Guardei o contacto do técnico.

Guardei is the 1st person singular form of the verb guardar in the pretérito perfeito (simple past).

So guardei = I saved / I kept / I stored.

In this sentence, the most natural meaning is I saved.

Examples:

• Guardei o contacto. = I saved the contact.
• Guardei as chaves. = I put away / kept the keys.

O is the masculine singular definite article, meaning the.

So:

• o contacto = the contact

Portuguese uses articles very regularly, often more than English does. In this sentence, you are referring to a specific contact, so o is natural.

In European Portuguese, the usual spelling is contacto.

In Brazilian Portuguese, you will often see contato.

So:

• Portugal: contacto
• Brazil: contato

This is one of several spelling differences between the two varieties.

Do is a contraction of:

• de = of / from
• o = the

So:

• de + o = do

That means:

• do técnico = of the technician

This contraction is extremely common in Portuguese.

Other common ones:

• de + a = da
• em + o = no
• em + a = na

Portuguese often expresses possession with de rather than with an apostrophe as English does.

So:

• o contacto do técnico literally = the contact of the technician
• natural English = the technician’s contact

This structure is very common:

• o carro do João = João’s car
• a casa da Maria = Maria’s house

Técnico usually means technician, but depending on context it can also mean something like:

• repair technician
• technical support person
• specialist
• service technician

So in real life, o técnico could be:

• the internet technician
• the washing machine repair technician
• the gas technician
• the IT technician

Context tells you which one.

Because the noun here is técnico, which is the masculine singular form.

That is why you get:

• o técnico
• do técnico

If the person were female, you would say:

• a técnica
• da técnica

Example:

• Guardei o contacto da técnica. = I saved the technician’s contact.

No. Guardar has a broader meaning than English save.

It can mean:

• to keep
• to store
• to put away
• to save

In modern everyday contexts, it is often used for saving things digitally too:

• Guardar um número
• Guardar um contacto
• Guardar um ficheiro

So here guardei is perfectly natural for I saved.

A rough European Portuguese pronunciation is:

gwar-DAY oo con-TAK-too doo TEK-nee-koo

A bit more naturally:

• Guardei sounds roughly like gwar-DAY
• o is often reduced, almost like u
• contacto has a clearly pronounced c in European Portuguese
• técnico has the stress on téc

If you want a rough IPA-style guide: Guardei o contacto do técnico ≈ /ɡwɐɾˈdɐj u kõˈtaktu du ˈtɛkniku/

This word order is the most neutral and natural one:

• Guardei o contacto do técnico.

Portuguese word order is often similar to English: verb + object.

You could move things around in special contexts, but this is the standard version. For a learner, this is the one to use.

One important point:

• o contacto do técnico = the technician’s contact
• o técnico do contacto would mean something completely different, like the technician of the contact, which normally does not make sense

Yes, it can, but contacto is broader than just phone number.

O contacto can mean:

• a phone contact
• contact details
• a person’s saved contact entry

If you want to be more specific, you could say:

• Guardei o número do técnico. = I saved the technician’s number.

So:

• contacto = broader
• número = specifically the phone number

Portuguese often leaves some things to context that English might make explicit.

In Guardei o contacto do técnico, the sentence simply says:

• I saved the technician’s contact

It does not explicitly say my technician.

If you really want to say my technician, you could say:

• Guardei o contacto do meu técnico.

But in many situations, Portuguese speakers just say do técnico if it is already clear which technician they mean.

Usually, no, not in this context.

• guardar = to save / keep / store
• gravar = to record or sometimes to save/write data in technical contexts

For a phone contact, guardei o contacto is the normal everyday choice.

Examples:

• Guardei o contacto. = I saved the contact.
• Gravei a chamada. = I recorded the call.

So for learners, use guardar for this sentence.