Learn about exchanging money
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Hello and welcome to Portuguese Survival Phrases brought to you by PortuguesePod101.com. This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Brazil. You will be surprised at how far a little Portuguese will go. |
| Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by PortuguesePod101.com, and there, you will find the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Exchanging money in Brazil can be both convenient and sometimes, difficult. Convenient, because the places that exchange money are usually very good at it, and it is very easy. Difficult, because those places can be hard to find. |
| We've talked about which ATMs and banks to use in a previous lesson, so I won't go over that here. However, when using an ATM it is advisable to make one large withdrawal as you may be charged by both the local bank and your home one. So first thing's first, let's find a location that will exchange money. |
| In Portuguese, "Is there an ATM near here?" is Tem um caixa rápido por aqui? |
| Tem um caixa rápido por aqui? |
| Let's break it down by syllable: Tem um cai-xa rá-pi-do por a-qui? |
| Now, here it is once again: Tem um caixa rápido por aqui? |
| The first word, tem, means “there is.” |
| tem |
| tem |
| The next word is um, which means “one.” |
| um |
| um |
| Next, we have caixa, which is “box.” |
| Let's break down this word: cai-xa |
| And one time fast: caixa |
| Let's take a look at rápido, which means "fast." |
| rápido |
| rá-pi-do |
| rápido |
| So to recap here, we have tem um caixa rápido. Literally, this means "There is an ATM." |
| The next word is por, which can have many translations. But in this case, it means "near." |
| por |
| por |
| This last word, aqui, means "here." |
| aqui |
| a-qui |
| aqui |
| So all together, we have: Tem um caixa rápido por aqui? |
| Literally, this means, "Is there an ATM near here?” |
| Remember to raise your intonation at the end to make it a question. |
| Tem um caixa rápido por aqui? |
| For times when there isn't an ATM nearby, you can ask, "Where can I exchange dollars?" which is Onde posso trocar dólar? |
| Onde posso trocar dólar? |
| Let's break it down by syllable: On-de po-sso tro-car dó-lar? |
| Now, let's hear it once again: Onde posso trocar dólar? |
| The first word, onde, means "where." |
| Let's break down this word and hear it one more time: on-de |
| And onde |
| This is followed by posso, which in Portuguese is "can I." |
| posso |
| po-sso |
| And posso |
| So to recap here, we have onde posso. Literally, this means "where can I." |
| Let's take a look at the next word, trocar, which means "change." |
| tro-car |
| trocar |
| The last word is dólar, which means "dollar." |
| dólar |
| dó-lar |
| dólar |
| So all together, we have Onde posso trocar dólar? Literally, this means, "Where can I exchange dollars?" |
| Now, for those of you who don't use dollars as your primary currency, or in other words, most of the world, you can still use this phrase by changing the type of money you want to exchange. Just find the name of your money in Portuguese. For example, British pounds in Portuguese is libras. So just put libras at the end of the phrase, and you get Onde posso trocar libras? |
| The actual act of exchanging currency is pretty straightforward. I suggest exchanging at lojas de câmbio or "exchange stores," which are specialized little shops that just change money. You can usually find them near shopping malls, downtown areas, or near travel agencies. The most important thing is to pay attention to the exchange rate and know how much they are charging you because some places are cheaper than others, which brings me to when you actually get your money, how do you want it? |
| One extremely useful phrase is "Smaller bills, please," as it is usually beneficial to have smaller amounts of currency on you for paying the bus fare, taxi fare, et cetera. In Portuguese, "Smaller denominations, please" is Notas menores, por favor. |
| Notas menores, por favor. |
| Let's break it down by syllable: No-tas me-no-res, por favor. |
| Now, here it is once again: Notas menores, por favor. |
| The first word, notas, means "bills." |
| Let's break down this word: no-tas |
| And hear it one more time: notas |
| This is followed by menores, which in English is "smaller." |
| menores |
| me-no-res |
| menores |
| Last, we have por favor. |
| So together, we have Notas menores, por favor. Literally, this means "Smaller bills, please." |
Outro |
| Okay. To close out today's lesson, we'd like for you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase, and you're responsible for saying it aloud. You'll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so boa sorte! |
| "Is there an ATM near here?" - Tem um caixa rápido por aqui? |
| Tem um cai-xa rá-pi-do por a-qui? |
| Tem um caixa rápido por aqui? |
| "Where can I exchange dollars?" - Onde posso trocar dólar? |
| On-de po-sso tro-car dó-lar? |
| Onde posso trocar dólar? |
| "Smaller denominations, please." - Notas menores, por favor. |
| No-tas me-no-res, por fa-vor. |
| Notas menores, por favor. |
| All right. That's going to do it for today. Remember to stop by PortuguesePod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. |
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