Traditional Recipe (B1)

Portuguese cookbooks have their own grammatical dialect. The instructions do not come in tidy imperatives the way English cookery does; they come in impersonal infinitives — a register convention you will recognise instantly once you have cooked from a Portuguese book: bater os ovos, misturar bem, juntar o sal, cozer durante vinte minutos. The bare infinitive functions as a polite, neutral command that addresses no one in particular but everyone at once. Alongside it, the imperativo de você (bata, misture, junte, coza) shows up for more personal tones, and the se-passiva (serve-se quente, acompanha-se com arroz) handles the finishing touches and serving suggestions.

This page annotates a short fictional recipe for bacalhau à brás, one of Portugal's most beloved cod dishes. The recipe itself is canonical — every Portuguese kitchen has a version — but the wording is written to showcase the grammar of Portuguese cookery.

The text

Grammar in action

The heading and ingredient list

Bacalhau à Brás para 4 pessoas. Ingredientes: 500 g de bacalhau demolhado e desfiado, 4 ovos, 3 batatas médias cortadas em palha, 2 cebolas grandes às rodelas, 2 dentes de alho picados…

• Bacalhau à Brás — one of Portugal's most emblematic dishes. Bacalhau is salt cod; the à in the name is the classic Portuguese "in the style of" construction (à portuguesa, à lagareiro, à Gomes de Sá, à Narcisa). Brás was the 19th-century Bairro Alto cook credited with the recipe.
• 500 g — g (with no plural s) is the unit abbreviation. Portuguese cookbooks use g for grams, kg for kilograms, ml for millilitres, l for litres.
• Bacalhau demolhado e desfiado — two past participles used as adjectives, both agreeing masculine singular with bacalhau. Demolhar = "to soak" (specifically used for salt cod, which must be soaked to remove the salt); desfiar = "to shred into strands".
• Cortadas em palha — past participle cortadas (feminine plural, agreeing with batatas) + em palha ("in straws, matchstick cut"). The em palha cut is the signature of bacalhau à brás.
• Às rodelas — a + as = às. Em rodelas and às rodelas are both used: onions às rodelas = "in rings / rounds".
• Picados — past participle agreeing with dentes de alho (masculine plural). Picar = "to mince / to chop finely".
• Azeite q.b. — q.b. stands for quanto baste, a cookbook abbreviation meaning "to taste / as much as needed". Universal in Portuguese recipes for salt, oil, spices.
• Folhas de louro — bay leaves. Essential aromatic in Portuguese cuisine, especially in stews and fish dishes.

The convention: impersonal infinitive

Primeiro, escorrer bem o bacalhau depois de o ter demolhado durante vinte e quatro horas.

• Escorrer — bare infinitivo impessoal (impersonal infinitive). This is the single most characteristic feature of Portuguese recipe prose. The infinitive functions as a general instruction, addressing no one but everyone. Compare Spanish recipes, which prefer the usted imperative (escurra), or French, which uses either infinitives or the nous imperative (nous faisons sauter). Portuguese locks in the infinitive as the default register of cookbook grammar.
• Why? Because the impersonal infinitive carries no person marking — no one is being addressed, no one is being commanded. The recipe is a general blueprint that anyone could follow. It is the grammatical equivalent of "one drains the cod well" in elevated English.
• See Impersonal vs. Personal Infinitive.
• Depois de o ter demolhado — depois de + infinitivo composto. This is a compound infinitive (ter + demolhado) preceded by depois de. The structure means "after having soaked it".
• Crucially, the direct object pronoun o (referring to o bacalhau) sits between de and ter. This is the PT-PT placement: the pronoun is proclitic to ter because it is inside a preposition-plus-infinitive structure. In BR Portuguese the same sentence might be written depois de tê-lo demolhado (enclitic to ter).
• Depois de + infinitivo vs. depois de que + subjuntivo: Portuguese prefers depois de + infinitivo whenever the construction is grammatical, which it is when the subject of the subordinate clause is clear. Spanish speakers often reach for depois de que
  • subjunctive — almost always incorrect in PT-PT cookery.

