) mee-nya
Filha - daughter (f) fee-lya

At the beginning of a word it is silent.
Hospital - hospital (m) 'osh-pee-tal

Dialogue

John: Boa noite, quero uma mesa para 3 pessoas, se faz favor.

Waiter: Boa noite, pode ser esta aqui?

John: Pode ser, obrigado

The waiter gives out the menu.

John: Para beber queremos uma garrafa de vinho da casa e

uma garrafa grande de água, se faz favor

Barry: Eu quero uma cerveja...

John. Não queres vinho?

Barry: Não, não gosto de vinho

Jane: E eu quero uma coca-cola. Obrigada.

Português	Inglês	Fonética
pode ser esta (f) aqui para beber (uma) garrafa* grande não não gosto vinho da casa tinto/branco	(it) can be this here to/for to drink a bottle large/big no/not I don’t like house wine red/white	Pod sare esh-teh a-key p’ra beh-bear (like the animal) ger-ra-feh gran-de now(n) now(n) gosh-too vee-new(nyoo) deh cah-zeh Tin-too/ bran-coo

*The double ‘r’ is either ‘rolled’ or said like a very heavy ‘H’ at the back of the throat

Translate the above dialogue using the vocabulary above, then learn the phrases off by heart. When you are familiar with them you can pick 'n' mix. For some of you, that is the most important part out of the way, getting drinks, and you may feel like you have learned enough for now :D But press on. For help with pronunciation click Here .

Lesson 2 - Ordering coffee

You should be able to recite the previous lesson by heart now, if not, don't worry, just keep at it (It will be of great advantage if you do know it off by heart).

This next section will focus on ordering in a café. So many people have told me that they don't want to learn the grammar they just want to be able to order a beer! Although grammar is important, for now we are just going to learn useful phrases. The verbs will come as we go.

So firstly when you enter a restaurant you should great the waiter (empregado de mesa) and then make your order. Asking for things in Portuguese is very easy. Don't forget to say please (se faz favor)* and thank you (obrigado/a)

Here goes:

Bom dia. Quero uma cerveja, se faz favor.

Boa tarde. Ela quer uma água e eu quero uma cerveja, se faz favor.

Boa tarde. Quero um café, se faz favor.

Bom dia. Ele quer um café com leite e eu quero um café, se faz favor.

Boa noite. Queremos uma mesa para quatro pessoas, se faz favor.

* In some regions 'por favor' is more popular.

Using the table below, translate the dialogue above.

Português	Inglês	Fonética
quero ela quer ele quer uma cerveja   (f)* um café    (m)* uma água (f)* e com leite queremos uma mesa   (f)* para quatro pessoas se faz favor	I want she wants he wants a beer a coffee a water and with milk we want a table for four people please	care-oo (glide into the ‘oo’) ella care eel care oo-meh sir-veh-jeh oom ca-fey oo meh Áh -goo-eh ee con(g) lay-te (almost like ‘late’) care-em-oosh oo-meh mey-zeh p’reh kwa-troo peh-so-esh faj fah-vore

Practice saying the above phrases over and over.

*Note that some nouns (names of things) are masculine and some are feminine.

We can also use 'queria' (k'ree-eh) - 'I would like' instead of 'quero -I want'. It is a polite way of making a request.

Queria uma cerveja, se faz favor

Vocabulario:

Português	g	Inglês	Fonética
uma água    com/sem gás um sumo de laranja   Um gin e tónica Um Uma Dois Duas Três	f m m m m f m f m f	a water with/without gas an orange juice a gin and tonic one / a one/a two two three	oo-meh ah-goo-eh con(g)/sen(g) gaj oom soo-moo de lah-ran-jeh oom jin(g) ee toh-nee-keh oom (very nasal, don’t but lips together) oo-meh doysh doo-ersh trej (j sounds like s in pleasure)

Translate to Portuguese:

Good morning. I want a water, please

Good afternoon. I would like an orange juice, please

Good night. (evening) We want a table for 4 people, please.

Good morning. I would like a fizzy water (water with gas), please

Good morning. We want four beers, please

It can help if you add a bit of an Italian accent to it :)