OrderingonPhonePodcast

For today’s podcast, we’re going to learn how to order by phone. Click on the link above to listen!

Boa noite. Gostaria de fazer um pedido.
Meu telefone é 7555-8222.
Meu endereço é Rua dos Patins, 300, apartamento número 215.
Quero pedir frango agridoce, yakisoba de camarão e uma Coca Cola de 1 litro.
Quanto custa?
Aceita cartão de crédito? Ah, não aceita.
Então por favor traga troco para cinquenta reais.
Vai demorar muito?
Tá bom então. Obrigado.

As I always say, it’s important to use a greeting that reflects the time of day in any conversation, formal or informal. In this case, we say good evening (boa noite). In this situation, an order is um pedido. We use the conditional of gostar (to like), which is a polite way of making a request. This means “I would like to make an order.”

Next, when making an order, we must give our information, which in this case is our phone number and address. The first statement means: “My number is 7555-8222,” though in Portuguese, instead of saying number, we literally say “telephone.” The second statement means: “My address is 300 Rollerskates Road, apartment number 215.” Note that the word for address is endereço.

To make the order, we can use the present tense of querer, which means to want, though we can translate quero (I want) as I’d like. The verb for “to order” is pedir, which also means to ask for. This line translates as: “I’d like to order sweet and sour chicken, shrimp yakisoba, and one liter of Coke.” Note that yakisoba is a Japanese dish made from fried noodles that is extremely popular in Brazil.

To ask how much the order costs, we ask, “Quanto custa?” This works for any type of purchasing transaction.

This means, “Do you accept credit cards? Oh, you don’t.” Aceitar means to accept, and cartão de credito means credit card. Note that we use the singular of credit card in Portuguese.

Since we can’t use a credit card, we’re going to have to use cash. When ordering something over the phone in Brazil, it’s a good idea to ask them ahead of time for the amount of change you’re going to need. So here, we say, “So please bring change for fifty reais.” Note that we use the subjunctive of trazer, which is traga.

Here, we ask, “Will it take long?” The verb demorar means to delay, but in this context refers to how much time something will take.

Finally, we say, “Ok then, thanks.” “Tá” in tá bom is short for está, but the shortened version is more common in colloquial Portuguese when using this particular expression, which means OK or all right.