Click to hear the Podcast!

Today, we’re going to learn how to make an appointment. The important thing to remember is that in Portuguese, we frequently use the verb form of “appointment” instead of the noun like we do in English. In Portuguese, this verb is marcar. We use this verb when making an appointment, a date, or a meeting, and add different nouns depending on the context.

Boa tarde.
Por favor, gostaria de marcar uma consulta com o dentista.
É para a limpeza dos dentes.
Estou disponível na segunda-feira e na quinta-feira.
Posso ir de manhã, ou depois das cinco da tarde.
Tá bom. Segunda-feira às nove horas estarei ai.
Obrigado.

In Portuguese, it is more polite to say good afternoon or good morning instead of a simple “hi.” In this case, we say good afternoon.

Por favor, gostaria de marcar uma consulta com o dentista means, “I would like to make an appointment with the dentist, please.” Note that we put “please” at the beginning, and that we use the conditional tense of “to like” to make the request. Marcar uma consulta is make an appointment.

When making an appointment, it’s important to be specific. Here, the speaker explains that “it’s for a teeth cleaning.” É para a limpeza dos dentes.

“Available” in Portuguese is disponível. Remember to use estar, the temporary form of “to be” with this adjective. Also, when mentioning days of the week, we use the article first: a segunda-feira e a quinta-feira. Altogether, the sentence means: I’m available on Monday and Thursday. Estou disponível na segunda-feira e na quinta-feira.

Posso ir de manhã, ou depois das cinco da tarde means “I can go in the morning or after 5pm.” The phrase “in the morning” translates as de manhã. Remember that AM and PM aren’t used in Portuguese, and that Brazilians use military time, so it’s important to be specific when talking about the part of the day you want to make the appointment for.

Tá bom is short for está bom which means “OK.” It’s common for Brazilians to shorten está to tá in many cases. Segunda-feira às nove horas estarei ai means “I’ll be there on Monday at nine.” The order is different in Portuguese, which is literally “Monday at nine I will be there.” Note that we use the future tense (estarei).

“Thanks” is obrigado. When a female says thank you, she changes the last letter to “a,” making it obrigada.

And don’t forget…click here for the the BYKI vocabulary list!