Restaurant reservations Part 2 (Advanced): Inquiring about parking or valet services.

💬 In Portugal, words like minha normally come with a "the" in front of them, so this is literally "the my reservation". The same goes for o meu carro "my car".

💬 às is a "at" plus as "the", with horas "hours" understood after it. Use à only for one o'clock: à uma.

💬 Putting será que in front of any question makes it softer and more tentative, like "do you think...?". For example, Será que há mesa? "Might there be a table?"

💬 In Portugal, an action in progress uses estar a plus the plain verb, as in está a funcionar. Brazilians say está funcionando instead.

💬 When só comes before a time, it means "not until": só começa às oito means "it doesn't start until eight".

💬 In Portugal, parque on its own usually means a car park. A green park is more often called a jardim.

💬 ao is a "to/at" merged with o "the". It is a fixed way of saying "beside", as in ao lado do restaurante "next to the restaurant".

💬 Here mesmo doesn't mean "same". It works like English "right" to add emphasis, as in mesmo ali "right there".

💬 esse points to something just mentioned or near the other person, while este means "this", for something near you. Here it refers back to the car park the staff just named.

💬 On its own, mais ou menos also answers "how are you?" with "so-so". Before a number or a question, it means "roughly".

💬 Sabe is the "he/she" form of the verb, and here it is used to mean polite "you", with no pronoun needed. The same goes for Pode...? "Can you...?"

🇵🇹 Leaving out você and just using the verb is the safe, polite way to address staff in Portugal. Saying você outright can sound blunt.

🇵🇹 Keep the car park talão, because restaurants with a parking deal often stamp it or deduct the cost when you pay.

💬 oferecer often means "give for free" or "cover the cost", not just "make available". For example, Oferecemos a sobremesa means "Dessert is on us".

💬 Portuguese puts the number before "first", so this is literally "the two first hours". The same order appears in os três primeiros dias "the first three days".

💬 dar jeito is a set expression meaning "to be handy", with jeito literally meaning "knack". For example, Dava-me jeito means "It'd suit me".

💬 When o "it" attaches to a verb ending in r, the r drops and o becomes lo: mostrar becomes mostrá-lo. The accent keeps the stress on the same syllable.

🇵🇹 Waiters in Portugal won't bring the bill until you ask for it with A conta, por favor. That is the moment to hand over your parking ticket.

💬 é só plus a verb means "all you have to do is...". For example, é só ligar means "just call".

💬 a "to" + o "the" always merges into ao. With a feminine word it becomes à: à empregada "to the waitress".

💬 When o "it" attaches to a verb ending in -r, the r drops and the pronoun becomes lo: entregar becomes entregá-lo. Same with pagar: pagá-lo "pay it".

💬 precisar needs de before a noun, unlike English "need". So it's preciso de estacionamento "I need parking", never preciso estacionamento.

💬 The ão is nasal, pushed through the nose with no real n at the end: (nowng).

💬 Portuguese uses the past era "was" here, where English would say "that's all". It sounds softer and more polite, and you'll hear it at the end of almost any request or order.

💬 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.

💬 até + a time means "see you then": swap in até amanhã "see you tomorrow" or até logo "see you later".