Unit 19 of 20A25 lessons · 39 words
Problems and emergencies in European Portuguese
Problemas e emergências
Report lost and stolen things, get help in an emergency, complain, and return or exchange things in a shop. This is an A2 unit of the Bica course, in the Portuguese spoken in Portugal: below are all its words, example sentences you can listen to, and the grammar notes.
Words and phrases
| Portuguese | English |
|---|---|
a carteira | walletFor money and cards. It can be a wallet or a purse. |
alguém | someoneAlguém encontrou…? = Has anyone found…? Ninguém = nobody. |
encontrar | to findNão encontro as chaves. = I can't find my keys. |
os perdidos e achados | lost propertyLiterally "the lost and found". Stations, airports and the police all have one. |
acabar de | to have justEu acabei de chegar. = I've just arrived. Acabar on its own = to finish. |
a mochila | backpack |
esquecer-se de | to forgetEu esqueci-me do guarda-chuva. = I forgot my umbrella. The pronoun goes after the verb. |
| Portuguese | English |
|---|---|
a polícia | policeA polícia (the police) is singular: A polícia chegou. A police officer is o polícia or a polícia. |
a esquadra | police stationThe police station in a town. In the countryside, the police is the GNR, and its station is o posto. |
chamar | to callTo get someone to come: chamar a polícia, chamar um táxi. To phone someone is ligar. |
roubar | to stealYou steal something a someone: Roubaram a mala à minha mãe. |
roubaram-me | someone stole myLiterally "they stole (from) me": Roubaram-me a carteira. = Someone stole my wallet. |
fazer queixa | to reportTo the police: fazer queixa à polícia. More formal: apresentar queixa. |
o ladrãoalso a ladra | thiefPlural: os ladrões. |
o carteiristaalso a carteirista | pickpocketFrom a carteira (wallet). Watch your bag on busy trams and in crowds. |
| Portuguese | English |
|---|---|
socorro | helpShout Socorro! when you are in danger. To ask for a hand, use ajudar: Pode ajudar-me? |
a ambulância | ambulance |
o acidente | accidentHouve um acidente. = There was an accident. |
o incêndio | fireA fire that is out of control. O fogo is fire in general. |
os bombeiros | fire brigadeOne firefighter is o bombeiro or a bombeira. In Portugal the bombeiros also drive many ambulances. |
feridoalso ferida | injuredUm ferido = an injured person. |
depressa | quicklyDepressa! = Quick! Hurry! |
cuidado | carefulCuidado! = Watch out! Cuidado com… = Watch out for…, be careful with… |
| Portuguese | English |
|---|---|
a reclamação | complaintFazer uma reclamação = to make a complaint. |
o livro de reclamações | complaints bookEvery business in Portugal must have one and give it to you when you ask. |
reclamar | to make a complaintTo complain formally, or about a product or a service. |
queixar-se | to complainEu queixo-me, ela queixa-se. Queixar-se de = to complain about. |
o gerentealso a gerente | manager |
erradoalso errada | wrongCerto = right, correct. |
sujoalso suja | dirtyLimpo = clean. |
pedir desculpa | to apologisePeço desculpa. = I'm sorry, I apologise. A little more formal than desculpe. |
| Portuguese | English |
|---|---|
trocar | to exchangeTrocar por = to exchange for: trocar por um tamanho maior. |
devolver | to returnTo give or bring something back: devolver um livro. |
o talão | receiptThe small paper receipt from the till. Also o talão de compra. |
avariadoalso avariada | brokenFor machines and devices that stop working: O elevador está avariado. |
estragadoalso estragada | damagedFor damaged things, and for food that has gone off: O leite está estragado. |
o reembolso | refund |
funcionar | to workFor machines: Não funciona. = It doesn't work. For people, "to work" is trabalhar. |
o tamanho | sizeIn a clothes shop: Que tamanho veste? For shoes: Que número calça? |
Example sentences
- Eu perdi a carteira.I've lost my wallet.Portuguese often says a carteira ("the wallet") when it is clearly yours.
- Eu acabei de perder o telemóvel.I've just lost my phone.Acabar de + infinitive = to have just done something.
- Eu deixei a mochila no autocarro.I left my backpack on the bus.Deixar = to leave something somewhere.
- Roubaram-me a carteira.Someone stole my wallet.No subject: the "they" form means "someone". The pronoun me goes after the verb.
- Roubaram-me o telemóvel no metro.My phone was stolen on the metro.
- Chame a polícia!Call the police!To a stranger, with extra respect: Chame. To a friend: Chama. To several people: Chamem.
- Socorro! Há um homem ferido!Help! There's an injured man!Socorro! is what you shout when you need help urgently.
