Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

Portuguese (Portugal)

### Ordering in a Tasca: The Suffixes "-zinho" and "-zinha"

In Portugal, especially in a traditional *tasca* (tavern), you will hear the diminutive suffixes *-zinho* (masculine) and *-zinha* (feminine) everywhere. They can mean something is physically small, but more often they express affection, coziness, or make a request sound friendlier. 

We use *-zinho* and *-zinha* (instead of just *-inho* or *-inha*) for words that end in nasal sounds or stressed vowels. 

### Words Ending in Tildes ("-ão" and "-ã")

When a word ends in a nasal vowel marked with a tilde, such as *feijão* or *avelã*, you simply attach the suffix to the end. The tilde stays exactly where it is.

{{item:1005262}}

### Words Ending in "-m"

When a word ends in the nasal consonant *-m*, you must change the *m* to an *n* before adding *-zinho*. This preserves the nasal sound while following the Portuguese spelling rule that *m* is only used at the very end of a word or before the letters *p* and *b*.

{{item:1005264}}

{{item:1005266}}

{{item:1005268}}

### Dropping Written Accents

Some words end in a stressed vowel with a written accent, like *paté*. When you add a diminutive suffix, the stress of the word naturally shifts to the new suffix. Because the original vowel is no longer the stressed syllable, the written accent mark must be dropped.

{{item:1005270}}

### Unaccented Stressed Vowels

If a word ends in a stressed vowel but has no written accent, such as *caju* or *peru*, the spelling does not change at all. You just add *-zinho* directly to the word.

{{item:1005272}}

### Bringing It All Together

Now that you know the rules for nasals, tildes, and stressed vowels, you can order your favorite snacks just like a local.

{{item:1005274}}

{{item:1005276}}

{{item:1005281}}

Diminutives (-zinho / -zinha)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prefix

prep

preposition

pron

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstratives and the verb to be (isto é, o, a)

Subject pronouns and negation (eu, não)

Yes/no questions and question words (quem, o que)

Plural pronouns, articles, and verbs (somos, são, os, as)

Origin and possession (de, do, da)

Introductions (chamar-se)

Indefinite articles (um, uma, uns, umas)

The verb to be for locations (estar)

Contrasting the two verbs to be (ser vs. estar)

Preposition for locations (em, no, na)

Numbers 0 to 10 (zero, um, dois)

The verb to have (tenho, tem)

Regular -ar verbs (falar, trabalhar)

Regular -er verbs (comer, beber)

Regular -ir verbs (abrir, partir)

My, your, and our (o meu, a nossa)

His, hers, and theirs (dele, dela)

Adjective agreement and placement

Days of the week (segunda-feira)

Months of the year (janeiro)

Counting by tens to 100 (trinta, quarenta...)

Telling time (é uma, são...)

Asking about time (quando, a que horas)

The verb to go (ir)

Prepositions of direction (a, para)

Preposition a contractions (ao, à, aos, às)

Prepositions of place (ao lado de, em frente de...)

Demonstratives (este, esse, aquele)

Contractions with demonstratives (neste, desse, daquele)

Asking which and how many (qual, quanto)

Plurals ending in -ão (-ões, -ãos, -ães)

Plurals ending in consonants (-ns, -is, -es)

The verb to like (gostar de)

The verb to need (precisar de)

The verb to want (querer)

The verb can or may (poder)

Expressing obligation (ter de)

Adverbs of degree (muito, pouco)

Quantifiers (muito, pouco)

Comparatives (mais... do que, menos... do que)

Equality comparisons (tão... como)

The preposition com (comigo, contigo)

Coordinating conjunctions (e, mas, ou, porque)

The preposition por (pelo, pela)

Double negation (nunca, nada, ninguém)

Present continuous (estar a)

Near future (ir)

Past tense of regular -ar verbs

Past tense of regular -er and -ir verbs

Past tense of ser and ir (fui, foi)

Direct object pronouns (me, te, o, a, nos, os, as)

Pronoun placement with negatives and questions

Greetings and courtesy (bom dia, obrigado)

Physical states with ter (ter fome, ter frio)

Asking the way (à direita, sempre em frente)

Colours (vermelho, amarelo, cor-de-rosa)

Money and shopping (custar, a moeda)

Getting around (o motorista, a paragem de autocarro)

Weather and seasons (faz calor, o inverno)

Omitting the subject pronoun

Where things are: ficar (Onde fica...?)

Richer questions: que + noun and é que

Numbers above 100 (cento e vinte, mil)

First-person sound changes (durmo, prefiro)

Advice and ability: dever and saber

Asking why: porquê and porque

When one thing happens: quando-clauses

Here and there: aqui, aí, ali (cá e lá)

Formal and plural possessives: o seu, o vosso

Irregular presents: ver, vir, dar

Present irregulars

Reflexive verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Stem-changing reflexives

Attached object pronouns (-lo, -la, -los, -las)

Nasal attached pronouns (-no, -na, -nos, -nas)

Pronoun placement with adverbs

Past tense of fazer, dizer, and trazer

Past tense of ter, estar, poder, and saber

Past tense of querer and vir

Past tense of ver, dar, and ler

Past tense reflexive verbs (-se)

Time elapsed in the past (há)

Question	Answer
the bean	o feijão
Formerly, I used to eat a little bean stew here every day.	Antigamente, comia um feijãozinho aqui todos os dias.
the peanut	o amendoim
I prefer my little bean stew with a little peanut.	Prefiro o meu feijãozinho com um amendoinzinho.
the flan	o pudim
I don't give you my little flan.	Não te dou o meu pudinzinho.
the bonbon	o bombom
It is difficult to eat only one little bonbon after the little flan.	É difícil comer só um bombonzinho depois do pudinzinho.
the pâté	o paté
They used to eat a little pâté with the hot little bread.	Eles comiam um patezinho com o pãozinho quente.
the cashew	o caju
She asked if we wanted a little cashew or a little pâté.	Ela perguntou se queríamos um cajuzinho ou um patezinho.
the hazelnut	a avelã
The grandfather shared the little hazelnut and the little cashew with us.	O avô dividiu a avelãzinha e o cajuzinho connosco.
the cottage cheese	o requeijão
At four o'clock in the afternoon, I eat a little cottage cheese.	Às quatro horas da tarde, como um requeijãozinho.
It is strange to eat a little cottage cheese with a little bonbon!	É estranho comer um requeijãozinho com um bombonzinho!
the suckling pig	o leitão
It is necessary to reserve the little suckling pig for the weekend.	É preciso reservar o leitãozinho para o fim de semana.
the turkey	o peru
The cook said that the little suckling pig and the little turkey smelled good.	O cozinheiro disse que o leitãozinho e o peruzinho cheiravam bem.
We ate a little turkey with a little hazelnut yesterday.	Comemos um peruzinho com uma avelãzinha ontem.
I ask you if you want the little peanut now.	Pergunto-te se queres o amendoinzinho agora.
It is two o'clock, let's eat a little bean stew!	São duas horas, vamos comer um feijãozinho!