Texting & dating apps: Making plans to meet by text

💬 dar jeito means "to suit" or "be convenient". Reuse it: Dá-te jeito às seis? "Does six suit you?"

🇵🇹 Asking what suits them, rather than proposing a fixed time, comes across as considerate and easygoing.

💬 à is a + a merged. Parts of the day follow the same pattern: de manhã "in the morning", à noite "at night".

🇵🇹 In practice pode ser usually means a relaxed "sure, why not". In context it reads as a yes, not a vague maybe.

🇵🇹 Adding pode ser? turns a plan into a soft suggestion. It is a very common way to propose something without pushing.

💬 dá on its own means "works" or "is fine". The negative is just as handy: Sábado não dá "Saturday doesn't work".

💬 Clock times take as because "hours" is understood, and a + as becomes às. The exception is one o'clock: à uma.

💬 Use conhecer for knowing a place or person, and saber for knowing a fact. For example, Sabes onde fica? means "Do you know where it is?"

🇵🇹 A Brasileira is a famous historic café in Lisbon, popular with tourists. Locals see it as an easy landmark to meet at.

💬 Many Lisbon neighbourhoods take o or a, so em + o becomes no. Compare na Baixa "in the Baixa" and no Bairro Alto "in Bairro Alto".

💬 Portuguese usually answers yes by repeating the verb, often with sim after it. Conheço alone already means "yes, I know it".

💬 encontramos drops its final s when nos "each other" is attached, giving encontramo-nos. The same thing happens in vemo-nos "see you" or "we'll see each other".

🇵🇹 Combinado is the standard way to seal a plan by text in Portugal. It confirms that everything is agreed.

💬 There is no word for "a" here: manda mensagem is the set phrase. You'll also see manda-me uma mensagem "send me a message".

💬 After se "if", when talking about the future, Portuguese uses a special form ending in -res. Same pattern: se puderes "if you can", se quiseres "if you want".

🇵🇹 Being 10 to 15 minutes late is fairly tolerated in Portugal. Still, a quick text is appreciated, especially on a first date.

💬 The ending matches the speaker, not the listener: men say obrigado and women say obrigada.

💬 até + a time is the go-to goodbye. Swap it: até amanhã "see you tomorrow", até logo "see you later".

🇵🇹 beijinhos is a standard friendly sign-off in Portugal, even between friends and colleagues. On a dating app it's warm but not necessarily flirty.