In this lesson
This lesson is one scene: the till. Every shop, supermarket, café and market stall in Portugal runs the same short script at the moment of paying, and by the end of the lesson you’ll have every line of it — theirs to recognize, yours to say. To get there you need numbers, so they come first: thirty words that, combined, say everything from zero to ninety-nine.
Two new patterns:
Quanto é ___?— “How much is ___?”Pago./Paga?/Não pago.— a verb, all by itself, is a whole sentence: “I’ll pay.” / “Are you paying?” / “I’m not paying.”
That second pattern carries the most important listening lesson in the course: in Portuguese, “yes” is usually the verb said back. Ask Tem troco? (do you have change?) and the answer is Tenho — “I have”. If you wait for a sim (yes), you will wait a long time.
By the end of this lesson you can ask and understand a price, say any price up to €99, answer the till’s questions about bags, receipts, the tax number and how you’re paying, deflect a hovering shop assistant, and answer a yes-or-no question with the verb.
Tap each sentence and listen first, repeat it aloud, then check yourself against the text and meaning that appear — tap again to listen as often as you like.
Warm-up
Before anything else, clear your Anki reviews — the deck is the real warm-up; the remix below just gets you moving.
Remix
Everything below is Lessons 1 and 2 in new combinations, set in a shop. Listen to each one cold first — no reading along on the first pass — then repeat.
Boa tarde. O que é isto?
Greeting on the way in, then the what-question with your finger on the thing.
Isto é para a minha amiga.
A gift: isto é (this is) + para (for) + the person.
Desculpe, isto é um pastel de nata?
The attention-getter, then a statement turned into a question by the voice alone.
Olá, bom dia. Queria aquilo, por favor.
Two greetings stacked, then the polite order for something out of reach.
O senhor é de Lisboa?
Small talk with a shopkeeper: o senhor (sir) when you want a word for “you”.
If any of those needed the translation, revisit that lesson first — the till leans on all of them.
The numbers
Thirty words, and they are the heaviest thing in this lesson — but they are one tidy set, and once you have them, every number up to ninety-nine is free. These are word cards, not sentences: play each, say it back, and count along. Portuguese final s and z come out as “sh”, so dois is “doysh”, três is “tresh”, dez is “desh”.
Zero to ten
zero
um
um — one. The same word as “a” in um saco (a bag) — and like it, it becomes uma in front of a word that goes with a.
dois
dois — two, “doysh”. It has a twin, duas, for words that go with a.
três
quatro
cinco
seis
seis — six, “saysh”. Keep it apart from sete (seven) by the ending.
sete
oito
nove
dez
dez — ten, “desh”.
Eleven to twenty
Eleven to fifteen are their own words; sixteen to nineteen are “ten-and-six”, “ten-and-seven” and so on, fused. Four of these — catorze, dezasseis, dezassete, dezanove (fourteen, sixteen, seventeen, nineteen) — are spelled and said differently in Brazil, so if an app has taught you other forms, these are the ones Portugal uses.
onze
doze
doze — twelve. One vowel away from dois (two): listen for the “z” in the middle.
treze
catorze
catorze — fourteen, as Portugal says and spells it.
quinze
dezasseis
dezasseis — sixteen: dez (ten) and seis (six) run together. Seventeen and nineteen are built the same way.
dezassete
dezoito
dezanove
vinte
vinte — twenty. The final e is barely there: “veent”.
The tens
trinta
quarenta
cinquenta
cinquenta — fifty. The number you will say and hear most at a till, because so many prices end in fifty cents.
sessenta
sessenta — sixty. Keep it apart from setenta (seventy): “ss” against “t”.
setenta
oitenta
noventa
Everything in between
Any number from twenty-one to ninety-nine is a ten, then e (and), then a unit. Nothing to memorize:
Vinte e cinco.
e — and. Vinte (twenty) + e + cinco (five). Every number between the tens is built exactly like this.
Trinta e dois.
Trinta (thirty) and dois (two): thirty-two.
Noventa e nove.
Noventa (ninety) and nove (nine): the top of what this lesson covers.
