É o meu primeiro dia.
It's my first day.
Ainda estou a aprender.
I'm still learning.
Portuguese for real life · explained in English
Your first day at work in Portuguese: what to say
Say it outright: “É o meu primeiro dia” (it's my first day). It buys you patience, slower speech and better explanations, and everyone has been there. Then ask where things are and say when you have not understood.
Portuguese phrases with translations
A first morning is mostly small questions. Asking them is the job.
Onde é que ponho isto?
Where do I put this?
Onde é a casa de banho?
Where's the toilet?
A que horas é a pausa?
What time is the break?
Até que horas fico?
What time do I stay until?
Pode repetir, se faz favor?
Could you repeat that, please?
Não percebi.
I didn't understand.
Faço assim?
Shall I do it like this?
Está bem assim?
Is this all right?
A dialogue to read aloud
Read one role and then the other. The translations are there to understand it; try it again afterwards without looking.
- Encarregada
Bom dia! Tu és a Ana, não é?
Good morning! You're Ana, aren't you?
- Ana
Bom dia. Sim. É o meu primeiro dia, ainda estou a aprender.
Good morning. Yes. It's my first day, I'm still learning.
- Encarregada
Não faz mal. Começas por limpar as peças que estão ali.
No problem. You'll start by cleaning the pieces over there.
- Ana
Desculpe, não percebi. Pode repetir, se faz favor?
Sorry, I didn't understand. Could you repeat that, please?
What to know before you go
- «Não percebi» is the European Portuguese for «I didn't understand». In Brazil you would hear «não entendi»; in Portugal «perceber» is the everyday verb.
- «Estou a aprender» uses the Portuguese continuous — «estar a» plus the infinitive — where Brazil would say «estou aprendendo». Both are understood.
- «Faço assim?» while showing someone what you are about to do is the fastest way to avoid doing it wrong for an hour.
Now it's your turn to talk
Without reading, say it's your first day, ask two questions about the place, and say you didn't understand something.
Practise the first morning at Cerâmica Chuva Miúda →
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Keep practising
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