Restaurant reservations (Advanced): Number of guests

💬 À partida looks like "at the departure", but it means "in principle" or "as things stand". It's handy for leaving room for a plan to change.

💬 Portuguese puts mais before the number, the reverse of English "two more". Same pattern: mais uma cadeira "one more chair".

💬 After é possível que, the verb takes a different form: juntem, not the usual juntam. The same change happens after other expressions of doubt, like talvez "maybe".

💬 do is de + o merged, and fundo here means "back" rather than "bottom". Same pattern: ao fundo da sala "at the back of the room".

🇵🇹 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.

💬 After se "if", talking about a possible future, Portuguese uses a special verb form: formos instead of the usual somos "we are". Same with other verbs: se tivermos tempo "if we have time".

💬 Há means "there is" or "there are", and its h is silent: (ah).

💬 Putting nenhum after the noun makes it more emphatic than nenhum problema. Same pattern: dúvida nenhuma "no doubt at all".

🇵🇹 This is a very polite, slightly formal request, typical of restaurant staff speaking to customers. It's courteous rather than cold.

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

💬 With a time limit, até means "by", not just "until". à tarde "in the afternoon" is a + a merged: à noite "at night" works the same way.

🇵🇹 Combinado is the usual friendly way to close an arrangement, like "deal" or "sounds good". People say it on the phone just before saying goodbye.

💬 dos is de + os merged. Same pattern: uma das mesas "one of the tables".

💬 criança is always feminine, even for a boy, so it takes uma and pequena.

💬 In Portugal it's spelled bebé, with an accent on the last e, and the stress falls there: (beh-BEH).

💬 arranjar means "to get" or "to sort out", not just "to arrange". It's very common in requests: Pode arranjar-me um táxi? "Can you get me a taxi?"

💬 In Portugal, words like a "it" attach after the verb with a hyphen: deixo-a. The a is feminine because it stands for a cadeira "the chair".

💬 já here means "right now" rather than "already". When someone says Vou já in a café, it means "I'm coming right away".

💬 fica usually means "stays", but in bookings it means "is under" or "is set for". You'll hear it again when the booking is confirmed: Fica para as oito "It's set for eight".

💬 às is a + as merged, because times count horas "hours", which is feminine. The exception is one o'clock: à uma "at one".

💬 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.

💬 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.