Prices
A price is euros, then e (and), then the cents — and the word for cents is simply left out:
Um euro.
o euro — the euro. One euro is um euro; from two up it takes an s — dois euros (two euros).
Três e cinquenta.
The everyday way to say a price: euros, e (and), cents, with neither word spoken. Três e cinquenta is €3.50.
Dez euros e vinte.
The slightly fuller version, with euros said: €10.20. Both versions are normal; expect to hear either.
Vinte e cinco euros.
A round price: the number, then euros.
São doze e noventa.
How a clerk announces your total: São… — “that comes to…”, literally “they are” — and then the price. Listen past the São and catch the two numbers.
When the price is under a euro you’ll hear the missing word after all — cinquenta cêntimos is “fifty cents” — and you can simply hand over a coin.
Frame: Quanto é ___?
Quanto é ___?— “How much is ___?”
The price question. With nothing in the blank it means “how much is it?” — for the thing in your hand, or the whole basket. Put a pointing word or a noun in the blank to ask about one thing.
Quanto é?
quanto — how much. The question word goes first and nothing else moves. On its own, Quanto é? asks for the total.
Quanto é isto?
With isto (this) in the blank: hold the thing up and ask.
Quanto é aquilo?
The price question for something out of reach: aquilo (that over there) in the blank.
Quanto é o saco?
o saco — the bag. A real question in Portugal, where shop bags are paid for.
Quantos?
quantos — how many. One word, for when the count is what you missed — or what they need from you.
Quantos sacos?
Quantos (how many) with a noun after it; the noun takes an s because there may be more than one.
É caro.
caro — expensive. Lesson 2’s É… (it’s…) with a verdict on the price you just heard.
É barato.
barato — cheap; a good price. The opposite verdict from caro (expensive).
Aquilo é mais barato?
Mais (more) in front of barato (cheap) makes “cheaper” — and the rising voice makes it a question.
Desculpe, quanto é isto?
Lesson 1’s desculpe (excuse me) in front of the price question — how you’d catch a busy stallholder.
Frame: Pago. / Paga? / Não pago.
Pago.— “I’ll pay.” ·Paga?— “Are you paying?” ·Não pago.— “I’m not paying.”
In Portuguese a verb can be a complete sentence all by itself. Its ending says who: -o is “I”, and the other ending is everyone else — the person you’re talking to, he, she, it. A rising voice makes it a question, and não in front makes it negative. That’s the whole pattern, and it works for every verb you learn from now on.
Pago.
pago — I pay, from pagar (to pay). One word is the whole sentence: the -o is the “I”.
Paga?
paga — you pay; he or she pays. Change the -o of pago (I pay) to -a, raise your voice, and you are asking the other person.
Não pago.
não — not. It goes directly in front of the verb, always. Said about a line on the bill you never ordered.
Eu pago.
With eu (I) in front for contrast — your friend is reaching for the bill, and this settles it: “I’ll pay.”
Pago com cartão.
com — with; o cartão — the card. Add how you’re paying after the verb.
A minha amiga paga.
The -a ending of paga is also “she pays” — put the person in front and you’ve said who.
Compro isto.
compro — I buy, from comprar (to buy). The thing you’re buying goes straight after the verb.
Compra isto?
compra — you buy; he or she buys. The same sentence as Compro isto (I’ll buy this) with the ending changed and the voice rising.
Não compro isto.
Não (not) in front of the verb again: you’ve changed your mind, and you hand it back.
Percebe?
You’ve known this verb since Lesson 1 as Não percebo (I don’t understand). The other ending asks the other person: Percebe?
Falo inglês.
Lesson 1’s Fala inglês? (do you speak English?) turned around: the -o ending makes it about you.
The move: two endings, not six
The hard idea: a Portuguese verb has six endings in every tense — one each for I, you (familiar), he or she, we, you (plural), they. The move: use two. The -o form is “I”. The other form is the person in front of you, and also he, she and it — so paga is “you pay”, “he pays” and “she pays”, and who is meant is obvious from where you’re looking. When you speak for a group, say “I” and let them be included.
