Today, we’re going to learn how to check into a hotel in Portuguese.
In Portuguese, it’s polite to greet someone based on the time of day, instead of a simple “hello” that we use in American English. Therefore, we use “boa tarde,” which means good afternoon. Brazilian Portuguese includes adapted English words, so you’ll notice that we use the term “check-in,” but pronounce it with a Portuguese accent. Here, we say, “I’d like to check in.” In Portuguese, this is phrased as “I’d like to do the check-in” — “Gostaria de fazer o check-in.”
Next, we anticipate the hotel employee’s question by informing him that we have a reservation. “Reserva” means reservation.
In order to say “It’s under the name,” we say “está em nome de.” In this case, the speaker’s last name is Barreto, so he says, “It’s under the name Barreto.”
This means, “There are two of us: my wife and I.” Literally, this means “We are two people,” but translates to “There are two of us.”
The verb “ficar” means to stay. Here, we use the future tense of ir (to go), and in context, the whole sentence means “We will stay for three nights.”
Next, this means “I want a luxury room with an ocean view.” In Brazilian Portuguese, it’s not uncommon to hear someone use the present tense of “want” (quero) instead of the conditional tense of to like (gostaria). Though it’s more polite to say “I would like,” you will hear people say “I want.” Note that ocean view is “vista para o mar” — view to the ocean.
The word “diária” means the cost per night to stay at a hotel. Literally, this means “How much is the value per night? But translated, we ask, “What’s the cost per night? I forgot.”
Finally, here we say: “The doorman has our baggage. Can we go up to the room?” In Portuguese, we use the phrase “está com” (is with) can mean “is located” or in this case “a person has.” Literally translated, this means “Our baggage is with the doorman. Can we go upstairs?”
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