Sequencing: primeiro, em seguida, entretanto

Em seguida, numa frigideira grande, aquecer generosamente o azeite em lume brando e alourar as cebolas cortadas às rodelas juntamente com o alho e as folhas de louro.

• Em seguida — sequencing connector, "next / following". Together with primeiro, depois, entretanto, por fim, finalmente, these connectors pin a recipe into a timeline.
• Numa frigideira = em + uma. Frigideira is the PT-PT word for "frying pan"; BR can also use frigideira but often says panela.
• Aquecer generosamente o azeite em lume brando — another bare infinitive. Em lume brando is the PT-PT collocation for "on low heat". Lume is "fire / cooking flame" (the BR equivalent is fogo).
• Alourar — "to brown / to caramelise lightly". Derived from louro ("golden, blond"). A verb you will see only in cookery texts.
• Juntamente com — "together with". Slightly more formal than the bare com; common in cookbook prose.

Future subjunctive in recipe conditionals

Quando as cebolas estiverem macias e douradas, juntar o bacalhau desfiado e deixar cozer durante cerca de cinco minutos, mexendo de vez em quando.

• Quando + futuro do conjuntivo: estiverem is the 3rd plural futuro do conjuntivo of estar, agreeing with as cebolas. In PT-PT, quando pointing to the future always takes the future subjunctive, not the present indicative. See Quando-clauses with Future Subjunctive.
• Why this tense? Because the event is hypothetical from the moment of reading: "whenever the onions happen to be soft and golden, at that future moment…". Portuguese keeps the future subjunctive alive in exactly these temporal/conditional frames.
• Juntar, deixar cozer — two more impersonal infinitives.
• Deixar cozer — deixar + infinitivo is a classic Portuguese causative/permissive: "let cook, allow to cook". Other cookbook favourites: deixar apurar ("let the flavours reduce"), deixar levantar fervura ("bring to the boil, then let").
• Mexendo de vez em quando — this is one of the very few places the gerúndio appears in a PT-PT recipe: as a manner adverbial attached to the main clause. Mexendo = "stirring"; de vez em quando = "occasionally". The gerund here is perfectly idiomatic because it describes how the cooking is done, not the action itself (which would be estar a mexer in PT-PT).

Continuous action with até

Entretanto, fritar as batatas em palha noutra frigideira, até ficarem crocantes mas sem escurecer demasiado.

• Até ficarem crocantes — até + infinitivo pessoal. Ficarem is the infinitivo pessoal (personal infinitive), 3rd plural, agreeing with as batatas. The personal infinitive is the standard PT-PT choice after até, para, sem, apesar de, and other prepositions, when the subject is expressed or implicit. See Personal Infinitive after Prepositions.
• Sem escurecer — sem + infinitivo (impersonal here, because the subject is not explicitly marked). Sem
  • infinitive = "without + gerund" in English. A signature Portuguese construction.
• Demasiado is the adverb "too much". In recipe prose it is a common hedge: sem escurecer demasiado ("without browning too much").
• Noutra frigideira = em + outra (obligatory contraction). Note: num, numa, nuns, numas are the contractions of em with um, uma, uns, umas; noutro, noutra, noutros, noutras with outro, etc.

Imperative as a warmer register

Bater os ovos numa tigela, temperar com sal e pimenta e reservar.

• Three bare infinitives again, all in the impersonal-infinitive recipe register.
• Tigela = "bowl" (PT-PT). BR often uses tigela too but also vasilha, pote, recipiente.
• Reservar is a cookbook technical verb: "set aside, keep for later". Almost always appears without an object in recipes (the implicit object is "the thing just prepared").