O senhor paga?
Paga? (are you paying?) with o senhor (sir) in front, to make clear which person at the table you mean.
Eu compro isto. A minha amiga compra aquilo.
Both endings side by side: compro for yourself, compra for someone else.
You will hear more endings than these two — Portuguese people use all six. You don’t need to produce them to be understood, and by the end of the course you’ll have a handful of memorized “we” forms for the moments that need one.
The move: more than one
The hard idea: plurals. The move: add -s. That’s it for almost every noun. Two details: the words for one and two each have a second form for nouns that go with a — um / uma, dois / duas — and no other number changes. And a few nouns have an odd plural that you learn with the noun: pastel becomes pastéis.
Dois sacos, por favor.
O saco (the bag) is an o word, so two of them is dois sacos.
Queria isto para duas amigas.
duas — two, in front of a word that goes with a: a amiga (the friend, a woman) gives duas amigas.
Queria dois pastéis de nata, por favor.
The odd plural: one pastel de nata (custard tart), two pastéis de nata.
Três euros.
From three upward the number never changes — just add the s to the noun.
The move: the verb is the yes
The hard idea: you ask a yes-or-no question, and the answer that comes back contains neither “yes” nor “no”. The move: in Portuguese, you answer a question by saying its verb back — in the “I” form if it’s about you. Tem troco? (do you have change?) — Tenho. (“I have” — yes.) For no, put não in front: Não tenho. The word sim (yes) exists, and nobody will mind if you use it, but natives mostly don’t — so train your ear to hear a bare verb as a yes, and your mouth to give one.
Tem troco?
o troco — the change. Tem…? means “do you have…?” — ask it before handing over a large note. (Lesson 4 gives Tem…? its full treatment; here it’s the question that shows off the answer.)
Tenho.
The answer to Tem troco? (do you have change?): the verb said back with the “I” ending — tenho, “I have”. That is the yes.
Não tenho.
The no to Tem troco? (do you have change?): não (not) in front of the same verb — “I don’t have”.
Fala português?
A question you will be asked the moment you say anything in Portuguese.
Falo pouco.
The honest answer to Fala português? (do you speak Portuguese?): the verb back, plus pouco (little) — “I speak a little”.
Percebe?
What a patient clerk asks after explaining something: Percebe? — do you understand?
Percebo.
The yes to Percebe? (do you understand?): the verb back in the “I” form. If the honest answer is no, it’s the one you’ve owned since Lesson 1 — Não percebo (I don’t understand).
Compra isto?
What a stallholder asks when you’ve been turning something over for a while: Compra isto? — are you buying this?
Compro.
The yes to Compra isto? (are you buying this?): just the verb, in the “I” form.
A second way to get an answer you can’t miss: offer the choices yourself, with ou (or), and listen for which of your own words comes back.
Cartão ou dinheiro?
ou — or; o dinheiro — cash, money. Ask it when you can’t tell what a stall or a small café accepts. The answer will be one of your two words.
Cartão.
The answer to Cartão ou dinheiro? (card or cash?) — one of the two words, said back. When the question is put to you, answer the same way.
Old frames, new words
This lesson’s vocabulary, flowing back through the patterns of Lessons 1 and 2:
Queria uma fatura, por favor.
a fatura — the receipt, the invoice. Lesson 2’s Queria… (I’d like…), for when you need one for your expenses.
Queria alguma coisa para a minha amiga.
alguma coisa — something. For gift shopping when you don’t yet know what: tell the assistant who it’s for and let them show you.
Só isto, por favor.
só — only, just. You put one thing on the counter and say so before anyone asks.
Isto e aquilo, por favor.
E (and) joins two things in the point-and-say pattern: one near, one far.
Quanto é? Pode escrever?
The price question with Lesson 1’s ask for paper right behind it — for a market stall with no till display to read.
Pago com multibanco.
o multibanco — Portugal’s card network, and the word on every card terminal and cash machine. Paying com multibanco is paying by card.
Set pieces
One fixed utterance to memorize whole.
Só estou a ver.
