Unit 8 of 16A15 lessons · 40 words

Food and shopping in European Portuguese

Comida e compras

Buy food at the market, say what you like and order at a restaurant. This is an A1 unit of the Bica course, in the Portuguese spoken in Portugal: below are all its words, example sentences you can listen to, and the grammar notes.

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Words and phrases

1. Fruit

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Portuguese	English
a maçã	apple
a laranja	orange
as uvas	grapes
o morango	strawberry
a pera	pear
gosto dealso eu gosto de	I likeFrom gostar de (to like). The de is always there.
a fruta	fruitUsually singular: Eu gosto de fruta.
a banana	banana

2. Vegetables

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Portuguese	English
a batata	potato
a cebola	onion
a alface	lettuce
a cenoura	carrot
comer	to eatComo, comes, come: I eat, you eat, he/she eats.
prefiroalso eu prefiro	I preferFrom preferir. "You prefer" is preferes.
o tomate	tomato
a sopa	soupPortuguese meals often start with a vegetable soup.

3. Groceries

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Portuguese	English
a carne	meat
o peixe	fish
o frango	chickenChicken as food.
os ovos	eggsOne egg is o ovo.
o fiambre	hamSliced cooked ham, as in a tosta mista.
a manteiga	butter
o queijo	cheese
o arroz	rice

4. At the market

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Portuguese	English
quanto custaalso quanto é que custa	how much does it costFor more than one thing: quanto custam.
caroalso cara	expensive
baratoalso barata	cheap
o cêntimo	centThere are 100 cêntimos in a euro.
comprar	to buy
pagar com cartão	to pay by card
o quilo	kiloHalf a kilo is meio quilo.
o euro	euro

5. At the restaurant

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Portuguese	English
o prato do dia	dish of the dayA good-value set dish, especially at lunchtime.
a sobremesa	dessert
o bacalhau	salt codDried salted cod, the most famous Portuguese ingredient.
o azeite	olive oil
beber	to drink
adoroalso eu adoro	I loveFrom adorar. Used for food and hobbies: Eu adoro bacalhau!
as sardinhas	sardinesGrilled sardines are a summer classic.
o vinho	wineRed wine is vinho tinto, white wine is vinho branco.

Example sentences

Eu gosto de fruta.I like fruit.Gostar always takes de.
Eu queria uma maçã, se faz favor.I'd like an apple, please.
Tu gostas de morangos?Do you like strawberries?
Eu como muita fruta.I eat a lot of fruit.
Eu prefiro comer em casa.I prefer to eat at home.
A sopa tem cenoura e batata.The soup has carrot and potato.
Eu prefiro peixe a carne.I prefer fish to meat.Preferir X a Y: to prefer X to Y.
Eu não como carne.I don't eat meat.
Uma sandes de queijo e fiambre, se faz favor.A ham and cheese sandwich, please.
Quanto custa?How much is it?
Quanto custam as maçãs?How much are the apples?Use custam for more than one thing.
O quilo custa dois euros.A kilo costs two euros.
Qual é o prato do dia?What's the dish of the day?
Eu adoro bacalhau!I love salt cod!People say there is a bacalhau recipe for every day of the year.
Eu queria as sardinhas, se faz favor.I'd like the sardines, please.

Every lesson page has all of its sentences: Fruit · Vegetables · Groceries · At the market · At the restaurant

Unit notes

Gosto de…: saying what you like

To say you like something, use gostar de. The de is always there: Eu gosto de fruta. ("I like fruit.")

When the noun has an article, de joins it: de + o = do, de + a = da, de + os = dos, de + as = das. Leave out the article for things in general (Eu gosto de peixe.) and use it for something specific (Gostas da sopa?).

For something you love, say adoro. For something you prefer, say prefiro.

Eu gosto muito de morangos.I really like strawberries.
Gostas da sopa?Do you like the soup?
Eu adoro bacalhau!I love salt cod!

Quanto custa? Prices and shopping

Ask Quanto custa? for one thing and Quanto custam? for several: Quanto custam as uvas?

Prices are in euros and cêntimos. Portugal writes a comma for decimals, so 2,50 € is dois euros e cinquenta. People often leave out the word cêntimos. At the market, fruit and vegetables are sold by o quilo or meio quilo.

Prices go up and down, so you will often hear estar with them: Está caro! As laranjas estão baratas.

Quanto custa o quilo?How much is a kilo?
São dois euros e cinquenta.That's two euros fifty.
Posso pagar com cartão?Can I pay by card?

Eating the Portuguese way

Portugal loves fish. O bacalhau (dried salt cod) is the national favourite, and in June the streets smell of grilled sardinhas. A meal often starts with a sopa, such as caldo verde, a potato and kale soup.

At lunchtime many restaurants offer a good-value prato do dia (dish of the day). In Porto, try a francesinha, a huge sandwich with meat, melted cheese and a spicy sauce. And almost everything is cooked with azeite (olive oil).

Qual é o prato do dia?What's the dish of the day?
A sopa do dia é caldo verde.The soup of the day is caldo verde.

Comer, beber, preferir

Verbs ending in -er share one pattern: como, comes, come, comemos, comem (I eat, you eat, he/she eats, we eat, they eat). Beber works the same way: bebo, bebes, bebe, bebemos, bebem.

Careful: como means "I eat", but it also means "how", as in Como estás?

Preferir changes its vowel only in the "I" form: prefiro, but preferes, prefere, preferimos, preferem.

Eu não como carne.I don't eat meat.
O que é que queres beber?What do you want to drink?
Eu prefiro peixe a carne.I prefer fish to meat.