Portuguese recipes can also be written in the imperative register. Here is the same instruction rewritten:

• Bata, tempere, reserve — all 3rd singular present subjunctive forms, used as imperativo de você (formal imperative). The rule: for affirmative commands addressed to você, Portuguese borrows the present subjunctive form. Bater → bata, temperar → tempere, reservar → reserve. See Você Affirmative Imperative.

Depois de + personal infinitive

Depois de as batatas estarem prontas, juntá-las à frigideira do bacalhau e envolver com cuidado.

• Depois de as batatas estarem prontas — depois de + infinitivo pessoal, 3rd plural estarem. Because as batatas is a different subject from the implicit cook, the personal infinitive marks the subject explicitly via the -em ending.
• This is a very common recipe construction. Compare the Spanish equivalents después de que las patatas estén listas (subjunctive) or después de las patatas estar listas (which would be ungrammatical in Spanish but works in Portuguese via the personal infinitive).
• Juntá-las — enclitic direct object pronoun -las on the infinitive. The infinitive's final -r drops, the pronoun becomes -las (the feminine plural form with l- inserted), and the stressed vowel takes an acute accent: juntar + as → juntá-las.
• Envolver com cuidado — envolver in cookery means "to fold in gently"; com cuidado = "carefully".

Ir + gerund for gradual action

Verter então os ovos batidos sobre a mistura e, em lume muito brando, ir mexendo delicadamente até os ovos ficarem cremosos mas ainda húmidos — nunca secos.

• Ir mexendo — ir + gerúndio for gradual, ongoing action. "Keep stirring, little by little". This is one of the few places the gerund is idiomatic in PT-PT: as part of the ir + gerúndio periphrasis, not as a bare manner adverbial.
• Até os ovos ficarem cremosos — até + infinitivo pessoal again: ficarem, 3rd plural of ficar, agreeing with os ovos.
• Ainda húmidos — PT-PT spelling. BR drops the h: úmidos. Húmido is one of the few Portuguese words where PT-PT keeps the h-.
• Cremosos mas ainda húmidos — nunca secos — parallel adjectives with emphatic nunca secos as the negative pole. The em-dash marks a dramatic pause, cookbook-style.

Se-passive: serves-se quente

Serve-se quente, acompanhado com uma salada simples de alface e tomate, ou com pickles. Em Portugal, acompanha-se quase sempre com um copo de vinho verde.

• Serve-se quente — passiva com *se (also called se-passiva). The verb servir agrees 3rd singular with the implicit subject o bacalhau à brás. The clitic se marks the passive/impersonal voice.
• This is the signature closing line of a Portuguese recipe: serve-se + manner. Variations: serve-se acompanhado de, serve-se frio, serve-se à temperatura ambiente, serve-se decorado com.
• Acompanhado — past participle used adjectivally, agreeing masculine singular with the implicit subject (o bacalhau).
• Acompanha-se — another se-passive. Third-singular verb because the understood subject (the dish) is singular. If the subject were plural, the verb would inflect: servem-se as sardinhas quentes ("the sardines are served hot"). This agreement is the PT-PT difference from French ("se" remains invariable in French) and Spanish (where the passive se agrees with the object).
• Vinho verde — Portugal's young, slightly sparkling white wine from the Minho region. The traditional pairing for bacalhau à brás.

Impersonal-se vs se-passive

The recipe's closing sentences showcase two se constructions that look identical but behave differently:

1. Serve-se o prato quente — se-passiva. O prato is the grammatical subject; the verb agrees with it in number. This works only with transitive verbs.
2. Come-se bem em Portugal — se-impessoal. Here se is a generic "one / people in general". The verb stays in the 3rd singular. The construction works with any verb, transitive or intransitive. See Impersonal Se.

Portuguese cooking vocabulary

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

For deeper practice on the structures in this recipe, see impersonal vs. personal infinitive, the você affirmative imperative, the se-passive, and the personal infinitive after prepositions.