Weekend Plans (A2)

It's a Thursday afternoon. Tiago and Rita are messaging back and forth about what to do this weekend. The conversation is full of the everyday machinery of European Portuguese future-talk: ir + infinitivo (the default way Portuguese expresses the future), suggestions built on e se…? and que tal…?, the quirky dative construction apetecer ("to feel like"), and a glimpse of the futuro do conjuntivo — a tense Portuguese keeps very much alive after se and quando.

The setting is standard Lisbon weekend material: a match at the Estádio da Luz, a possible day trip to Sintra, an afternoon coffee on a esplanada (outdoor terrace). Every cultural reference is something a Portuguese friend would actually suggest on a Thursday afternoon.

The dialogue

Tiago: Olá, Rita! Então, o que é que vais fazer este fim de semana? Rita: Ainda não sei bem. Acho que vou ficar por Lisboa. E tu? Tiago: No sábado à noite vou ver o jogo do Benfica com o João. E no domingo apetecia-me fazer qualquer coisa fora. Rita: Fora Lisboa? Tipo onde? Tiago: E se formos a Sintra? Apanhamos o comboio do Rossio, almoçamos por lá, damos uma volta pelo centro histórico. Rita: Boa ideia! Nunca mais lá fui. Mas se chover, não me apetece nada andar à chuva. Tiago: Se o tempo estiver mau, vamos antes ao cinema. Estreou aquele filme de que te falei. Rita: Perfeito. E que tal amanhã à tarde tomarmos um café? Ainda tenho de te contar o que se passou no trabalho. Tiago: Combinado. Apanho-te à saída do escritório às seis? Rita: Apetece-me mais ir à Ribeira — há lá uma esplanada nova, mesmo ao pé do rio. Tiago: Feito. Às seis e meia na Ribeira. Se me atrasar, mando mensagem. Rita: Até amanhã!

Grammar in action

Turn 1: O que é que vais fazer este fim de semana?

• O que é que…? is the standard spoken way to form a what question in European Portuguese. The literal translation is "what is it that…?" but in practice the é que is simply a conversational filler that lets the speaker keep subject–verb word order. Without it the question would be O que vais fazer?, which is also correct but sounds slightly more written. See Interrogative Wh-Questions.
• Vais fazer is ir + infinitivo — the workhorse future of spoken Portuguese. Exactly like English you're going to do or Spanish vas a hacer. In conversation this construction vastly outnumbers the synthetic future (farás), which has retreated to formal writing and emphatic speech. See Ir + Infinitive.
• Este fim de semana — note the demonstrative este (masculine singular). Fim de semana is masculine; semana on its own is feminine, but inside the compound the head noun is fim.

Turn 2: Ainda não sei bem. Acho que vou ficar por Lisboa.

• Ainda não sei bem = "I don't really know yet". Ainda não is the Portuguese "not yet".
• Acho que = "I think (that)". Takes the indicative — unlike Spanish, where the negated no creo que would trigger subjunctive.
• Por Lisboa — por with a city expresses "around, in the general area of". Ficar por Lisboa = "stick around Lisbon" without committing to a plan. Ficar em Lisboa would be purely locational.

Turn 3: No sábado à noite vou ver o jogo do Benfica com o João.

• No sábado — em + o = no. Days of the week take the article: o sábado, o domingo. No sábado = this coming Saturday; ao sábado = on Saturdays (habitual).
• À noite — a + a = à. Time-of-day expressions: à noite, à tarde, de manhã, ao meio-dia, às seis horas.
• O jogo do Benfica / com o João — PT-PT uses the article before football clubs and most first names: o Benfica, o Porto, o Sporting, o João, a Joana. Dropping it sounds stiff.

Turn 3 (continued): E no domingo apetecia-me fazer qualquer coisa fora.

• Apetecer is the Portuguese cousin of Spanish apetecer and functions like gustar: the thing you feel like doing is the grammatical subject, and the person feeling the urge is marked with an indirect object pronoun. Literally the sentence reads "it would appeal to me to do something outside". See Indirect Object Placement.
• Apetecia-me is the imperfect of apetecer with the enclitic pronoun me — a politeness softener, just like queria ("I'd like") at the café. Apetece-me (present) is more direct; apetecia-me (imperfect) is more hypothetical, more polite.
• Fora = "out, outside". In context here it means "outside Lisbon", i.e. a day trip.
• Qualquer coisa = "something, anything". Extremely common in casual speech: qualquer coisa as a vague filler = "something or other".

Turn 5: E se formos a Sintra?

• E se…? = "What if we…?" — the standard way to propose an activity. It is framed as a real hypothetical, so the verb in European Portuguese goes into the futuro do conjuntivo (future subjunctive) after se. Formos is the future subjunctive of ir (same form as the 1st-person plural preterite here, by coincidence). See Se-clauses with Future Subjunctive.
• The alternative phrasing Que tal…? takes a bare infinitive: Que tal irmos a Sintra?, using the personal infinitive (irmos = "for us to go"). Both are common.

