The Portuguese phrases you actually need in week one

Nobody's first week in Portugal involves discussing literature. It involves a café, a supermarket, a SIM card, a landlord and possibly a pharmacy. Here is the language for exactly that, in the Portuguese actually spoken in Portugal.

The three that carry the most weight

• Desculpe - excuse me / sorry. Opens every interaction with a stranger. Use it before the question, always.
• Se faz favor - please, and also "over here" to a waiter. In Portugal this does the work that por favor does elsewhere.
• Não percebi, pode repetir? - I didn't catch that, can you repeat? This one sentence is worth more than fifty nouns, because it keeps the conversation open instead of ending it.

At the café

Portuguese café ordering is fast and clipped. Long polite sentences mark you out more than an accent does.

• Um café, se faz favor. - An espresso, please. (A café is an espresso. A bica is the Lisbon word for the same thing.)
• Um galão. - Milky coffee in a tall glass.
• Uma meia de leite. - Coffee with milk, in a cup.
• Um pastel de nata, também. - A custard tart as well.
• A conta, se faz favor. - The bill, please.
• Posso pagar com cartão? - Can I pay by card?

At the supermarket and the market

• Tem sacos? - Do you have bags?
• Quanto custa? - How much is it?
• Meio quilo, se faz favor. - Half a kilo, please.
• Só isto, obrigado / obrigada. - Just this, thanks. (Men say obrigado, women obrigada - it agrees with the speaker, not the listener.)
• Tem cartão de cliente? - Do you have a loyalty card? You will be asked this every single time.

Admin: SIM cards, banks, the landlord

• Preciso de um cartão SIM. - I need a SIM card.
• Tenho NIF. - I have a tax number. You will need one for almost everything; say it early and the conversation speeds up.
• Pode escrever, se faz favor? - Could you write that down? Perfect for numbers, addresses and dates.
• Quando é que fica pronto? - When will it be ready?
• Há algum problema? - Is there a problem?
• Falo pouco português, mas estou a aprender. - I speak little Portuguese, but I'm learning. This one buys you enormous goodwill.

At the pharmacy

Portuguese pharmacists handle a lot that a doctor would elsewhere, and the farmácia de serviço rota means one is always open.

• Tenho dores de cabeça. - I have a headache.
• Dói-me a garganta. - My throat hurts.
• Preciso de alguma coisa para a tosse. - I need something for a cough.
• Tenho alergia a… - I'm allergic to…
• Preciso de receita? - Do I need a prescription?

Getting around

• Onde fica a estação? - Where is the station?
• Este autocarro vai para o centro? - Does this bus go to the centre? (autocarro, not ônibus.)
• Um bilhete para o Porto, se faz favor. - One ticket to Porto, please.
• A que horas é o próximo comboio? - What time is the next train? (comboio, not trem.)
• É longe daqui? - Is it far from here?

Two habits worth forming immediately

1. Greet the room. Walking into a small shop, café or lift without a bom dia reads as rude in a way it does not in Britain or the US. Bom dia until lunch, boa tarde after, boa noite after dark.
2. Refuse the switch to English, once. People will switch to be helpful. Posso praticar português? - can I practise my Portuguese? - is almost always met warmly, and it is the difference between living in Portugal for a year and learning Portuguese for a year.

Practising these before you land

All of the above is A1-A2 language, which is roughly Aprender's first few weeks. Every line is recorded in Lisbon-standard Portuguese, and Sofia, the in-app AI tutor, will run the café or pharmacy conversation with you out loud and score your pronunciation. If you have a date for the move, the Portugal Arrival Sprint is a 30-day version of exactly this.