Shopping in the store, both in terms of situations and grammar, is similar to the topic of ordering in a café. However, we have more to add, as we have published a lot of new useful information since then that we can use now. For going to the store, we need to fill up with some new vocabulary, learn to choose products, and count change!
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Dialogue
Cliente: Bom dia! Quanto custam essas maçãs? (Good morning! How much do these apples cost?)
Vendedor: Bom dia! Estas maçãs custam dois euros e cinquenta o quilo. (Good morning! These apples cost two euros and fifty per kilo.)
Cliente: E aquelas laranjas ali, quanto custam? (And those oranges over there, how much do they cost?)
Vendedor: Aquelas laranjas custam três euros o quilo. (Those oranges cost three euros a kilo.)
Cliente: E estes tomates, qual é o preço? (And these tomatoes, what is the price?)
Vendedor: Esses tomates estão a um euro e oitenta o quilo. (These tomatoes are one euro and eighty a kilo.)
Cliente: Vou levar dois quilos destas maçãs, um quilo daquelas laranjas e um quilo e meio destes tomates. (I’m going to take two kilos of these apples, a kilo of those oranges and a kilo and a half of these tomatoes.)
Vendedor: Claro, mais alguma coisa que deseja? (Of course, anything else you want?)
Cliente: Sim, queria também dois quilos de cebolas e um quilo de bananas. (Yes, I also wanted two kilos of onions and one kilo of bananas.)
Vendedor: Certo! Então, temos dois quilos de maçãs por cinco euros, um quilo de laranjas por três euros, um quilo e meio de tomates por dois euros e setenta, dois quilos de cebolas por um euro e oitenta, e um quilo de bananas por um euro e cinquenta. No total, dá catorze euros. (Right! So, we have two kilos of apples for five euros, one kilo of oranges for three euros, one and a half kilos of tomatoes for two euros and seventy, two kilos of onions for one euro and eighty, and a kilo of bananas for one euro and fifty. In total, it costs fourteen euros.)
Cliente: Aqui tem quinze euros. (Here are fifteen euros.)
Vendedor: Obrigado! Aqui está o seu troco, um euro. (Thanks! Here’s your change, one euro.)
Cliente: Obrigada! Bom dia. (Thanks! Good morning.)
Vendedor: Obrigado, igualmente! (Thank you, too!)
The verb “to be”
So far in our articles “in dialogues,” we have encountered only the verb ser (to be). However, in the Portuguese language, there are several variants of the verbs with the same meaning – “to be,” and one of them we will now consider.
Thus, the verb “ser” was used in situations where it is difficult or impossible to change the characteristic (color, size, etc.) and location. For the opposite situation, when both the characteristic and the location, and even the state (emotions, health, feelings) can be changed, the Portuguese use the verb estar (to be). It is irregular; its conjugation forms are special, and you can see them in the table below:
class=”table text-center”
The verb “estar”euestoutuestásele, ela, vocêestánósestamoseles, elas, vocêsestão
In the dialogue, you can find confirmation. For example, a similar expression about the price: “The fruits are one euro” (Fruits for euros.) That is, if you add another banana, the price will change.
Frutas e legumes (Fruits and vegetables)
What Portugal is famous for is the many markets with vegetables and fruits from local gardeners and farmers. Today, we will not touch on exotic specimens, as we first need to remember the list of the simplest and most necessary vegetables and fruits you can find at the stalls:
batata (potato), pepino (cucumber), tomate (tomato), cenoura (carrot), cebola (onion),
couve (cabbage), maçã (apple), pêra (pear), pêssego (peach), ameixa (plum),
melancia (watermelon), melão (melon)
Demonstrative pronouns
If you remember the rules for using words like ” isto, isso, aquilo” (it) and ” aqui, aí, ali” (here/there), the choice of possessive pronouns follows the same principle. Specifically, the pronoun “este” is used when the item being discussed is near the speaker, “esse” – when it is near the person being spoken to, and “aquele” – when the item is far from both interlocutors.
Furthermore, above we listed the pronouns in the masculine singular form. To create the feminine form, we change the ending to the letter “-a”: esta, essa, aquela. To create the plural form, we, as in most cases, add the ending “-s”: estes/estas, esses/essas, aqueles/aquelas.
Mergers with the preposition “de”
Demonstrative pronouns, like definite and indefinite articles, merge with the preposition “de” into one word. Simply put, the first letter becomes the letter “d”: deste(s)/desta(s), desse(s)/dessa(s), daquele(s)/daquela(s). Such merging is due only to the simplicity of pronunciation, nothing more!
Numbers up to 100
Without knowledge of Portuguese numbers, it will be difficult not only in the store, but since our topic is about shopping, let’s study digits and numbers to correctly understand prices and count change.
So, single-digit numbers:
zero (zero), um (one), dois (two), três (three), quatro (four),
cinco (five), seis (six), sete (seven), oito (eight), nove (nine)
Note that only the numbers “um” and “dois” have two genders – masculine and feminine. The masculine form is represented above, while the feminine form is uma and duas.
Double-digit numbers look like this:
dez (ten), vinte (twenty), trinta (thirty), quarenta (forty), cinquenta (fifty),
sessenta (sixty), setenta (seventy), oitenta (eighty), noventa (ninety)
To form complex double-digit numbers, we simply need to take numbers from the first and second lists and put the conjunction “e” (and) between them: vinte e cinco (twenty-five), trinta e oito (thirty-eight), and so on. There’s nothing simpler!
Conclusion
As we grow up, we take many things for granted. Only by being in another country, whose language we are learning, do we become children again, excited to encounter a familiar word in a store. And just think of how much effort it takes to correctly perceive the spoken price and calculate the change!
Therefore, learning Portuguese in particular is a deep process that is not limited to simply memorizing new words and grammar. The entire brain must readjust to a new form of perception and information delivery.