Ao chegar à recepção, a hóspede perguntou pela bagagem.

Ao chegar literally means upon arriving or when arriving.

Here, ao is the contraction of a + o, and this structure ao + infinitive is very common in Portuguese. It often expresses the idea of:

• when doing something
• upon doing something
• as soon as someone does something

So:

• Ao chegar à recepção... = When she arrived at the reception/front desk...

It is a more compact way to say something like:

• Quando chegou à recepção...

Both are natural, but ao + infinitive is a very common written and spoken pattern.

In Portuguese, when you use ao + infinitive, the subject is often left unstated if it is the same as the subject of the main clause.

So in:

• Ao chegar à recepção, a hóspede perguntou pela bagagem.

the person who arrived is understood to be the same person who asked: a hóspede.

English often makes this relationship explicit in other ways, but Portuguese commonly leaves it implied.

À is the result of a + a:

• the preposition a
• plus the feminine definite article a

The verb idea in chegar here involves movement to a place, so you get the preposition a. Since recepção is feminine and is being used with the article a, the two combine:

• a + a recepção = à recepção

This is called crase.

So:

• chegar à recepção = arrive at the reception/front desk

Good question. Both can appear, but they express slightly different ideas.

• chegar à recepção = arrive at the reception/front desk
  This focuses on movement toward that place.

• estar na recepção = be at/in the reception area
  This focuses on location.

So:

• Ao chegar à recepção... = Upon arriving at the front desk...
• Ela estava na recepção. = She was at the front desk / in reception.

Portuguese often distinguishes movement to a place from being in a place with different prepositions.

The noun hóspede can refer to either a male or female guest. The gender is shown by the article:

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

So the word itself does not change form here; only the article changes.

This is one of many Portuguese nouns where the ending does not by itself tell you the gender.

Perguntar por usually means to ask about, to inquire about, or to ask after something or someone.

So:

• perguntou pela bagagem = asked about the luggage / inquired about the luggage

That is slightly different from directly requesting it. If the idea were more clearly asked for the luggage in the sense of requesting it, Portuguese might also use other wording depending on context, such as:

• pediu a bagagem
• solicitou a bagagem

But in many real situations, perguntar pela bagagem naturally means the guest asked what had happened to it, where it was, whether it had arrived, and so on.

Pela is a contraction of:

• por + a = pela

Since bagagem is feminine, por combines with a.

So:

• perguntar pela bagagem
• literally: to ask about the luggage

Other similar contractions are:

• pelo = por + o
• pelos = por + os
• pelas = por + as

In Portuguese, bagagem is usually an uncountable or collective noun, much like luggage in English.

So Portuguese normally says:

• a bagagem = the luggage/baggage

Even if there are several suitcases, the singular form is very natural.

If you want to be specific about individual items, you might say:

• as malas = the suitcases
• as bolsas = the bags

But bagagem in the singular is completely normal here.

In a hotel context, recepção can refer to the reception area, reception desk, or front desk, depending on context.

So in this sentence, likely natural English meanings are:

• front desk
• reception
• reception desk

A learner should know that Portuguese recepção is broader than just the abstract idea of reception. In hotels, it often refers to the place or desk where guests check in and ask for assistance.

Perguntou is the preterite form of perguntar for ele/ela/você.

It indicates a completed action in the past:

• ela perguntou = she asked

In this sentence, it presents the action as a finished event:

• she arrived at the reception/front desk
• she asked about the luggage

So the sentence narrates a completed sequence of events.

Yes. That version is perfectly natural.

Compare:

• Ao chegar à recepção, a hóspede perguntou pela bagagem.
• Quando chegou à recepção, a hóspede perguntou pela bagagem.

The difference is mainly stylistic:

• Ao chegar is a bit more compact and often feels slightly more formal or written.
• Quando chegou is more explicit and can feel a bit more direct or conversational.

Both are correct and common.

They serve different purposes.

1. hóspede
The accent mark shows the stressed syllable: HÓS-pe-de.

2. recepção
The accent mark on -ão helps indicate the stressed final syllable: re-cep-ÇÃO.

3. à
This is not just a stress mark. It marks crase, the contraction of two a's:

• preposition a
• article a

So à recepção means that both of those elements are present.

In short:

• in hóspede and recepção, the accent helps with pronunciation/stress
• in à, the accent shows a grammatical contraction