No balcão do hotel, a hóspede perguntou sobre o café da manhã e sobre a diária.

Because no is the normal contraction of em + o in Portuguese.

• em + o = no
• em + a = na
• em + os = nos
• em + as = nas

So:

• no balcão = at/on the counter
• na recepção = at the reception/front desk area

Portuguese uses these contractions all the time, and using em o here would sound unnatural.

No. This is a very useful false-friend warning.

• balcão = counter, service desk, bar counter
• balcony = varanda or sacada, depending on context

So No balcão do hotel means At the hotel counter/front desk, not anything related to a balcony.

Because not all Portuguese nouns show gender through the ending.

Hóspede can refer to a male or female guest, and the article tells you the gender:

• o hóspede = the male guest
• a hóspede = the female guest

So in this sentence, a hóspede tells you the guest is female.

This is a good example of how grammatical gender in Portuguese is often shown by the article, not just by the noun ending.

Yes, in this context hóspede means guest, especially someone staying in a hotel, inn, or similar place.

In Brazilian Portuguese, hóspede is a common word for a hotel guest. It is more specific than a general word like pessoa and more directly connected to lodging.

For example:

• O hóspede pediu outra toalha. = The guest asked for another towel.
• As hóspedes chegaram cedo. = The female guests arrived early.

Because No balcão do hotel is an introductory location phrase placed at the beginning of the sentence.

Portuguese often uses a comma after a fronted expression of place, time, or context, especially when it sets the scene:

• No balcão do hotel, ...
• De manhã, ...
• Na semana passada, ...

The comma helps separate the background information from the main action.

You may sometimes see short introductory phrases without a comma in informal writing, but this comma is completely normal and natural.

Because perguntar sobre means to ask about a topic.

Here, the guest is asking about two things:

• o café da manhã
• a diária

So:

• perguntar sobre algo = to ask about something

Examples:

• Ela perguntou sobre os horários. = She asked about the schedules.
• Ele perguntou sobre o preço. = He asked about the price.

This is different from asking a person a question:

• perguntar a alguém = to ask someone
• perguntar algo a alguém = to ask someone something

Example:

• Ela perguntou ao recepcionista sobre a diária. = She asked the receptionist about the daily rate.

It is repeated for clarity and balance.

Portuguese can sometimes omit the second preposition if the structure is clear:

• perguntou sobre o café da manhã e a diária

But repeating sobre is very natural and often sounds clearer, especially in careful or formal speech:

• sobre o café da manhã e sobre a diária

It makes it obvious that both items belong to the same idea: she asked about both things.

So both are possible, but the repeated sobre is perfectly good Portuguese.

Literally, café da manhã means something like morning coffee, but it is the standard Portuguese expression for breakfast.

It is a fixed expression:

• café da manhã = breakfast
• almoço = lunch
• jantar = dinner

You should learn café da manhã as a whole chunk, not try to translate each word every time.

Examples:

• O café da manhã começa às 6. = Breakfast starts at 6.
• O hotel serve café da manhã? = Does the hotel serve breakfast?

Because da is the contraction of de + a:

• de + a = da

In café da manhã, the phrase is fixed and idiomatic. Historically and structurally, it is coffee of the morning.

So:

• café da manhã = breakfast

You do not normally change this expression. It is just the standard way to say breakfast in Portuguese.

In a hotel context, diária means the daily rate or nightly rate charged for accommodation.

It does not mean diary in English.

Examples:

• Qual é a diária do quarto? = What is the daily/nightly rate for the room?
• A diária inclui café da manhã? = Does the rate include breakfast?

In hotel language, diária is a very common word in Brazil.

Portuguese uses definite articles more often than English does.

In English, you might say:

• asked about breakfast
• asked about the breakfast
• asked about the daily rate

Depending on context.

In Portuguese, using the article is very normal with nouns like these:

• o café da manhã
• a diária

It sounds natural because the speaker is referring to the hotel’s breakfast and the hotel’s rate as known, specific things in that situation.

Because perguntou is the preterite, which is used for a completed action in the past.

• perguntou = asked
• perguntava = was asking / used to ask / would ask, depending on context

In this sentence, the action is a single completed event: the guest asked about breakfast and the rate.

So perguntou is the natural choice.

Compare:

• A hóspede perguntou sobre a diária. = The guest asked about the rate.
• A hóspede perguntava sobre a diária todos os dias. = The guest used to ask about the rate every day.

Perguntou is:

• verb: perguntar
• tense: pretérito perfeito (simple preterite)
• person: third person singular

It can mean:

• he asked
• she asked
• you asked (formal você)

In this sentence, it matches a hóspede, so it means she asked.

Yes, and the nuance is slightly different.

• no balcão do hotel = at the hotel counter / at the desk itself
• na recepção do hotel = at the hotel reception/front desk area

So balcão points more to the physical counter, while recepção can refer to the whole reception area or front desk function.

Both are natural, but balcão is a bit more specific.

In Portuguese, the h at the beginning of hóspede is silent.

A rough pronunciation is:

• Hóspede ≈ OS-peh-jee or OS-peh-djee in Brazilian pronunciation

A few helpful notes:

• h is silent
• the stressed syllable is HÓS
• the final de often sounds like djee/jee in many Brazilian accents

So it does not sound like English host.

The accent marks help show stress and pronunciation.

• hóspede: the accent shows the stress is on hó
• café: the accent shows the stress is on the last syllable, fé
• manhã: the ã shows a nasal sound
• diária: the accent shows the stressed syllable is á

These marks are important in Portuguese because they often tell you how a word is pronounced and sometimes distinguish words that would otherwise look similar.

Yes, Portuguese often drops the subject when it is understood from context:

• No balcão do hotel, perguntou sobre o café da manhã e sobre a diária.

However, keeping a hóspede is useful because it makes the sentence clearer and tells us explicitly who asked.

Portuguese is a language that often allows omitted subjects, but speakers include them whenever they want clarity, emphasis, or a smoother flow.