Turn 5 (continued): Apanhamos o comboio do Rossio, almoçamos por lá, damos uma volta pelo centro histórico.

• Apanhamos — present indicative for near-future planned actions: "we catch the train, we have lunch, we walk around". See Present as Future.
• O comboio is the PT-PT word for "train" (BR uses trem). Rossio is the central Lisbon square and train station.
• Dar uma volta = "go for a wander". PT-PT uses dar for dozens of light activities: dar um passeio, dar um salto (pop over), dar uma vista de olhos (have a look).
• Pelo centro = por + o. Por expresses movement through or around.

Turn 6: Nunca mais lá fui.

• Nunca mais = "never again" / "not once since". Nunca mais lá fui literally reads "never more there I-went" and means "I haven't been there in ages".
• The pronoun lá ("there") is placed before the verb because nunca triggers proclisis — negative words pull the clitic in front of the verb. Compare the neutral fui lá ontem ("I went there yesterday"), where lá sits after. See Proclisis triggers.

Turn 6 (continued): Mas se chover, não me apetece nada andar à chuva.

• Se chover — future subjunctive again, this time of chover ("to rain"). Chover is impersonal (no human subject), so the verb shows up in the 3rd singular.
• Não me apetece nada — the double negative não … nada is standard and not emphatic in the way English "not … at all" might be. Não me apetece = "I don't feel like"; adding nada gives it a friendly, idiomatic punch: "I really don't feel like".
• Andar à chuva = "to walk in the rain". Portuguese uses à chuva and ao sol where English uses in the rain and in the sun.

Turn 7: Se o tempo estiver mau, vamos antes ao cinema.

• Estiver is the future subjunctive of estar. The pair se o tempo estiver mau → vamos ao cinema is a textbook open conditional in Portuguese: future subjunctive in the se-clause, present indicative (often with future reference) in the main clause.
• Antes here does not mean "before" but "instead / rather". It marks a switch from the original plan. This is a very common colloquial use of antes.
• Ao cinema = a + o. Going to public places takes a plus the article: ao cinema, ao teatro, ao museu, à praia, ao parque.

Turn 8: Que tal amanhã à tarde tomarmos um café?

• Tomarmos is the personal infinitive, 1st plural — literally "for us to have a coffee". After que tal the verb takes a personal infinitive. The personal infinitive is the grammatical feature that most clearly distinguishes Portuguese from every other Romance language: the infinitive can carry person endings. See Personal Infinitive Overview.
• Tomar um café is the standard collocation. Beber um café sounds oddly literal.

Turn 9: Combinado. Apanho-te à saída do escritório às seis?

• Combinado = "deal, agreed". Short for está combinado. Ubiquitous when finalising plans.
• Apanho-te — present of apanhar ("pick up, catch") with enclitic te. Present with future meaning: "I'll pick you up". Enclisis again — apanho-te, not te apanho.
• À saída do escritório = at the exit of the office. Fixed idiom.

Turn 10–11: Apetece-me mais ir à Ribeira… Se me atrasar, mando mensagem.

• Apetece-me mais = "I'd rather / prefer", literally "it appeals to me more".
• Mesmo ao pé do rio = "right next to the river". Ao pé de = "right by" (warmer than perto de, "near").
• Se me atrasar — future subjunctive of reflexive atrasar-se. With se, the clitic me is pulled into proclisis (before the verb).
• Mando mensagem — present for planned future action. Casual PT-PT drops the article: mando mensagem, like English "I'll text".

Turn 12: Até amanhã!

• Até + time is the goodbye formula: até amanhã, até logo, até já, até segunda, até breve. Short for até que nos vejamos ("until we see each other").

Things to notice

• The dialogue contains five different ways to talk about the future in European Portuguese: vais fazer (ir + infinitive), apetecia-me fazer (imperfect + infinitive), se formos (future subjunctive), apanhamos (present as future), and mando mensagem (present as future with a speech-act verb). The synthetic future (farei, irei) does not appear — because in conversation, it rarely would.
• Se + future subjunctive is the defining grammar of PT-PT conditionals. Learn the endings of the future subjunctive as early as possible: they are usually identical to the personal infinitive for regular verbs (se falarmos, se comermos, se partirmos), and one of the most distinctively Portuguese features of the language.
• Days of the week, public places, and proper names almost always take an article: ao sábado, à praia, o João, a Sintra (for vamos a Sintra, the a is the preposition, not the article — Sintra is treated as an article-less place name, like most Portuguese towns that aren't o Porto or a Figueira).

Common mistakes

Key takeaways