Pedi um talão para comprovar o pagamento da pulseira.

I asked for a receipt to prove the payment of the bracelet.

Breakdown of Pedi um talão para comprovar o pagamento da pulseira.

• um: a
• para: to
• pedir: to ask
• a pulseira: the bracelet
• o talão: the receipt
• comprovar: to prove
• o pagamento: the payment
• da: of

Questions & Answers about Pedi um talão para comprovar o pagamento da pulseira.

What does talão mean here, and how does it compare to recibo or comprovante?

talão in European Portuguese is an informal term for a small paper stub or receipt you get after paying for something (e.g. bus ticket, parking stub, store purchase).

• recibo is more formal and usually issued by a business or service provider, often with official headers and totals.
• comprovante is a generic term for any proof (receipt, voucher, bank slip).

So you can use talão for everyday purchases, but in a formal context you might see recibo or comprovante instead.

Why is it um talão and not o talão?

The indefinite article um means “a” or “one,” indicating that you asked for any receipt (unspecified).
If you said o talão, it would be “the receipt,” implying both speaker and listener know exactly which receipt you mean.

What tense is pedi, and why isn’t it peço?

pedi is the pretérito perfeito (first person singular of pedir) used to describe a completed action in the past (“I asked/ I requested”).

• peço is present tense (“I ask”), so it would imply you’re requesting it right now rather than saying you already did.

What is the difference between comprovar and provar in this sentence?

• comprovar = to prove, to provide evidence (e.g. “to prove the payment”).
• provar can mean to taste or to try something, and only metaphorically “to prove” (but that usage is less common in this context).
  Here you need comprovar for “showing proof,” not “tasting” or “testing.”

Why use para with the infinitive comprovar instead of por?

• para
  • infinitive expresses purpose (“in order to”).
• por often indicates cause, reason, or means (“because of,” “by”).
  Since you’re stating why you asked for the receipt (to prove the payment), para comprovar is correct.

What’s the meaning of da in da pulseira?

da is the contraction of de + a, meaning “of the.”
So pagamento da pulseira = “payment of the bracelet.”

How do you pronounce ão in talão, and which syllable is stressed?

• ão is a nasal diphthong, roughly like “ow” in English but nasalized (IPA: /ɐ̃w̃/).
• Stress falls on the last syllable: tal-ÃO.

Would you use talão in Brazilian Portuguese, or is there a different term?

In Brazil people rarely say talão for a standard purchase receipt. Common terms are:

• cupom fiscal (sales slip)
• nota fiscal (invoice/official receipt)
• recibo (receipt)
  They might use talão in contexts like talão de cheques (chequebook), but not for everyday shop receipts.