Phrases For Your First Trip To Portugal

If you’re preparing to visit Portugal, mastering a few essential phrases will go a long way toward making your experience smoother and more enjoyable.
In this Unit (coming soon!) you’ll practice with simple phrases and vocabulary that could be useful on your first few days or weeks in Portugal. As you navigate the cities, see the sites, enjoy the cuisine, or simply interact with locals, the ability to communicate, even just a little, is often the key to more meaningful experiences, lasting memories, and sometimes even new friendships. 😊

We’ll go much more in-depth on each of these topics as you work through future Units, so don’t worry about understanding all the grammar and details right away. For now, it’s nice to have a few things memorized to help you “get by”. Practice Portuguese members: Don’t forget that you can add these phrases to Smart Review!

Greetings

If you haven’t finished these 3 units yet, we would also recommend them before your visit, so that you know how to say OláHello Slow audio Play audio Interjection , Por favorPlease Slow audio Play audio Interjection , ObrigadoThank you (male speaker) Slow audio Play audio Singular, Masculine / ObrigadaThank you (female speaker) Slow audio Play audio Interjection , and other essentials for polite communication:

Directions

Whether you’re lost or simply looking for a casa de banhothe bathroom Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine , knowing how to ask for basic directions is invaluable.  To ask where something is, you can say Onde fica...?Where is...? Slow audio Play audio followed by whatever it is you’re looking for. For example:
Onde fica a casa de banho?Where is the bathroom? Slow audio Play audio
Here are a few other things you might be looking for:
a ruathe street Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine
o metrothe metro Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
a casathe house Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine
a paragem do autocarrothe bus stop Slow audio Play audio
a porta de embarquethe boarding gate, departure gate Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine
saídathe exit, way out, checkout
Ideally, you should also be able to understand the answers and instructions you may get. (That said, gestures may suffice in the early days!). Here are a few phrases that could come in handy:
à direitaon the right
à esquerdaon the left Slow audio Play audio
em frentein front, straight ahead
ao lado denext to Slow audio Play audio
aquihere Slow audio Play audio Adverb
perto denear, around Slow audio Play audio
longefar Slow audio Play audio Adverb
For more advanced directional phrases, check out these units:

• Asking for Directions
• Positions and Directions

Food & Dining

We could talk about food all day, but let’s keep it simple for now…
To order something at um restaurantea restaurant Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine or café, just say: Queria...I would like... followed by the food or drink chosen from a ementathe menu Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine . And of course, don’t forget to add a Por favorPlease Slow audio Play audio Interjection or Se faz favorPlease Slow audio Play audio on the end!
If you don’t know what to order, many restaurants and cafés have pratos do diadishes of the day, daily specials Slow audio Play audio . Or, you could ask:
Que pratos recomenda?Which dishes do you(sing.,formal) recommend? Slow audio Play audio
Here are a few potentially useful terms if you have food allergies or preferences:
pratos vegetarianosvegetarian dishes Slow audio Play audio
pratos veganosvegan dishes Slow audio Play audio
isento de glútengluten-free Slow audio Play audio
intolerante à lactoselactose intolerant Slow audio Play audio
In the following lessons, we’ll also cover the 2 questions you’ll be asked when you order water!
If you’re a foodie, make sure to bookmark these Units for later to help make your dining experience more enjoyable:

To ask the price of something, you can simply say:
Quanto custa?How much does it cost? Slow audio Play audio
To ask for the bill/check at a restaurant:
A conta, por favorThe bill, please Slow audio Play audio
What if someone asks you Vai pagar em dinheiro ou cartão?Are you going to pay by cash or card? Slow audio Play audio or Como é que vai pagar?How are you going to pay? Slow audio Play audio ?
Some of the most common ways to pay in Portugal are:

• o cartão de créditocredit card Slow audio Play audio
• o dinheiromoney – Usually refers to cash
• o Multibanco Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine – This refers to paying with the debit card associated with a Portuguese bank account, or making a Multibanco transfer online or at an ATM machine.

Another common question to hear when paying is:
Quer contribuinte na fatura?Would you like your tax number on the receipt? Slow audio Play audio
They are asking if you want to include your NIF on the receipt. If you’re just traveling and don’t know what that is, you can say Não, obrigadoNo, thank you (male speaker) Slow audio Play audio or Não, obrigadaNo, thank you (female speaker) Slow audio Play audio
But if you’re moving to Portugal, or doing business there, you may want to read more here: What’s a NIF?
If you want to feel more comfortable talking about prices and/or saying your NIF, make sure to check out Introduction to Numbers in Portuguese. If you think you may forget, you could carry a pen and paper to write numbers down, or use your phone.

Hotel

When it’s time to check-incheck-in Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine to o hotelthe hotel , you can go to the front desk and say Tenho uma reservaI have a reservation Slow audio Play audio .
Then you’ll find o andarthe floor (of the building) Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine and o quartothe room Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine you’re staying in.
You may also need to ask for outraanother Slow audio Play audio Adjective, Feminine or maismore Slow audio Play audio Adverb of these items:
os lençóissheets Slow audio Play audio Noun, Plural, Masculine
a almofadapillow Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine
a toalhatowel Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine
For more hotel-related phrases, check out this unit: Hotel

Time

To ask the current time, you can go with Que horas são?What time is it? Slow audio Play audio , or Tem horas que me diga?Do you have the time?, Could you tell me the time? Slow audio Play audio , which sounds a little less blunt.
If you need to catch o comboiothe train Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine or get somewhere else on time, you could ask A que horas...?At what time...? something happens.
For example, A que horas chega...?At what time does (something) arrive? Slow audio Play audio , and then fill the space with o autocarrobus , or o comboiotrain Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine , or o táxitaxi Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine , and so on.
A que horas chega o comboio?What time does the train arrive? Slow audio Play audio
Other useful words and expressions include:
agoranow Slow audio Play audio Adverb
hojetoday Slow audio Play audio Adverb
ontemyesterday Slow audio Play audio Adverb
amanhãtomorrow Slow audio Play audio Adverb
de manhãin the morning Slow audio Play audio
à tardein the afternoon
à noiteat night
atrasadolate, delayed (sing.,masc.)
cedoearly Slow audio Play audio Adverb
We’ll cover a few more in one of the lessons to follow, and later you can learn even more about dates and time in these units:

Help!

If you’re atrasadolate, delayed , you get perdidolost , or you just have a perguntaquestion Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine , here’s a polite phrase to ask for assistance:
Pode ajudar-me?Can you help me? (sing.,formal) Slow audio Play audio
Or, there are some more desperate alternatives that we hope you don’t have to use. Even without much language, you can probably get help in an emergency situation using these words:
Preciso de ajudaI need help
a políciathe police Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine
os bombeirosfirefighters Slow audio Play audio Noun, Plural, Masculine
o hospitalhospital Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine

Let’s Go!

Vamos lá!Let's go! Ready to practice what you’ve learned in the following lessons? (coming soon) We’ll introduce you to even more travel-related vocabulary as you go along.

If you’re looking to dive deeper into Portuguese travel-related phrases, feel free to skip ahead to the units below. Just keep in mind that these show up later in our series of Units, so the grammar will be more advanced.