Portugal is a country of food lovers, so we use a lot of different expressions to describe the food we eat and how we feel about eating it. The 2 ways to say “I’m hungry” in Portuguese are:
Estou com fomeI'm hungry | Tenho fomeI'm hungry
Hunger and Satisfaction
I’m Hungry!
For starters, instead of saying I am hungry, in Portugal we start thinking about food when we have hunger or when we are with hunger. In Portuguese, this translates to:
- ter fomefeeling hungry (to have hunger) or estar com fomebeing hungry (to be with hunger)
If youâre really feeling quite peckish, you can say:
- Estou esfomeadoI'm famished or even Estou a morrer de fomeIâm dying of hunger
We take our hunger very seriously…
Tenho fome. O que hĂĄ para comer?I'm hungry. What's there to eat?
Vamos depressa, eu estou a morrer de fome!Letâs go quickly, Iâm dying of hunger!
I’m Full!
Once we’re full, we say:
- Estou cheioI'm full
- or the more elegant alternative Estou satisfeitoI'm satisfied
- or the rare Estou saciadoI'm satiated
JĂĄ estou cheio, nĂŁo consigo comer mais.I'm already full, I can't eat anymore. (male speaking)
Bear in mind that, because it is an adjective, cheio must agree in both the gender and number with the object it refers to:
- Here are the 4 different forms: cheiofull(masc., sing.) cheiafull(fem., sing.) cheiosfull(masc., pl.) cheiasfull(fem., pl.)
NĂŁo consigo comer mais nada hoje, sinto-me demasiado cheia.I canât eat anything else today, I feel too full. (female speaking)
HĂĄ bolo para sobremesa, mas eles jĂĄ estĂŁo cheios.There is cake for dessert, but theyâre already full.
Meal Names and Structures
In Portuguese, the main refeiçÔesmeals of the day go like this:
o pequeno-almoçobreakfast
o almoçolunch
o lanchesnack
o jantardinner
a ceiasupper
Lanche is usually an odd one for English speakers. It roughly corresponds to the British afternoon tea, that is to say, a light meal or snack eaten in the middle of the afternoon, between lunch and dinner. It can also refer to a light morning snack before lunch.
The larger meals, almoço and jantar, can be broken down like this, particularly at restaurants:
- as entradasappetizers, starters
- o prato principalmain dish
- o acompanhamentoside dish
- as bebidasdrinks, beverages
- a sobremesadessert
Food and Flavour
When discussing food, we like to describe its flavour, temperature, or just how tasty it is! Here are some common adjectives for talking about food in Portuguese:
- quentehot, warm
- frescofresh frescafresh
- friocold friacold
- podrerotten
- saborosotasty saborosatasty
- docesweet
- picantespicy
- insossobland insossabland *
- deliciosodelicious deliciosadelicious
- salgadosalty salgadasalty
- condimentadoseasoned condimentadaseasoned
- temperadoseasoned temperadaseasoned
- The correct technical term for describing something as bland is insĂpido(a), which is equivalent to “insipid”. Insosso refers specifically to food lacking salt. The majority of Portuguese speakers will nonetheless use insosso(a) when describing something bland or tasteless. As an alternative, you could also say: NĂŁo sabe a nadaIt doesn't taste like anything
Remember, since these are adjectives, they must agree in both gender and number with the object theyâre referring to.
Examples:
Este bife estĂĄ muito salgado.This steak is very salty.
A sopa estĂĄ muito quente. Vou juntar ĂĄgua fria.The soup is too hot. I'll add cold water to it.
Este frango Ă© delicioso, mas o arroz nĂŁo sabe a nada.This chicken is delicious, but the rice is bland.
A salada estĂĄ bem temperada!The salad is well seasoned!
A comida estava picante!The food was spicy!
Os vegetais frescosFresh vegetables
Os ovos podresRotten eggs
Comments
Great information. Thank you!
Fantastic, really helpful as we intend to go to portuguese cooking lessons.
Thank you
How do the Portuguese define or differentiate “jantar” and “ceia”? In English, we tend to use these interchangeably, I think: we can refer to the evening meal as “supper” or “dinner.”
OlĂĄ, David. For us, “jantar” is the main evening meal (it would correspond to our lunch, if it were daytime). “Ceia” is a smaller meal post-dinner, before going to bed. It’s more of a snack, really, not a proper meal.
In this sentence: ‘NĂŁo consigo comer mais nada hoje, sinto-me demasiado cheia’ shouldn’t it be ‘demasiada’ for feminine?
OlĂĄ. Not in this case đ Since it’s being used adverbially, the word ‘demasiado’ is invariable.
What would you call it if you stopped for a mid-MORNING snack, like uma bica con pastella de nata?
You can call it “lanche” as well đ If you want to be more specific, you can say “lanche da manhĂŁ”. I’ve just added that info to the Learning Note.
