Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): A empregada de mesa mostrou‑me a ementa e explicou‑me cada prato; o serviço pareceu‑me muito simpático. - The waitress showed me the menu and explained each dish to me; the service seemed very nice.

In European Portuguese, unstressed object pronouns like me, te, lhe, nos, vos are usually attached to the verb, forming one word with a hyphen. This is called enclisis.

mostrou‑me = mostrou a mim (“showed to me”)
explicou‑me = explicou a mim (“explained to me”)
pareceu‑me = pareceu a mim (“seemed to me”)

In many of the situations where English would say “showed me / explained to me / seemed to me”, European Portuguese prefers verb + pronoun with a hyphen:

Ela mostrou‑me a ementa.
Ela explicou‑me cada prato.
O serviço pareceu‑me simpático.

In Brazilian Portuguese, it’s much more common to put the pronoun before the verb and usually without a hyphen:

Ela me mostrou o cardápio.
Ela me explicou cada prato.
O serviço me pareceu simpático.

So this sentence is following the standard European Portuguese rule of placing the clitic pronoun after the verb (with a hyphen) when there’s nothing in the sentence that forces it to go before the verb.

What exactly does empregada de mesa mean, and how is it different from just empregada?

Empregada de mesa literally means “table employee”, but idiomatically it means “waitress” (female).

empregada on its own just means female employee, but in everyday speech in Portugal it often implies domestic worker / maid, depending on context.
empregada de mesa specifies the type of work: a person (female) who serves at tables in a café or restaurant.

Masculine:

empregado de mesa = waiter

Other options you might see:

a empregada (in a clear restaurant context, people will still understand it as “waitress”)
o empregado (waiter)
In Brazil, garçom / garçonete is more common than empregado(a) de mesa.

Here, A empregada de mesa = the waitress.

Why does the sentence start with A empregada de mesa instead of just Empregada de mesa? Is the article A necessary?

Yes, the article A is natural and expected here in Portuguese.

A empregada de mesa = the waitress
Portuguese uses definite articles with professions much more than English does.

In English, we say:

“The waitress showed me the menu” (OK)
“Waitress showed me the menu” (also possible in casual style)

In Portuguese, starting a normal sentence with Empregada de mesa mostrou‑me… (no article) sounds incomplete or telegraphic, more like a note or a headline than regular speech.

So A empregada de mesa mostrou‑me… is the normal, full sentence.

What is ementa, and how is it different from menu or cardápio?

Ementa in European Portuguese means restaurant menu (the list of dishes).

In Portugal:
- ementa is the standard word for menu.
- menu is also used, but often meaning a set menu / fixed-price meal (e.g. menu do dia = daily set menu).
In Brazil:
- cardápio is the usual word for menu.
- menu is also used, especially in more “international” or fancy contexts.
- ementa sounds unusual or technical outside specific contexts.

So in this sentence:

mostrou‑me a ementa = “showed me the menu (the list of dishes)”.

Why is it cada prato (“each dish”) and not todos os pratos (“all the dishes”)? Is there a difference in meaning?

Both are grammatically correct, but they have slightly different nuances:

cada prato = each dish, one by one
It highlights that she went through the dishes individually, giving attention to each one.
todos os pratos = all the dishes
It simply says she covered all of them, but doesn’t emphasize the one‑by‑one aspect so much.

So:

explicou‑me cada prato suggests a more detailed, systematic explanation of each dish.
explicou‑me todos os pratos focuses more on completeness (none were left out) than on the step‑by‑step idea.

In o serviço pareceu‑me muito simpático, what does serviço mean here? Is it like “service” in “church service”?

Here, serviço means service in the customer-service / hospitality sense: how well the staff attended to you in the restaurant.

In Portuguese, serviço can mean various things, including:

serviço de restaurante / serviço de mesa = table service
serviço religioso = religious service
serviço militar = military service
prestação de serviços = provision of services (business context)

In this sentence, o serviço clearly refers to:

the way the waitress behaved,
how attentive, polite, and efficient she was,
overall quality of the restaurant’s staff behavior.

So o serviço pareceu‑me muito simpático = “the service seemed very nice/friendly to me.”

Simpático looks like “sympathetic” in English. Does muito simpático mean “very sympathetic” here?

No. Simpático is a classic false friend.

In Portuguese, simpático means:

nice, pleasant, friendly, likeable.

