If you plan to comprarto buy or arrendarto rent (property) a home in Portugal, here are some of the main types of housing you have to choose from:
Types of Housing
- um quartoA single room – A private bedroom for yourself in a house shared with other people.
- um apartamentoa flat, apartment – A complete, unshared home, but in um prédioa building shared with others.
- You could also categorize this as um estúdioa studio apartment which has fewer divisions, or perhaps an apartment with two floors, which, just like in English, is called um duplexa duplex .
- uma vivendaA detached house – A house that is not connected to any other others, which might even contain um quintala garden .
- casas geminadassemi-detached houses – Somewhere in between a detached house and an apartment, which share a single common wall to form a two-unit building.
- uma quintafarm – A larger property in which the residential function of the building is combined with agricultural work.
Aquele casal comprou um apartamento no sétimo andar.That couple bought an apartment on the seventh floor.
A minha família tem uma quinta no campo.My family has a farm on the countryside.
Types of Rooms
Now that you’ve described the type of home, let’s take a look inside:
a cozinhakitchen
a sala de estarliving room
a sala de jantardining room
o quartobedroom
a casa de banhobathroom
a despensapantry
a varandabalcony
o sótãoattic
a cavebasement
o corredorhallway, corridor
a entradaentrance
The building itself might also contain a um elevadoran elevator, lift , as an alternative to taking as escadasthe stairs . Both of them let you access all of os andaresthe floors of a building.
You might also have uma garagema garage for your car, bike, or simply for extra storage space.
A minha casa tem dois quartos com varandas.My house has two bedrooms with balconies.
A casa de banho é no fim do corredor.The bathroom is at the end of the hallway.
House Types by Number of Rooms in Portugal
There’s a simple system in Portugal to describe how many rooms a house has. First, you count the number of bedrooms and precede it with the letter “T” (for any house type) or a “V” (used occasionally, only for detached houses).
Only the bedrooms are counted because it’s assumed that every house has a kitchen, living room and bathroom. So, for example, if you had an apartment with two bedrooms, it would be a T2.
If you had a villa with 4 bedrooms, it would be a V4.
A studio apartment with no separate bedrooms would be a T0. This terminology is ubiquitous in property listings in Portugal.
That’s it for now! Practice this vocabulary and learn more by continuing to the next Lesson in this unit, or you can learn more about renting and home buying in Portugal here:
Hello,
Re: tourism and buying a house 1 and 2
Haw far through the earlier lessons should I be before I take these Lessons? I plan to go to Portugal in November. At some point, probably next year we will be purchasing a home. There is a chance we may look at homes in November.
What is your advice regarding these lessons?
Vivian
Hi! Don’t think you have to go through every single lesson sequentially before you touch those three 🙂 Since they are mostly about gaining new vocabulary centered on a certain topic, rather than exploring grammar concepts (those tend to build upon previous lessons more), you can explore them relatively early, if you’d like. If you feel like it’s too much, too soon, you can always come back to it later and even reset your score if you want a clean slate.
Hello! What word or words would you use for a terraced house? Or do they not exist in Portugal? Thanks! Kate
Olá! Hm, I’d say that casa geminada also works for those, as well as casa conjugada. I’ve also seen moradia em banda.
Why T and V?
Good question, Andreas. T seems to derive from the Portuguese word tipologia (type). V derives from the Portuguese word vivenda (detached house). It emerged over time as a quick way to differentiate between apartments and detached houses, but it doesn’t have to be used.
What is a villa?
A villa is typically a large and luxurious country residence. It may also refer to a type of detached or semi-detached urban residence that is more spacious than a standard house, often with a garden or courtyard.
Thanks very much, Relógio!