I can name food and drinks, order politely in a café, and ask for the check.
No café: Queria um café, se faz favor
No café: Queria um café, se faz favor
In a café you need to do three things: order food and drinks, ask for something to be brought, and ask for the check. All of them are set phrases.
The polite way to order: “Queria um galão, se faz favor”. “Quero um galão” sounds blunt, like a demand, just as “I want” does in English. Queria is a set polite form (“I'd like”); its grammar comes later.
To ask for something to be brought: “Pode trazer a conta?”. To ask for the total: “Quanto é?”.
The waiter (empregado de mesa) asks “É tudo?” and “É para aqui?”. If you're taking it with you, answer “Não, é para levar”.
The verb pedir: “Eu peço um bolo”, “A Inês pede um gelado”. The eu form doesn't follow from the infinitive: learn it.
In writing: arroz has two r's between vowels, and in queijo, qu before e is one sound, [k]: the u is silent.
In Portugal a small strong coffee is uma bica, coffee with milk in a tall glass is um galão, and um prego is a steak sandwich, not only a nail. And o leite is milk, not a latte.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Quero um café” — Queria um café, se faz favor.
• NOT “Eu pedo um bolo” — Eu peço um bolo.
• NOT “Queria a café” — Queria um café: o café is masculine.
• NOT “Bebo um água” — Bebo uma água: a água is feminine.
• NOT “Não bebo o leite” — Não bebo leite.
At the café: who says what
The waiter asks first: “É tudo?” — the customer answers “Sim, é tudo”.
| Customer | Empregado de mesa |
|---|---|
| Bom dia. Queria um café. | Bom dia. |
| Sim, é tudo. | É tudo? |
| Pode trazer a conta? | Já trago. |
| Quanto é? | São três euros e cinquenta. |
What people order in a Portuguese café
Bica, galão, and prego in this sense are local words: you won't find them in a dictionary.
| What people order | What it is | When people have it |
|---|---|---|
| uma bica | small strong coffee | any time, at the counter |
| um galão | coffee with milk in a tall glass | in the morning |
| uma torrada | toast with butter | in the morning, with coffee |
| pastéis de nata | custard tart | in the afternoon, with coffee |
| um prego | steak sandwich | for lunch |
Lesson notes
No café: Queria um café, se faz favor
In a café you need to do three things: order food and drinks, ask for something to be brought, and ask for the check. All of them are set phrases.
The polite way to order: “Queria um galão, se faz favor”. “Quero um galão” sounds blunt, like a demand, just as “I want” does in English. Queria is a set polite form (“I'd like”); its grammar comes later.
To ask for something to be brought: “Pode trazer a conta?”. To ask for the total: “Quanto é?”.
The waiter (empregado de mesa) asks “É tudo?” and “É para aqui?”. If you're taking it with you, answer “Não, é para levar”.
The verb pedir: “Eu peço um bolo”, “A Inês pede um gelado”. The eu form doesn't follow from the infinitive: learn it.
In writing: arroz has two r's between vowels, and in queijo, qu before e is one sound, [k]: the u is silent.
In Portugal a small strong coffee is uma bica, coffee with milk in a tall glass is um galão, and um prego is a steak sandwich, not only a nail. And o leite is milk, not a latte.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Quero um café” — Queria um café, se faz favor.
• NOT “Eu pedo um bolo” — Eu peço um bolo.
• NOT “Queria a café” — Queria um café: o café is masculine.
• NOT “Bebo um água” — Bebo uma água: a água is feminine.
• NOT “Não bebo o leite” — Não bebo leite.