Catch quantities at a Portuguese market

Set up a three-column shopping note

Choose a real market visit, shopping conversation or food preparation video. Look for one short exchange in which someone asks for an amount. Do not start with a crowded scene where several voices overlap. Before you play it, make three columns: item, unit and amount. Leave each column empty. A picture of tomatoes may tell you the item, but it cannot tell you whether the customer asks for three tomatoes or three kilos. Keep those sources of information separate.

The written exchange below is an original practice example. It is not a transcript of an attached recording. Read it once to understand the task. Then close the example and use the same columns with your chosen real video. If the video does not contain a quantity, choose another passage rather than inventing one.

Follow the order until it closes

Meio quilo means half a kilo. Um quilo e meio means one and a half kilos. The same words appear in a different order, but the amount changes. Mark the position of meio when you check the captions. Dúzia means a dozen. Meia dúzia means six. In a market scene, the seller may repeat the quantity as a question. That repetition checks the order; it does not necessarily add a second purchase.

In our example, the customer changes the tomato amount. Melhor means better, but here it introduces a new choice: better make it one kilo. Draw a line through the first amount. Keep it visible so you can explain the repair. Do not add the two quantities together. The question about bananas concerns selection, not an extra weight.

Use the picture without letting it answer everything

On a first pass, identify who requests the food and who prepares it. On a second pass, write only the numbers and units you hear. On a third pass, check which food each number belongs to. A bag being filled may support your interpretation, but editing can show an action before or after the words. If the picture and speech appear to disagree, record the disagreement. Do not force a match just to complete the worksheet.

These sample phrases work in Brazil and Portugal. Local names for produce can differ. Do not label every unfamiliar food word as a listening error. Check the caption and the visible object, then verify the meaning with a dictionary. Keep the food name beside its unit. Learning quilo alone will not help you distinguish two items in a long order.

Check one useful phrase, then transfer the task

We make Jibber Jabber. Its word lookup can help you check a quantity term in an available video caption. Use the linked Portuguese vocabulary guide to plan what to save. Save a phrase that you expect to meet again, not every word in the scene. The app is not a market simulator, and this workbook does not promise that a particular shopping clip is available.

After you check the answer key, find another food scene with a different speaker. Use fresh columns and keep the captions closed for the first pass if the video allows it. Report the final order in plain English. If you can identify the final amount but not every polite phrase, you have completed this task. Next time, add the price as a separate field.

Questions & answers

Sources for this entry

• Jibber Jabber feature documentation ↗ — supports the caption and vocabulary feature statements. Checked 9 November 2026.
• Workbook method — explains our original examples, regional labels and limits. The exercises are editorial practice, not research findings or recorded transcripts.

Connected entries

• Hear a Portuguese recipe changed for fewer people
• Hear shop substitutions without losing the request
• Understand approximate amounts in Portuguese speech

Useful terms: repair, listening evidence, inference and listening task.