Só estou a ver — “I’m just looking”. The reply to a shop assistant who comes over to help before you want help. Memorize it whole and say it with a smile; don’t take it apart.
The rest of this lesson’s set pieces are your replies at the till — its questions come so predictably that each answer can be a reflex. They have a section of their own, What they’ll say to you.
Dialog
A small shop: you’ve found two things, and one is cheaper. Then the till, start to finish — the bag, the tax number, the payment. Listen to the whole dialog cold first, then go line by line.
Boa tarde. Boa tarde. Quanto é isto? São doze e cinquenta. E isto? Sete euros. Compro isto. Mais alguma coisa? Não, é tudo. Quer saco? Não, obrigada. Tenho saco. Contribuinte? Não. Multibanco ou dinheiro? Multibanco. Já está. Obrigada. Adeus.Sixteen lines, and after the price you asked for, every one of the clerk’s was a question you could answer in three words or fewer. That is what makes the till learnable: it never changes.
If you’re a man, two of the Traveler’s lines change — the thank-yous take your form. Numbered as in the dialog above:
Male Traveler:
Não, obrigado. Tenho saco.
Male Traveler:
Obrigado. Adeus.
What they’ll say to you
The till’s lines, one at a time, each with a reply that works. Don’t parse them word by word: every one is asking for a single decision — anything else? bag? receipt? tax number? how are you paying? — so catch which decision it is and answer from your small set. You never need to say the clerk’s lines yourself.
“Anything else?”
Mais alguma coisa?
“Anything else?” — you own every word of this one. It comes when your things are on the counter.
Não, é tudo.
é tudo — that’s all. The reply to Mais alguma coisa? (anything else?) when you’re done: não (no), then é tudo.
Deseja mais alguma coisa?
The same question in its more formal clothes — Deseja…? is “would you like…?” Catch mais alguma coisa (anything else) and give the reply you’d give to the short version: Não, é tudo (no, that’s all).
É só?
“Is that all?” — the same moment from the other side: the clerk guesses you’re finished.
É.
The yes to É só? (is that all?): the verb said back — É, “it is”.
“Bag? Receipt?”
Quer saco?
“Do you want a bag?” Quer…? — “do you want…?” — opens half the questions you’ll be asked in Portugal. The word after it is the thing on offer: catch that and answer yes or no.
Um saco, por favor.
One way to say yes to Quer saco? (do you want a bag?): name the thing and add por favor (please).
Precisa de saco?
“Do you need a bag?” — the same offer in other words. Saco (bag) is the word to catch.
Não, obrigado. Tenho saco.
Turning the bag down and saying why, in a man’s voice: no thank you, tenho saco — “I have a bag”.
Não, obrigada. Tenho saco.
The same refusal with its reason — tenho saco, “I have a bag” — said by a woman.
Quer fatura?
“Do you want a receipt?” Catch fatura (receipt) after Quer…? (do you want…?) and answer with Lesson 1’s Sim, por favor (yes, please) or your Não, obrigado / Não, obrigada (no, thank you).
“Tax number?”
Contribuinte?
The question at every Portuguese till: do you want your tax number on the receipt? Residents collect these for a tax rebate; you don’t have a number, and nothing is lost by saying no.
Não.
The whole reply to Contribuinte? (tax number on the receipt?): Não — no. Drill it until it’s a reflex.
Número de contribuinte?
The tax-number question in full: número de contribuinte is “taxpayer number”.
Não tenho contribuinte.
contribuinte — the tax number, in till shorthand. The longer answer to Número de contribuinte? (your tax number?), if a plain Não (no) feels too short: “I don’t have one”.
The card terminal asks the same thing in writing. Nothing to say here — these are for your eyes:
| On the screen or the sign | What it means |
|---|---|
| INTRODUZA NIF · FATURA COM NIF? | enter your tax number · receipt with tax number? — decline it: choose NÃO, or skip the step |
| MULTIBANCO · MB | cards accepted here; on a street corner, a cash machine |
| CAIXA | the till, the checkout |
“How are you paying?”
Multibanco ou dinheiro?
