Speaking Portuguese
How to describe something in Portuguese when you don't know the word
If you are in the chair right now
Não sei como chama, mas serve para apertar parafusos.
I don't know what it's called, but it's used for tightening screws.
If that gets brushed off
É de metal, mais ou menos deste tamanho.
It's metal, about this size.
«Serve para» plus a verb is the master key: name the function and the noun becomes optional. And «negócio» is not defeat — Brazilians run entire errands on it.
Sooner or later you need an object whose name you do not know in any language — the thing for the thing. Phrasebooks cannot help, because the whole point is that the word is missing. What helps is a pattern, and Brazilian Portuguese has one of the friendliest in any language.
If you need more than one line
neutral
Serve para abrir latas.
It's for opening cans. Serve para + infinitive — function first, always.
neutral
É tipo uma colher, só que mais reta.
It's like a spoon, only flatter. «Tipo… só que…» — like X, except Y — is pure spoken Brazilian.
neutral
Aquele negócio de limpar vidro.
That thing for cleaning glass. Negócio — the universal placeholder, deployed across Brazil daily.
firmest
Como chama isso em português?
What's this called in Portuguese? Ask once they've guessed it — the word you fought for is the one you keep.
Two things worth knowing
This is a skill, not a vocabulary list, which is why almost nobody teaches it.
Function beats appearance
«Serve para abrir garrafas» finds the corkscrew faster than any description of its shape, because the shopkeeper searches the shelves by use, not by looks. Lead with serve para and the verb; size and material — «mais ou menos deste tamanho», hands apart — can wait for the questions, which is also the order they will arrive in.
Negócio, treco, troço — Brazil's official missing-word words
Brazilian Portuguese keeps a whole family of placeholders and uses them without embarrassment: aquele negócio de…, um treco para…, esse troço aí. None of them mark you as a learner — «me passa aquele negócio» is said in every Brazilian household daily. Reaching for them sounds like someone at home in the language, which is precisely the skill this scenario drills.
What Carlos actually said
What you have to get done
- Explain what the object is for
- Talk about its size and material
- Say when they make the right one
Carlos
Good morning, what do you need?
You
Good morning! I'm looking for a tool for tightening and loosening nuts, but I don't know what it's called.
Carlos
Got it: it's for tightening and loosening nuts; there are various sizes and it can be metal. Do you want a small one or a large one?
You
A small metal one, please; I think that's the most practical size for what I need.
Carlos
Here's a small metal wrench for tightening and loosening nuts; I think it's the right one for you.
You
Perfect, that's exactly the kind of wrench I was looking for; I'll take it, thanks.
Carlos
You're welcome! Thanks for the purchase, and good luck with the job.
The whole conversation, unedited
A real run in the app, nothing scripted on the shopkeeper's side. The transcript above is taken from this recording, and the objectives tick off on screen as they are met.
Turn sound on to hear it.
Now say it yourself
Reading that is not the same as producing it with someone waiting, which is the entire difficulty. You can have this exact conversation in the app: Carlos is a third of the way through, and you have three things to get done.
It is free, it takes about a minute to start, and the first attempt is allowed to be terrible.
Practise this conversation
