Describing an unknown object or person in Portuguese
You can ask for something even when its name escapes you. Add a short description after the noun with que, or say what the object is used for with serve para and a verb.
Recover a few familiar forms
É means “is”; o/a mean “the” and um/uma mean “a”, with the form chosen to match the noun: o objeto, a pessoa, uma faca. Preciso means “I need”: before a noun, use de; de + o becomes do and de + a becomes da, as in preciso da pessoa (“I need the person”).
A description can help when a name is missing, just as a visible feature helped you identify an object before.
Words for the description
Objeto = object; pessoa = person; faca = knife; pão = bread; chave = key; porta = door. Cortar = cut, abrir = open and trabalhar = work at a job; with one object or person here, the forms are corta, abre and trabalha; aqui means “here”. Servir here means “have a use”, and serve is its present form for one object; this is different from serving food.
In a shared kitchen
A visitor needs a tool and then wants to find the person working there. Listen to the four lines as one exchange: the description lets the other speaker supply the missing name.
- A
Preciso do objeto que corta pão.
- B
A faca serve para cortar pão.
- A
Preciso da pessoa que trabalha aqui.
- B
A pessoa que trabalha aqui é a Ana.
Put the description after the noun
In o objeto que corta pão (“the object that cuts bread”), que links the object to the information that identifies it. In a pessoa que trabalha aqui (“the person who works here”), the same que identifies a person: Portuguese does not switch to a separate word for “who” here.
In these examples, the object or person before que performs the following action, so do not add an extra ele/ela (“he/she/it”) after que. Keep the description attached to the noun, without a comma; practise one such clause at a time.
o objeto / a pessoa que …
Preciso do objeto que corta pão.
O objeto que corta pão é uma faca.
Preciso da pessoa que trabalha aqui.
A pessoa que trabalha aqui é a Ana.
Explain what it is used for
Serve para + infinitive gives an object’s purpose: A faca serve para cortar pão (“The knife is used for cutting bread”). Para here means “for the purpose of”, and the verb after it stays in its dictionary form: cortar, abrir.
Corta and abre describe what one object does; serve para cortar and serve para abrir describe its use. You can now either identify the object with que or explain its purpose with serve para.
… serve para cortar / abrir…
A faca serve para cortar pão.
A chave serve para abrir a porta.
Transfer the description to a key
You can see several keys and need the one that opens the door. Before reading the answers, say “I need the key that opens the door”, then explain what the key is used for.
Use chave, porta, abre and serve para abrir from above; compare your two sentences with the audio examples in that order.
Preciso da chave que abre a porta.
A chave serve para abrir a porta.
Two ways to make yourself understood
Use o objeto que… or a pessoa que… and one short description to identify what or whom you need. Use serve para + infinitive to explain an object’s purpose, as in serve para abrir a porta (“is used for opening the door”).
Try describing a familiar object without naming it, then name it to check whether your description fits.