“Card or cash?” — Multibanco is the card network, so here it simply means “card”. The answer is one of the two words, said back.
Multibanco.
The reply to Multibanco ou dinheiro? (card or cash?) when you’re paying by card: their own word back.
Como vai pagar?
“How are you going to pay?” — the open version of the payment question. Pagar (to pay) is the word to catch.
Com cartão, por favor.
The reply to Como vai pagar? (how are you going to pay?): com cartão (with card), and a please.
Só aceitamos dinheiro.
“We only take cash.” Small cafés, market stalls and village shops still say it. The word to catch is dinheiro (cash).
Não aceitamos cartão.
“We don’t take cards” — the same news, the other way round. The word to catch is cartão (card), after a não (not).
Só dinheiro.
“Cash only” — the short version, often with an apologetic shrug.
Está bem. Tenho dinheiro.
A reply to Só dinheiro (cash only) when your wallet can cope: okay — tenho dinheiro, “I have cash”. If it can’t, look for a cash machine; they’re marked Multibanco.
Já está.
“There you go — done.” The payment has gone through, or your things are bagged. It isn’t a question: thank them and leave.
Prices too big for this lesson
São duzentos e cinquenta euros.
A hotel bill, not a till: duzentos is two hundred. The hundreds are their own words and you don’t need to say them — catch the -entos ending, know the number is big, and read the display. If there is no display, Pode escrever? (could you write it?).
Trezentos e vinte.
Trezentos — three hundred — and then a number you do know, vinte (twenty). Same move: hear the -entos, read the screen.
Repair drill
At a supermarket checkout the cashier asks something that isn’t in the script — at full speed. You are not expected to understand it. Notice the thread is gone, and climb the ladder.
Tem cartão de cliente? Se tiver, tem dez por cento de desconto em tudo. Como? Tem cartão de cliente? Se tiver, tem dez por cento de desconto em tudo. Mais simples, por favor. Cartão da loja. Tem? Não tenho. Está bem.Como? bought the same sentence again, as it always does. Mais simples bought different words — and two of them were yours. You never learned what the card was for, and didn’t need to: the question was “do you have one?”, and you can answer that with a verb.
How to behave: at the till
- The tax-number question comes at every till, and the answer is no. Contribuinte? asks whether you want your tax number on the receipt. Say Não (no) — every time, with no explanation.
- Multibanco is the card network and the cash machine. Foreign cards work in the machines, and “MB” on a door means cards are taken. Small cafés and markets may still be só dinheiro (cash only), so carry a little.
- Bags cost money. Quer saco? (do you want a bag?) is a real question with a price attached; Não, obrigado or Não, obrigada (no, thank you) is entirely normal.
- Take a numbered ticket. At pharmacies, deli counters and service desks, pull a senha (a queue ticket) from the dispenser and wait for your number on the screen. Standing at the counter without one gets you nowhere.
- Tipping is optional and small. Round up, or leave a euro or two after a sit-down meal. Nobody expects a percentage.
Checkpoint
Your exit exam, out loud. Each line below sets a scene from this lesson — say the Portuguese before you tap; the tap plays the answer. Check yourself, repeat after the audio, and if one won’t come, replay its section. These are this deck’s speaking cards. Where a scene tells you to answer “with the verb”, the answer is the verb and not sim (yes).
And the numbers themselves, cold. Say each before you tap:
Still on the checklist — ears and behavior: can you catch Quer saco? (do you want a bag?) and Contribuinte? (tax number?) without thinking? Does a clerk’s São… (that comes to…) send your ear to the numbers after it? When someone answers you with a bare verb, do you hear a yes? Those live in the Dialog and in What they’ll say to you above.