When would you use condimentado and temperado?
Condimentado and temperado are synonyms when used to describe food. You can use either one of them, because both are extremely common. Apart from that, the word “temperado” has other uses, such as when talking about a “clima temperado” (temperate climate) or about “temperar as nossas emoçÔes” (moderate/control our emotions) đ
Very good lesson. I feel like I can go to a restaurant alone !
Hi everyone,
The part of the UK I’m from would not use supper for dinner and would stop work to eat around 12-1pm, always calling it lunch.
Also some would call lunch, ‘dinner’. and dinner, ‘tea’!
In fact having your ‘tea’ (as the main meal of the day), would be around 5-6pm and then, if having supper, this would be much later and only a very small snack before bedtime.
Those who have ‘dinner’ (as the main meal of the day) would eat this around 9pm and be considered quite ‘posh’….
Much of this confusion seems to come from the English obsession with ‘class’
This made it quite tricky when inviting people for a meal…… by ‘dinner’ did you mean lunch…..So it’s not just the Portuguese who make language difficult to learn!
Really enjoying the course. Well done! The opportunity to tea pronunciation is particularly useful for me.
Just hope my failing mental capacity can retain most of it..
Bother…in the last post it should say ‘test pronunciation’ not ‘tea pronunciation’…damn spell correct!!
Lanche isn’t unusual for English people as we have “Elevenses” which is a snack taken around 11:00.
In Canada and the US, a “snack” is basically anything thing that you eat between the three main meals, usually something small. A mid-morning snack or mid-afternoon snack for example, or a bedtime snack. And nothing stops you from having several afternoon snacks! đ
Would âbrunchâ be called âlanche da manhĂŁâ?
No, everyone seems to have just adopted the English word. You’ll find (or would, pre-pandemic) lots of places in Portugal advertising their trendy “brunches” đ
Um licÄo muito utĂl!
As an American child, we would have Sunday dinner around 1pm, served with the good china. Then supper that day would be served around 5pm. All the in-between “meals” were called snacks. The rest of the week’s schedule was breakfast, lunch and supper, with snacks when needed. Dinner was thought of as kind of a fancy meal.
Iâve just found out about this website, Iâm surprised of what it has to offer to us beginners. Quality information, Iâve always had the dream to move to Portugal on day, this website will help me a lot during the time.
How would you say that the food was spicy, like a hot spicy? Great lesson thanks!
A comida estava picante! = The food was spicy!
Just added it to the learning note đ
I am curious about the usage of estar in this and in say salty, but then using ser when talking about sweet or bitter. Why are they different?
It’s not easy to understand those differences and the rules on how to use either “ser” or “estar” have a very thin line between them and, of course, exceptions.
However, SER is usually used when the adjective is something that implies a permanent state of the subject. As for ESTAR is used when the adjective implies a non-permanent state, a transitory state, or a state that can be determined in a specific period of time.
Examples:
O céu é azul. = The sky is blue, as a permanent state
O céu estå escuro. = The sky is dark, as a transitory state.
O açĂșcar Ă© doce. = It’s a permanent characteristic of the sugar being sweet
O cafĂ© Ă© amargo. = It’s expected of the coffee to be usually/permanently bitter
Este bife estĂĄ muito salgado = This steak has been cooked and it’s now very salty.
When you have temporal expressions associated with the adjective, the tendency is to use ESTAR. However, not always, since the properties of the adjective often determine the usage of SER or ESTAR.
Example:
Hoje estĂĄs simpĂĄtico / Today you’re being nice (today, as in a specific period of time)
Ăs simpĂĄtico / You’re nice (in general, a permanent characteristic)
Some other times it can be either SER or ESTAR, meaning different things.
Examples:
Sou feliz. / I’m a happy person.
Estou feliz. / Something got me happy.
đ
I had the same question and presumed the use of ser V estar must be to do with transitory state but it was the coffee being bitter which threw me, I thought ‘bitter coffee’ would be temporary (ie not ‘usual’ or permanent as it would be a bad coffee if bitter?) but thanks for clarifying.
I think I somewhat got it, but then this example from this lesson got me confused again:
> Este frango Ă© delicioso, mas o arroz nĂŁo sabe a nada.
I understand this sentence as:
> This chicken [dish/recipe in general] is [usually] delicious, but the rice is [turned out, in this particular one] bland.
