Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
In this lesson you’ll learn how to get to places by taxi. There are two options is Portugal to take a taxi: you call and the taxi comes to your address, or you go to a taxi stand and you take it from there. If you are in Portugal for the first time, you might not know where the taxi stands are, so you will have to call the taxi. So let’s get started.
GRAMMAR POINT
Imagine you are in the city of Porto. You want to go to Palácio da Bolsa, a historical building recommended by a friend. You are at Estação de Comboios de São Bento, or Saint Bento Railway Station. You call the taxi company, and the person who answers says “How may I help you?” In Portuguese, this is:
Como posso ajudar-lhe?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Como posso ajudar-lhe?
Once more:
Como posso ajudar-lhe?
The first word, como means “how”.
(slow) co-mo
como
Then comes posso, meaning “can”
(slow) pos-so
posso
This is followed by ajudar-lhe, which is translated as “help you” in a formal way
(slow) a-ju-dar-lhe
ajudar-lhe
Once again, altogether it is:
Como posso ajudar-lhe?
Answer by saying that you want a taxi, and giving your location. Say Um táxi then say your location, and add por favor at the end.
In our case, the phrase will sound like this:
Um táxi para a estação de São Bento, por favor.
(slow) Um táxi para a estação de São Bento, por favor.
Um táxi para a estação de São Bento, por favor.
“A taxi at Sao Bento station, please.”
Um táxi means “a taxi”.
(slow) Um táxi
Um táxi.
para a estação de São Bento is literally translated as “to the Sao Bento station”
(slow) para a es-ta-ção de São Ben-to
para a estação de São Bento
Once more, all together, that’s
(slow) Um tá-xi para a es-ta-ção de São Ben-to, por fa-vor.
Um táxi para a estação de São Bento, por favor.
In English the whole sentence will be
translated as “A taxi at Saint Bento station, please.”
The person on the phone will then ask you where you want to go. That will sound like this:
Para onde? Literally this translates to "Where to?"
(slow) Pa-ra on-de?
Para onde?
You would answer by simply stating the name of the place you're going, or some nearby landmark. In our case, it would be -
Para o Palácio da Bolsa.
(slow) Pa-ra o Pa-lá-cio da Bol-sa
Para o Palácio da Bolsa.
Para means “to”
(slow) pa-ra
para
O means “the”
And Palácio da Bolsa is our desired destination.
(slow) Pa-lá-cio da Bol-sa
Palácio da Bolsa
Altogether, that’s
Para o Palácio da Bolsa.
Next the person will ask you in whose name to request the taxi. That will sound like this: Em nome de quem?
Em means "in."
Nome means "name."
de means "of."
and quem means "who" or "whom." Let's hear that word slowly
(slow) Quem.
Quem.
Let's hear that all together: Em nome de quem?
Next the person will tell you an estimate of when the taxi will arrive. It will be something similar to this:
Em três minutos, em frente à estação.
The phrase starts with em três minutos, which is translated as “in three minutes”
(slow) Em três mi-nu-tos.
Em três minutos.
Next we have em frente à estação, which translates to "in front of the station."
(slow) em fren-te à es-ta-ção
em frente à estação
Let’s hear the whole phrase one more time:
Em três minutos, em frente à estação.
This means "In three minutes, in front of the station."
You will go out, see your taxi, greet the driver of course and say the address again. At the end of the drive you will need to ask how much you have to pay. In Portuguese, that sounds like this:
Quanto foi?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Quan-to foi?
Once more
Quanto foi?
The first word, quanto, means "how much"
(slow) Quan-to.
Quanto.
Next we have foi means “was”
(slow) Foi.
Foi.
The entire question is
Quanto foi?
“How much was it?”

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