Vocabulary reference
This lesson’s new words in one place, plus the lines you only need to recognize. The thirty number words are in The numbers section above, each with its own card. This table is a reference, not the lesson.
| # | Portuguese | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | quanto | how much | goes first — Quanto é? is ‘how much is it?’ |
| 2 | quantos | how many | Quantos? alone works; a noun after it takes an s |
| 3 | o euro | the euro | um euro, then dois euros — and the word is often dropped from a price |
| 4 | duas | two (+ an a word) | the twin of dois — duas amigas is two friends (women) |
| 5 | e | and | joins things, and builds numbers and prices — vinte e cinco, três e cinquenta |
| 6 | ou | or | offer two choices and listen for your own word back |
| 7 | só | only / just | Só isto — just this |
| 8 | não | not / no | directly in front of the verb, always |
| 9 | com | with | com cartão — by card |
| 10 | alguma coisa | something | Mais alguma coisa? is the till’s ‘anything else?’ |
| 11 | pago | I pay | from pagar, to pay — the -o is the ‘I’ |
| 12 | paga | you pay / he, she pays | from pagar, to pay — one form for the person in front of you, he and she |
| 13 | compro | I buy | from comprar, to buy |
| 14 | compra | you buy / he, she buys | from comprar, to buy |
| 15 | caro | expensive | É caro — it’s expensive |
| 16 | barato | cheap | É barato — it’s cheap, a good price |
| 17 | o cartão | the card | bank card — com cartão is ‘by card’ |
| 18 | o dinheiro | cash / money | Só dinheiro on a door means cash only |
| 19 | o multibanco | Multibanco (the card network) | the word on every terminal and cash machine — at a till it means ‘by card’ |
| 20 | o troco | the change | Tem troco? — do you have change? |
| 21 | a fatura | the receipt | what the till prints — the tax-number question is about it |
| 22 | contribuinte | tax number | the till’s question — the answer is Não |
| 23 | o saco | the bag | shop bags cost a few cents |
| 24 | É tudo. | that’s all | the reply to ‘anything else?’ — usually as Não, é tudo (no, that’s all) |
| 25 | Só estou a ver. | I’m just looking | to a shop assistant who offers help too soon — memorize it whole |
Recognize only — never say these (you own the reply, not the line):
| # | Portuguese | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mais alguma coisa? | Anything else? | you own every word of this — it’s here so you’ve heard it asked. Answer Não, é tudo (no, that’s all) |
| 2 | Deseja mais alguma coisa? | Would you like anything else? | the formal ‘anything else?’ — the same reply |
| 3 | É só? | Is that all? | you own every word of this — it’s here so you’ve heard it asked. Answer with the verb — É (it is) |
| 4 | Quer saco? | Do you want a bag? | catch saco (bag) — yes or no |
| 5 | Precisa de saco? | Do you need a bag? | the bag offer in other words — yes or no |
| 6 | Quer fatura? | Do you want a receipt? | catch fatura (receipt) — yes or no |
| 7 | Contribuinte? | Tax number on the receipt? | tax number on the receipt — the reply is Não (no), every time |
| 8 | Número de contribuinte? | Your tax number? (for the receipt) | the tax-number question in full — the same Não (no) |
| 9 | Multibanco ou dinheiro? | Card or cash? | card or cash — say one of the two words back |
| 10 | Como vai pagar? | How are you going to pay? | how you’re paying — Com cartão, por favor (by card, please) |
| 11 | Só aceitamos dinheiro. | We only take cash. | cash only — catch dinheiro (cash) |
| 12 | Não aceitamos cartão. | We don’t take cards. | no cards — catch cartão (card) after não (not) |
| 13 | Só dinheiro. | Cash only. | cash only, the short version |
| 14 | Já está. | There you go — all done. | done, there you go — thank them and leave |
| 15 | São duzentos e cinquenta euros. | That’s €250. | a hundreds price — hear -entos, read the display |
| 16 | Trezentos e vinte. | Three hundred and twenty. (€320) | a hundreds price — hear -entos, read the display |
Anki deck
Drill this lesson’s audio anywhere: download the Lesson 3 Anki deck. Sentence cards are the course; vocab cards — the bare numbers among them — are backup and arrive suspended. The numbers are the exception worth making: unsuspend them if counting isn’t coming easily.
Next up: Lesson 4 — Have, there is & where, where Tem…? gets its full treatment and you learn to ask whether something exists and where it is.