O gerente recusou meu pedido de cancelar a reserva sem pagar a primeira diária.

Recusou is the simple past (pretérito perfeito) of recusar and shows a completed action in the past:

• O gerente recusou... = The manager refused/denied...

This is the most natural tense if you are talking about one finished event.

Compare:

• recusou = refused, denied once / as a completed fact
• recusava = used to refuse / was refusing / would refuse, depending on context
• tem recusado = has been refusing / has refused repeatedly, usually suggesting repetition over a period of time in Brazilian Portuguese

So in this sentence, recusou is the normal choice because it reports one specific refusal.

Here, recusar means to refuse, to reject, or to deny.

In this sentence:

• O gerente recusou meu pedido...
• literally: The manager refused my request...
• naturally: The manager denied my request...

It does not mean that the manager refused me personally. He refused the request.

A useful pattern is:

• recusar algo = to refuse/reject something
• recusar um pedido = to deny a request
• recusar uma oferta = to turn down an offer

After pedido, Portuguese often uses de + infinitive to express a request to do something.

So:

• pedido de cancelar a reserva = request to cancel the reservation

This structure is very common and natural.

You may also see other patterns in Portuguese depending on the noun and context, but here pedido de + infinitive is standard.

Think of it like this:

• pedido de ajuda = request for help
• pedido de demissão = resignation request
• pedido de cancelar a reserva = request to cancel the reservation

So de cancelar is just the normal grammatical link after pedido here.

The de connects pedido to the action being requested.

• meu pedido = my request
• de cancelar a reserva = to cancel the reservation

So the full idea is:

• my request to cancel the reservation

Portuguese often uses a preposition where English might use to directly after a noun.

A rough structure is:

• pedido de fazer algo
• literally: request of doing something
• naturally in English: request to do something

So the de is required by the noun phrase structure, not by cancelar itself.

A reserva means the reservation or the booking.

The definite article a is very common in Portuguese, often more common than the in English. Portuguese frequently uses articles where English might omit them.

So:

• cancelar a reserva = cancel the reservation

Using a makes the reservation sound like a specific one already known in context.

Without the article, cancelar reserva would sound incomplete or unnatural in normal standard Portuguese in this sentence.

It means without paying the first daily rate / first night's charge.

In hotel language, diária usually means the daily room rate or the charge for one night/day of stay, depending on how the hotel bills it.

So:

• sem pagar = without paying
• a primeira diária = the first night’s charge / the first day’s rate

A natural English rendering is:

• without paying for the first night
• or without paying the first night's fee

This is a hospitality/travel expression, not a general word for any kind of daily payment.

No. They only look a bit similar to English, but they are completely different words.

In this sentence:

• diária = daily rate, daily allowance, or in hotel context one day's/night's charge

English diary in Portuguese is:

• diário

Examples:

• primeira diária do hotel = first night’s hotel charge
• escrever no diário = to write in a diary

So here a primeira diária is definitely a hotel/payment term.

Sem means without.

Here it introduces a negative condition:

• sem pagar a primeira diária = without paying the first night's charge

This is a very common structure:

• sem + infinitive
• sem pagar = without paying
• sem avisar = without warning
• sem dizer nada = without saying anything

So sem pagar works much like English without paying.

Yes, there is a little potential ambiguity, and that is something learners often notice.

The most natural interpretation is:

• meu pedido de cancelar a reserva sem pagar a primeira diária
• my request to cancel the reservation without paying the first night's charge

In other words, sem pagar a primeira diária describes the kind of cancellation being requested.

So the meaning is:

• I asked to cancel the reservation
• and I wanted to do that without paying the first night

That said, because Portuguese often allows compact noun phrases like this, a reader could briefly need context to confirm exactly what sem pagar... modifies. In real-life hotel context, the intended meaning is very clear.

If someone wanted to make it even clearer, they could rephrase it, for example:

• O gerente recusou meu pedido para cancelar a reserva sem o pagamento da primeira diária.
• O gerente recusou meu pedido de cancelar a reserva sem ter de pagar a primeira diária.

But the original sentence is normal and understandable.

Both are possible in Portuguese, but meu pedido is very common and natural.

So:

• meu pedido = my request
• o meu pedido = my request

In Brazilian Portuguese, possessives can appear:

• with no article: meu pedido
• with an article: o meu pedido

The version without the article is often very natural in everyday speech and writing, especially after a verb like this.

So the sentence could also be:

• O gerente recusou o meu pedido...

That would still be correct.

In some contexts, pedido can mean order, especially in restaurants or shopping.

Examples:

• fazer um pedido = place an order
• o pedido chegou = the order arrived

But in this sentence, because of recusou and the phrase de cancelar a reserva, pedido clearly means request.

So here:

• meu pedido = my request
• not my order

Context tells you which meaning is intended.

Yes, absolutely.

• cancelar = to cancel
• a reserva = the reservation / booking

So:

• cancelar a reserva = to cancel the reservation

This is the standard and most natural phrasing in travel/hotel contexts.

You might also hear:

• cancelar minha reserva = cancel my reservation
• cancelar uma reserva = cancel a reservation

All are normal depending on context.

That translation is understandable, but it sounds less natural in English.

More natural translations are:

• The manager denied my request to cancel the reservation without paying for the first night.
• The manager refused my request to cancel the reservation without paying the first night's charge.

Why?

Because in English, after request, we normally say:

• request to cancel
• not usually request for canceling

So the Portuguese pedido de cancelar is best translated with request to cancel, even though the Portuguese uses de.

The original sentence is correct and natural, but in casual speech a Brazilian might say something slightly simpler, such as:

• O gerente recusou meu pedido pra cancelar a reserva sem pagar a primeira diária.
• O gerente não aceitou meu pedido de cancelar a reserva sem pagar a primeira diária.

Notes:

• pra is the spoken/written informal form of para
• não aceitou = did not accept, a very common everyday alternative to recusou

But your original sentence is already perfectly good Brazilian Portuguese.