Restaurant reservations (Advanced): Checking table availability for specific dates and times.

🇵🇹 Lamento is the polite way staff express regret, a bit more formal than desculpe "sorry/excuse me", which is more for apologising.

💬 Depois needs de before a time, and it merges into das. Same with antes "before": antes das nove "before nine".

🇵🇹 Portuguese dinner runs late, so 7:30 is an early slot and after 10 is still normal service.

💬 Bocadinho is bocado "bit" with the -inho ending, which makes things smaller or softer. Portuguese speakers use it constantly to sound gentle, e.g. um minutinho "just a minute".

💬 em + o becomes no, and days take "the" in Portuguese. Feminine days use na: na sexta "on Friday".

💬 Haveria is the "would" form of há "there is". It makes the question softer than Há alguma coisa?.

🇵🇹 An esplanada is the outdoor seating area of a café or restaurant. In Portugal it's often the first offer when inside is full, even in cooler months.

🇵🇹 Pode ser? is the go-to way to check that someone is happy with an offer, and Pode ser works as the answer too. It sounds easygoing and polite.

💬 Arrefecer is the special "if" form used for something that might happen in the future. It happens to look like the dictionary form for this verb, but with others it changes, e.g. se chover "if it rains".

💬 The verb form teria "would have" softens the request, and Portuguese happily stacks negatives: não ... nada means "not anything", not a double cancel.

💬 Nem que fosse "even if it were" is a handy add-on to show you're flexible. Try nem que fosse às dez "even if it were at ten".

💬 Quarter past uses e um quarto "and a quarter". Quarter to is um quarto para as plus the hour: um quarto para as dez "quarter to ten".

💬 Dar jeito means "to suit" or "to be convenient", with the person in the lhe slot. Ask a friend Dá-te jeito? and answer Dá, sim "Yes, it does".

💬 After se about a possible future event, há changes to houver. You'll see it on signs and in messages, e.g. se houver dúvidas "if there are any questions".

💬 After pedimos que, the verb switches form: liga becomes ligue. That ending shows a request is being passed on, rather than a plain statement.

🇵🇹 Restaurants that are busy may give your table away after about 15 minutes, so a quick call if you're running late is expected.

💬 Obrigado changes with the speaker: a man says obrigado, a woman says obrigada. Muito just intensifies it: muito obrigado/a = thank you very much.

💬 Pela is a contraction of por + a. You'll see the same thing elsewhere: pelo = por + o.

💬 Pela is a contraction of por + a: obrigado pela ajuda, obrigado pela atenção. Also, obrigado matches the speaker, so women say obrigada.

🇵🇹 A warm, very Portuguese reply when you thank staff, roughly "no, thank you". It's a polite closing, and you don't need to reply.

🇵🇹 Saying Até plus a day is the natural goodbye once a plan is set, as in Até amanhã "See you tomorrow".

💬 Put any day or time after até to say "see you then": até sexta "see you Friday", até amanhã "see you tomorrow". Days of the week are written in lowercase in Portuguese.