Learn how to attract the attention of a waiter in Portugal
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| 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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