LinguaThree meals a day
o café da manhã (breakfast) is light: coffee with milk, bread with butter, fruit. o almoço (lunch), around noon, is the main meal of the day. o jantar (dinner) comes in the evening and is often lighter. The verbs: tomar café da manhã, almoçar, jantar.
No café da manhã, a gente toma café com leite e come pão com manteiga.For breakfast we have coffee with milk and bread with butter.
Arroz e feijão and the prato feito
Rice and beans are on the Brazilian table almost every day. The classic cheap lunch is o prato feito (the “made plate”, PF): arroz, feijão, carne or frango, a little salada and often fries. Another favourite is the self-service por quilo: you serve yourself and pay by the weight of your plate.
O prato feito custa vinte reais e vem com arroz, feijão, frango e salada.The set lunch costs twenty reais and comes with rice, beans, chicken and salad.
Comer and beber with and without the article
When you talk about food in general or about habits, there is no article: Como arroz todo dia. Não como carne. Bebo muita água. With the article you mean specific food that is right there: Você não come o peixe? – the fish on your plate. For drinks Brazilians often say tomar: tomar café, tomar suco, tomar água.
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| o café da manhã | breakfast | O café da manhã do hotel é das seis às dez. Breakfast at the hotel is from six to ten. |
| o almoço | lunch | O almoço de domingo é sempre na casa da minha tia. Sunday lunch is always at my aunt’s house. |
| o jantar | dinner, supper | O jantar está pronto! Dinner is ready! |
| o arroz | rice | Esse arroz está muito bom. This rice is really good. |
| o feijão | beans (cooked Brazilian beans) | Minha mãe faz feijão preto às quartas. My mother makes black beans on Wednesdays. |
| a carne | meat (often beef) | No sul, a carne é quase sempre de churrasco. In the south, meat is nearly always barbecued. |
| o frango | chicken (as food) | Hoje tem frango assado com batata. Today there’s roast chicken with potatoes. |
| o peixe | fish | Em Salvador, eles comem muito peixe com leite de coco. In Salvador they eat a lot of fish with coconut milk. |
| a salada | salad | A salada vem com tomate e cebola. The salad comes with tomato and onion. |
| a fruta | fruit | De sobremesa, eu prefiro uma fruta. For dessert I prefer a piece of fruit. |
| o prato feito | set lunch (rice, beans, meat and salad) | Perto do escritório tem um prato feito barato e gostoso. Near the office there’s a cheap, tasty set lunch. |
| almoçar | to have lunch | Os alunos almoçam na escola. The pupils have lunch at school. |
Exercises
This lesson has 10 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 3
- match the pairs: 1
- fill the gap: 2
- build the sentence: 1
- translate the sentence: 2
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
Which meal do Brazilians usually have around noon?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.