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 :)