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40 Portuguese Phrases about Points in Time and Making Appointments


Wherever you are in the world, collaborative scheduling is a fundamental social skill; everybody makes plans for the future, and these plans frequently involve other people, whether they’re friends, colleagues, or professionals. If you’re in a Portuguese-speaking country for any length of time, no matter what the purpose of your visit, you’ll almost certainly need some Portuguese phrases for making appointments. In this post, we’ll provide 40 vital pieces of vocabulary for appointment making. The best way to ensure you’re employing these Portuguese phrases correctly is to practice them with a tutor.


To arrange/to schedule

Marcar


Appointment

Compromisso


Consultation

Consulta

Consulta can refer to either a medical appointment or a professional consultation, for example, with an accountant or lawyer.


Date/meeting with a friend

Encontro


Meeting (e.g., business meeting)

Reunião


Available

Disponível


On time

Em ponto


Late

Atrasado(a)


Early

Adiantado(a)


Today

Hoje


Tomorrow

Amanhã


In the early morning (before dawn)

De madrugada


At dawn

Ao amanhecer


In the morning

De manhã


At midday/noon

Ao meio-dia


In the afternoon

À tarde


In the evening/at night

À noite


At dusk

Ao anoitecer


At midnight

À meia-noite


At one o’clock

À uma hora


At five o’clock

Às cinco horas

Note that when we say one o’clock we say à uma hora, whereas for all other times of the day we say às (x) horas. This is because we are literally saying the number of hours, so when the noun is plural (i.e., it’s more than one hour), the preposition also inflects for plurality.


This Friday

Esta sexta-feira

In Portuguese, the days of the week are not capitalized.


Next Friday

Próxima sexta-feira/sexta-feira que vem


This week

Esta semana


Next week

Próxima semana/semana que vem


This month

Este més


Next month

Próximo més/més que vem


This year

Este ano


Next year

Próximo ano/ano que vem


I’d like to make an appointment.

Eu gostaria de marcar uma consulta.


Are you available at five o’clock?

Estará disponível às cinco horas?

Whereas in English it is normal to phrase a sentence like this in the present tense, in Portuguese it is more correct to use the future, so estará is used here instead of está.


Sorry, I’m not available.

Desculpe, não estarei disponível.


What about six o’clock?

Que tal às seis horas?


Yes, I’m available.

Sim, estarei disponível.


When are you available?

Quando estará disponível?


I’m available at five o’clock.

Estarei disponível às cinco horas.


I’m available on Friday.

Estarei disponível na sexta-feira.


I’m available next week.

Estarei disponível na próxima semana.


The appointment is booked.

A consulta está marcada.


Great. We’ll see you soon. Goodbye for now.

Ótimo. Nós veremos em breve. Até mais.


To be able to use these Portuguese phrases in real-life situations, you’ll need to do more than just memorize them—you’ll also have to develop a degree of flexibility, both in terms of speaking (the ability to improvise) and listening (the ability to detect variations). The best way of developing these skills is to roleplay with a Portuguese speaker. If you work with our tutors, you’ll be able to make appointments in Portuguese faster than you think.

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