Cenários
Situações do dia a dia em português europeu. Escolha uma e converse a sério — cada uma dá uma nota sobre como se saiu.
Everyday situations in European Portuguese. Pick one and hold a real conversation; each ends with a mark on how you did.
Uma noite na tasca
Jantar fora, do «boa noite» à conta.
Dinner out, from “boa noite” to the bill.
Um café, se faz favor
Pedir ao balcão, apontar para a vitrine, pagar à caixa.
Order at the counter, point at the pastries, pay at the till.
How a scenario works
You walk in, and the person behind the counter or at your table speaks to you in Portuguese. You answer by choosing one of several replies. They all sound plausible: some are wrong in form, some in register, some do not answer the question. The other side reacts the way a person would, and the conversation goes on from what you said.
Tap any word to see what it means in that sentence, or EN for the whole line. Before you go in you choose where to sit, whether to go alone or with a friend, and a mission if you want one. Things go wrong on purpose: a dish runs out, the coffee machine breaks, the card machine is down. You have to talk your way round it.
It is free and needs no account. The staff remember you between visits on the same device, so come back and you are a regular.
What each one practises
Uma noite na tasca
A night at the tasca
- Greeting for the time of day: after dark it is no longer “boa tarde”: Boa noite.
- Asking about the dish of the day, which is not printed on the menu: Qual é o prato do dia?
- Calling a waiter over (“garçom” is Brazilian and will not do): Faz favor!
- Asking for the bill, and querying a mistake on it politely: A conta, se faz favor.
Um café, se faz favor
A coffee, please
- Ordering the Portuguese way: “um café” is an espresso: Queria um café, se faz favor.
- Pointing at the pastry case with este, esse and aquele: Um daqueles, lá ao fundo.
- Answering the till when it asks for your tax number, for the invoice: Contribuinte?
- Paying when the card will not do: cash, MB Way, or something added to reach five euros: Pode ser com cartão?
How you are marked
Every visit ends with a mark out of twenty, the scale Portuguese schools use, made of four parts. Under it you see each slip you made and what was wrong with it.
- Compreensão · Understanding
- Did you answer what you were asked? A reply that misses the question is a misunderstanding, and the staff will tell you so.
- Forma · Accuracy
- The Portuguese itself: a Brazilian “cafezinho” or “garçom” in Coimbra, “uma galão” for “um galão”, or “obrigado” where a woman says “obrigada”.
- Tratamento · Address
- “O senhor”, “a senhora”, “você” or “tu”: the right one for the person in front of you, and the same one all the way through.
- Iniciativa · Initiative
- Asking questions and making small talk, rather than only answering.
Go in with the English switched on, at any level, and the visit is a practice run: you still get a mark, but only as a guide.
Three levels
- Fácil: Three replies to choose from, one of them wrong, and fewer things go wrong. The English starts switched on.
- Médio: Five replies to choose from, the English off unless you ask for it, and a better chance that something goes wrong.
- Difícil: Nine replies, and two things can go wrong in a single visit.