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)

In Portuguese, using the present tense to ask for things (like *quero* or *pode*) can sometimes sound a bit too direct. To soften your requests and sound polite, especially when ordering at a café or asking for assistance, we use the **Pretérito Imperfeito** (Imperfect) tense.

### The Polite Forms: "Queria" and "Podia"

The two most common verbs for making polite requests are **querer** (to want) and **poder** (can). By shifting them into the Imperfect tense, they translate to "would like" and "could."

| Pronoun | Querer (Imperfect) | Poder (Imperfect) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| eu / você / ele / ela | queria | podia |
| nós | queríamos | podíamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | queriam | podiam |

### Ordering with "Queria"

Use **queria** when you are telling someone what you would like to have. It is the standard, polite way to order food or drinks.

{{item:981009}}

{{item:981017}}

### Asking for Assistance with "Podia"

When you need someone to do a favor for you, such as bringing an extra item to the table, use **podia** (meaning "could you", addressed politely to *você*, *o senhor*, or *a senhora*).

{{item:981013}}

{{item:981021}}

{{item:981029}}

### Making Requests for a Group

If you are ordering on behalf of the whole table, use **queríamos** (we would like). If you are addressing multiple servers or people, use **podiam** (could you all).

{{item:981011}}

{{item:981026}}

Polite requests (queria, podia)

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 cup	a chávena
the counter	o balcão
I would like a cup of coffee at the counter, please.	Queria uma chávena de café ao balcão, por favor.
the slice	a fatia
We would like two cups of tea and a slice of cake.	Nós queríamos duas chávenas de chá e uma fatia de bolo.
the bottle	a garrafa
Could you bring me one more slice and a bottle of water?	Podia trazer-me mais uma fatia e uma garrafa de água?
the olive oil	o azeite
Could you give me the bottle of olive oil, sir?	O senhor podia dar-me a garrafa de azeite?
the portion	a dose
I would like a portion of fish with a lot of olive oil.	Queria uma dose de peixe com muito azeite.
the fork	o garfo
Could you bring a fork for this portion, please?	Podia trazer um garfo para esta dose, por favor?
the knife	a faca
Could you bring a clean knife and fork, please?	Podia trazer uma faca e um garfo limpos, por favor?
the spoon	a colher
I would like a spoon for the soup and a knife for the steak.	Queria uma colher para a sopa e uma faca para o bife.
the napkin	o guardanapo
Could you give me a napkin and a clean spoon?	Podia dar-me um guardanapo e uma colher limpa?
Could you bring the dessert at eight o'clock?	Vocês podiam trazer a sobremesa às oito horas?
They are going to eat at the counter and would like two portions of soup.	Eles vão comer ao balcão e queriam duas doses de sopa.
We went to the supermarket, but could you buy more olive oil?	Nós fomos ao supermercado, mas vocês podiam comprar mais azeite?
Could you bring me a napkin, please?	Podia trazer-me um guardanapo, por favor?