Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Finally, you’ve got a seat at a table. Now it’s time to order!
In this lesson, we'll cover how to ask for a menu and then order your food and drinks.
GRAMMAR POINT
Normally, you have to catch the waiter’s attention, perhaps by raising your right hand a bit. Then you’ll ask for a menu by saying:
Posso ver o menu, por favor?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Pos-so ver o menu, por favor?
Once more:
Posso ver menu, por favor?
Posso means "may I"
(slow) Posso
Posso
Ver is the verb “to see”
(slow) ver
ver
O means “the”
(slow) O.
O.
And Menu means “menu”
(slow) Me-nu.
Me-nu.
And of course, por favor means “please.”
Here’s the whole expression again:
Posso ver o menu, por favor?
“May I see the menu, please?”
If you want to say a simpler sentence, you can say:
O menu, por favor.
(slow) O me-nu, por fa-vor.
O menu, por favor.
“The menu, please.”
In most cases, the waiter or waitress will begin by asking what you’d like to drink:
O que gostaria de beber?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) O que gos-ta-ri-a de be-ber?
Once more:
O que gostaria de beber?
O que is how you say "what” in Portuguese.
(slow) O que.
O que.
Gostaria de is a form of the Portuguese verb "to like" that means “would like to”
(slow) Gos-ta-ria de.
Gostaria de.
Beber means “to drink”.
(slow) Be-ber.
Beber.
Again, the whole question is
O que gostaria de beber?
Now let’s take a look at some typical beverages Portuguese restaurants might have:
Água (“water”)
(slow) Á-gua.
Água.
Cerveja (“beer”)
(slow) Cer-ve-ja.
Cerveja.
Vinho (“wine”)
(slow) Vi-nho
Vinho.
Refrigerante (“soft drink”)
(slow) Re-fri-ge-ran-te.
Refrigerante.
Once you have looked at the menu, you can finally call the waiter for the order.
Now let’s take a look at some typical dishes you can find on a typical Portuguese menu. They are very common, and you shouldn’t miss them if you come to Portugal.
bacalhau com natas - “codfish with cream” (slow) ba-ca-lhau com na-tas.
Bacalhau com natas.
Bife à portuguesa - “Portuguese beef”
(slow) Bi-fe à por-tu-gue-sa.
Bife à portuguesa.
Percebes - “goose barnacles”
(slow) Per-ce-bes.
Percebes.
In Portugal when you order , you can just say the name of the dish you want and add por favor, which means “please.”
Let’s say you want to order wine and Bacalhau com natas. You should say to the waiter:
Vinho e bacalhau com natas, por favor.
(slow) Vi-nho e ba-ca-lhau com na-tas, por fa-vor.
Vinho e bacalhau com natas, por favor.
In this sentence the word e means “and.”

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