- Chame uma ambulância, depressa!Call an ambulance, quick!To a stranger in an emergency: Chame. To a friend: Chama.
- Liga para o 112!Call 112!112 (cento e doze) is the emergency number in Portugal. With extra respect: Ligue para o 112!
- Eu queria fazer uma reclamação.I'd like to make a complaint.Queria + infinitive is the polite way to ask for something.
- Eu queria o livro de reclamações, se faz favor.I'd like the complaints book, please.Businesses in Portugal must hand over o livro de reclamações when you ask for it.
- A Marta reclamou porque a sopa estava fria.Marta complained because the soup was cold.Estava describes how things were: a sopa estava fria. Frio / fria = cold.
- Eu queria trocar esta camisola.I'd like to exchange this jumper.
- Posso trocá-la por um tamanho maior?Can I exchange it for a bigger size?Trocar + a becomes trocá-la (for a camisola). For a masculine thing: trocá-lo.
- Este telemóvel não funciona.This phone doesn't work.
Every lesson page has all of its sentences: Lost things · Theft and the police · Emergencies · Making a complaint · Returns and exchanges
Unit notes
Roubaram-me…: "they" with no "they"
When you don't know who did something, Portuguese uses the "they" form of the verb with no subject. Roubaram-me a carteira is literally "they stole me the wallet", that is, "someone stole my wallet" or "my wallet was stolen".
The small pronoun says who lost something: me (me), te (you), lhe (him, her, or you with extra respect). It goes after the verb, with a hyphen. After não, já and question words, it moves in front of the verb: Não me roubaram nada. O que é que lhe roubaram?
You will hear the same pattern in Disseram-me que… ("I was told that…").
- Roubaram-me a carteira.Someone stole my wallet.
- Roubaram-me o telemóvel no metro.My phone was stolen on the metro.
- O que é que lhe roubaram?What was stolen from you? (with extra respect)
Chame uma ambulância!: commands in an emergency
In an emergency you usually speak to strangers, so people use the polite command. For -ar verbs it ends in -e: chamar → chame, ajudar → ajude, ligar → ligue (the u keeps the hard g). For -er and -ir verbs it ends in -a: abrir → abra.
To a friend, the command looks like the "he/she" form of the present: chama, ajuda, liga. To several people, add -m: chamem, ajudem.
A pronoun goes after a command, with a hyphen: Ajude-me! To shout for help, say Socorro! The emergency number in Portugal, as in the rest of Europe, is 112, said cento e doze.
- Chame uma ambulância, depressa!Call an ambulance, quick!
- Ajude-me, se faz favor!Please help me!
- Liga para o 112!Call 112! (to a friend)
Acabar de: I have just…
To say that something has just happened, use acabar de + infinitive. Acabar means "to finish", so Eu acabei de chegar is literally "I finished arriving", that is, "I've just arrived".
Use the past tense of acabar: acabei, acabaste, acabou, acabámos, acabaram. Remember the accent in acabámos.
- Eu acabei de perder o telemóvel.I've just lost my phone.
- A Ana acabou de encontrar o telemóvel.Ana has just found her phone.
- Nós acabámos de jantar.We've just had dinner.
Posso trocá-lo?: it and them
"It" and "them" after a verb are o, a, os, as, following the gender of the thing: o talão → perdi-o, a camisola → comprei-a, os sapatos → devolvi-os. Like other small pronouns, they go after the verb with a hyphen. After não, já and question words, they go in front: Não o encontro. Onde é que a deixaste?
After a verb ending in -r or -s, that letter drops and the pronoun becomes -lo, -la, -los, -las: trocar + o → trocá-lo, devolver + a → devolvê-la, comprámos + os → comprámo-los. Infinitives in -ar and -er take an accent: trocá-lo, devolvê-lo.
- Posso trocá-lo?Can I exchange it?
- Eu comprei-a ontem.I bought it yesterday.
- Eu não o encontro.I can't find it.
O livro de reclamações
Every shop, café, restaurant and hotel in Portugal must have a complaints book, o livro de reclamações, and hand it over when a customer asks for it. Each complaint is sent to the authority that checks that business, so businesses take it seriously, and often just asking for the book solves the problem. There is also an online version, the livro de reclamações eletrónico.
To complain politely, say Eu queria fazer uma reclamação. For everyday moaning, use queixar-se: Ela queixa-se de tudo.
When you take something back, keep o talão (the receipt). Many shops will exchange it (fazer uma troca) or give you a credit note (um vale) rather than a refund (o reembolso).
- Eu queria o livro de reclamações, se faz favor.I'd like the complaints book, please.
- Eu queria fazer uma reclamação.I'd like to make a complaint.