Examples:

Ela é muito simpática. = “She is very nice/friendly.”
O empregado foi muito simpático. = “The waiter was very nice.”

The English word “sympathetic” (as in “He was very sympathetic about my problem”) is usually translated as:

compreensivo = understanding
solidário = supportive
cheio de compaixão = full of compassion, etc.

So o serviço pareceu‑me muito simpático means that the staff were very nice / friendly / pleasant, not “very sympathetic” in the emotional-support sense.

Why is it muito simpático (masculine) and not muito simpática, when the waitress is female?

The adjective simpático here agrees with o serviço, not with the waitress.

o serviço = masculine singular noun
→ adjectives must also be masculine singular: simpático.
The waitress (a empregada de mesa) is feminine, but she is not the grammatical subject of this clause.

Grammar structure of the second part:

o serviço (masculine subject)
pareceu‑me (“seemed to me”)
muito simpático (adjective describing o serviço)

If you wanted to describe the waitress directly, you would say:

A empregada de mesa pareceu‑me muito simpática.
(“The waitress seemed very nice to me.”)

What is the nuance of pareceu‑me? Why not just say o serviço foi muito simpático?

pareceu‑me literally means “seemed to me” and adds a nuance of subjective impression: you are clearly presenting this as your personal perception.

o serviço pareceu‑me muito simpático
= “the service seemed very nice to me / I found the service very nice.”

If you say:

o serviço foi muito simpático

it still sounds okay, but:

foi (“was”) is more factual / objective;
pareceu‑me makes it explicit that it’s your opinion or impression, not an absolute fact.

In everyday speech, pareceu‑me is very common when giving opinions:

O filme pareceu‑me interessante. = “The film seemed interesting to me.”
A cidade não me pareceu muito segura. = “The city didn’t seem very safe to me.”

The verbs are in the past (mostrou, explicou, pareceu). Which past tense is this, and why is it used here?

These are in the pretérito perfeito (simple past tense), used for completed actions in the past:

mostrou (from mostrar) = showed
explicou (from explicar) = explained
pareceu (from parecer) = seemed

This tense is used when you see the action as finished and bounded in time:

She showed you the menu and that action is done.
She explained each dish and that explanation is complete.
The service gave you a certain impression during that visit.

If you used the pretérito imperfeito (e.g. mostrava, explicava, parecia), you would suggest ongoing, repeated, or background actions, which doesn’t match the idea of one specific restaurant visit that is being described as a completed event.

Why is there a semicolon (;) between the two parts instead of a comma or a full stop?

The semicolon in …explicou‑me cada prato; o serviço pareceu‑me muito simpático. shows a stronger separation than a comma, but a closer connection than a full stop.

With a semicolon, the writer:
- connects the two ideas: the detailed, friendly explanation → leads to a positive opinion of the service;
- still marks them as two independent clauses.

You could also write:

…explicou‑me cada prato. O serviço pareceu‑me muito simpático.
→ perfectly correct, but the link between the explanation and your opinion feels slightly less tight.

Using a comma instead of a semicolon here would be less standard in careful writing, because each side could stand as its own sentence. The semicolon is stylistically neat and clear.

Could I say a empregada de mesa me mostrou a ementa instead of mostrou‑me a ementa in European Portuguese?

In Brazilian Portuguese, me mostrou is the usual, natural order:

A empregada de mesa me mostrou o cardápio.

In European Portuguese, the pronoun usually goes after the verb (enclisis) when nothing attracts it before the verb:

A empregada de mesa mostrou‑me a ementa. ✅ (standard EP)

Saying A empregada de mesa me mostrou a ementa in Europe:

is influenced by Brazilian usage or by speech patterns often considered “less formal” or “non‑standard” there;
it will be understood, and many speakers do say it sometimes in informal speech, but mostrou‑me is what is taught as correct standard European Portuguese.

Is explicou‑me cada prato the same as “explained each dish to me” or should there be a para or a before mim?

explicou‑me cada prato already means “explained each dish to me”.

The indirect object (“to me”) is expressed by the clitic pronoun me, attached to the verb.

You could say:

explicou cada prato para mim
explicou cada prato a mim

These forms are grammatically correct, but:

explicou‑me cada prato is more natural and idiomatic in standard written and spoken European Portuguese.
Using para mim / a mim tends to sound more emphatic, contrastive, or stylistically marked, while ‑me is the default.