No refeitório, falamos um pouco durante o recreio.

Because no is a contraction of em + o:

• em = in / at
• o = the (masculine singular)

So:

• no refeitório = in the canteen / in the cafeteria

This kind of contraction is very common in Portuguese:

• em + a = na
• em + os = nos
• em + as = nas

So No refeitório is the natural Portuguese way to say In the canteen.

Refeitório usually means a canteen, cafeteria, or dining hall, especially in places like:

• schools
• workplaces
• hospitals
• universities

In European Portuguese, it is a normal and common word for a shared eating area. Depending on context, English might translate it as canteen or cafeteria.

The comma is there because No refeitório has been moved to the front of the sentence for context or emphasis.

The basic idea is:

• Falamos um pouco durante o recreio no refeitório.
• No refeitório, falamos um pouco durante o recreio.

Putting No refeitório first highlights the place: In the canteen, ...

In English we often do the same thing:

• In the canteen, we talked a bit during recess.

So the comma marks that introductory phrase.

Portuguese often leaves out subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb form.

Here, falamos can mean we speak or we spoke, so the implied subject is nós = we.

So:

• Falamos = We speak / We spoke
• Nós falamos = also possible, but less necessary

Including nós is usually only done for emphasis, contrast, or clarity.

It can mean both.

In Portuguese, falamos is the same form for:

• present tense: we speak / we talk
• pretérito perfeito (simple past): we spoke / we talked

So you need context to know which one is meant.

Examples:

• Todos os dias falamos no refeitório. = Every day we talk in the canteen.
• Ontem falamos no refeitório. = Yesterday we talked in the canteen.

In your sentence, without more context, both are grammatically possible.

Um pouco means a little or a bit.

It is a very common expression:

• falamos um pouco = we talked a little / we talked a bit

You can also use pouco by itself, but it behaves a bit differently depending on structure.

Compare:

• um pouco = a little / a bit
• pouco = little / not much

Examples:

• Falámos um pouco. = We talked a little.
• Falámos pouco. = We didn’t talk much.

So um pouco sounds a bit more neutral and idiomatic here.

Durante means during, and o recreio means recess / break time.

So:

• durante o recreio = during recess / during break

This tells you when the action happened.

Also notice that durante does not contract with the article:

• durante o recreio
• not duranto or anything similar

In European Portuguese, recreio often means school break, recess, or the time between lessons when students rest, play, or talk.

Depending on the situation, English could translate it as:

• recess
• break
• break time

In a school context, recreio is very common.

Portuguese is flexible with word order, especially when adding place or time expressions.

This sentence starts with the location:

• No refeitório, falamos um pouco durante o recreio.

A more neutral order could be:

• Falamos um pouco durante o recreio no refeitório.

But the original version puts the place first, which can sound more natural if the speaker wants to set the scene first: In the canteen, ...

So the word order is not strange; it is a normal Portuguese way to organize information.

Yes, possibly, depending on the exact context.

• cantina often means canteen / cafeteria
• refeitório is more specifically the dining area or mess hall

In many situations they overlap, but they are not always exactly the same.

Very roughly:

• refeitório = the eating hall
• cantina = the canteen/cafeteria, sometimes including the food service area

In everyday use, people may use one or the other depending on region and institution.

It works in both European and Brazilian Portuguese, but some word choices feel especially natural in a school/institutional European Portuguese context:

• refeitório
• recreio

A Brazilian speaker would understand the sentence perfectly, but depending on the context they might choose slightly different words more often in everyday speech.

A learner-friendly approximation is:

No refeitório, falamos um pouco durante o recreio.
nu r-fei-TÓ-ri-u, fuh-LA-mush um POU-ku du-RAN-ti u r-krei-u

A few European Portuguese points:

• no often sounds closer to nu
• unstressed vowels are often reduced
• falamos in European Portuguese often sounds closer to fuh-LA-mush
• o in o recreio may sound weak, almost like u

The exact pronunciation depends on accent and speed, but the main thing is that European Portuguese often reduces unstressed vowels much more than English speakers expect.