Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Hello and welcome to Portuguese Survival Phrases brought to you by PortuguesePod101.com. This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Brazil. You will be surprised at how far a little Portuguese will go.
Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by PortuguesePod101.com, and there, you will find the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.

Lesson focus

In this lesson, we'll learn about places crucial to your travels in this modern age, accommodations or acomodações in Portuguese!
In Brazil, there are three main types of acomodações. The first is the standard hotel, which in Portuguese is spelled the same way, but pronounced hotel.
ho-tel
hotel
For the most part, hotels in Brazil are just like hotels in the United States. They are clean, safe, and usually about the same price or cheaper than a hotel in the United States. You'll find them concentrated near tourist areas, like beaches and airports.
Then, we have pousadas, which are similar to the bed and breakfasts in the United States, just not as nice. They are built to be a cheap night's stay, so be prepared for the bare minimum.
Last, we have youth hostels, which are just like any other hostels around the world, cheap, clean, and only the essentials, basically, a bed for the night and a place where you can make your own food.
A quick note about motels in Brazil, they are not like the motels in the United States. I don't want to be inappropriate, but I'll just say, they're not for sleeping.
If you just show up and want a room without prior reservation, you should greet the receptionist with the proper greeting for the time of day, and then, say, "Please, do you have a room available?" which in Portuguese is Por favor, você tem um quarto disponivel?
Por favor, você tem um quarto disponivel?
Let's break this down: Por fa-vor, vo-cê tem um quar-to dis-po-ni-vel?
And one time fast: Por favor, você tem um quarto disponivel?
The first words are por favor, which means "please," and você, which means "you." We've learned both of these words in previous lessons. Next, we have um, which means "one," but can also mean "a" as in "a room," which is what it means in this sentence.
um
um
The next word is quarto, which means "room."
quarto
quar-to
quarto
The last word is disponivel, which means "available."
Let's break this word down and hear it one more time: dis-po-ni-vel
disponivel
So altogether, we have Por favor, você tem um quarto disponivel? Literally, this means "Please, do you have a room available?"
CULTURAL INSIGHTS
On a trip to Vitória in 2005, the original arrangements I made fell through, so I had to go to a hotel. I was at the airport and started talking with a travel agent who had an office in the airport. I wasn't going to do any traveling at that time, but these agents always have a list of all the hotels in the area. So I got that list and started calling. I called 15 hotels, and every one was full, not a room to be found. I went back to the travel agent, who was extremely helpful by the way, and she pointed out two more that could be open. And sure enough, they both had rooms open. One was 125 reals per night, and the other was 89 reals per night. I didn't feel like spending that much money for just one night, so I went with the cheap one.
That hotel just happened to be on one of the prettiest beaches of Vitória called A Praia de Camburi or The Beach of Camburi. This is a very famous beach, and it was a pleasant night but being able to walk out at 6:00 a.m., cross the street, and walk on a four-mile beach with a temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit and warm tropical water was certainly worth the frantic phones calls of the night before.

Outro

Okay. To close out today's lesson, we'd like for you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase, and you're responsible for saying it aloud. You'll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so boa sorte!
"Please, do you have a room available?" - Por favor, você tem um quarto disponivel?
Por fa-vor, vo-cê tem um quar-to dis-po-ni-vel?
Por favor, você tem um quarto disponivel?
All right. That's going to do it for today. Remember to stop by PortuguesePod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.

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