But the given translation doesn’t indicate any of that. Am I wrong in my understanding? Are there more levels to using ser/estar with food? đ
OlĂĄ! Just based on the sentence, the default assumption for a Portuguese speaker is that all of it is meant to provide feedback on just this one dish. It is acceptable and common to use either *Ă©* or *estĂĄ* here, as the temporary vs. permanent division is not as strict or widely applicable as it might sometimes seem, although it’s a helpful rule of thumb in a number of situations. It’s harder to work from completely isolated sentences, but in real life, with the full context of a conversation, things get easier đ
I am confused about the example “the fresh vegetables” being translated to “os vegetais frescos” (rather than “os legumes frescos”). In the previous unit about food (https://www.practiceportuguese.com/learning-notes/food-groups/?uid=1268) you said “Youâre probably asking yourself why donât we use the word vegetais for vegetables, and thatâs because we reserve that word for when we are talking about plants. “
Oh, I understand your confusion! The wording in the other unit is too absolute – we need to revise it. It’s true that ‘vegetais’ is the broader term, but in the end, since every ‘legume’ is also a ‘vegetal’, the two terms actually coexist in the average person’s daily vocabulary and might be used interchangeably in the context of food. To talk about plants in general, we also have (and prefer) the term ‘plantas’.
Bom dia! When should we use ”a ceia”, instead of ”o jantar”?
Muito obrigada,
Louise
OlĂĄ! “Ceia” means supper, while “jantar” means dinner – that’s how you should differentiate them. We consider “ceia” a light, late-night meal, while “jantar” is the main evening meal, a counterpart to lunch (almoço).
Hello again! Then, Ceia is the meal around 19h00, while jantar is the meal at noonish? I thought it was almoço at noon…
No, it’s ‘almoço’ around noon, ‘jantar’ around 7-8pm, and ‘ceia’ later in the evening, if desired.
Muito obrigada Joseph, agora tudo Ă© claro!!
Louise
How can we say the food is sour or bitter?
OlĂĄ. For sour, there are two terms we might use, ‘ĂĄcido’ and ‘azedo’. Ăcido is the regular term to describe the naturally sour taste of foods such as citrus fruits (e.g. lemons). Azedo is often used as a synonym of ĂĄcido, but it can also have a negative connotation, suggesting that the food went bad. For example, when we say that a bowl of soup or a glass of milk taste azedo/azeda, we mean that they have a sour taste that they shouldnât have, so theyâre not safe for consumption.
For bitter, we have ‘amargo’. We’d use it to describe the taste of dark chocolate or pure coffee, for example.
Hello,
Great lesson. I am confused about two things (and forgive me, I don’t know how to add tildes and accents to this chat):
1) When you say Nao sabe a nada – how do you know it means “It doesn’t taste like anything” instead of “He/She doesn’t know anything”? I’m surprised this expression uses the verb “saber” unless I am missing something?
2) In the phrase “Nao consigo comer mais”, I thought consigo was “with you”, what is its meaning here? I am surprised the verb “poder” isn’t used in this phrase, would that be acceptable as well?
Thank you!
OlĂĄ!
1) The preposition ‘a’ gives it away. “NĂŁo sabe a nada” always means “Doesn’t taste like anything”, while “NĂŁo sabe nada” (without preposition) is how we would say “Doesn’t know anything”. Context, of course, also helps.
2) When ‘consigo’ is the contraction of ‘com’ + ‘si’, it means ‘with you’. But otherwise, it’s the 1st person singular form of the verb ‘conseguir’ in the simple present. ‘Poder’ could eventually also be used here, but keep in mind that depending on context, ‘poder’ can be more about being allowed to do something, while ‘conseguir’ is always only about the ability to do it.
Very helpful, thank you!
How do you ask if something is savory? I often ask if a pastry is “doce o…” and I just trail off since “doce o salgado” seems to get me puzzled looks.
Good question! The simplest way to ask is “Ă bom?” or “EstĂĄ bom?” (“Ă©” suggests that you’re asking if that food tastes good intrinsically or in general; “estĂĄ” suggests that you’re focusing on that one serving, since even a typically tasty meal might be cooked poorly here and there). “Saboroso” would be the direct translation of “savory”, but we use it more as a response than to form a question.
I have the same question as Kristen. How can we ask if something is sweet or not? For example, there are dessert crĂȘpes and meal crĂȘpes; in Quebec Canada, these get distinguished as sweet or salty crĂȘpes (even though salty doesnât quite capture non-sweet). In Portuguese, what word would you use to describe not sweet: doce o [âŠ]?
OlĂĄ! Ah, I understand the question now. By default, we also go for sweet vs. salty (doce ou salgado?). A possible alternative would be to just ask “sweet or not” (Ă doce ou nĂŁo?). We don’t really have an alternative everyday term that could replace ‘salgado’ in this context.
Hi, great stuff!
While o lanche here describes when the meal is had, is it used also to describe what you ate? Would you say âtenho uma maçã por um lancheâ for âI have an apple for a snack?â
Thanks for your comment! Yes, we can say stuff like “Comi uma maçã para o lanche” or “Para o lanche, comi uma maçã” (note the preposition “para” and the definite article “o”).
Obrigado Joseph! And for the correct usage too!