Hear a Portuguese recipe changed for fewer people

Choose a spoken adjustment, not a silent recipe card

Find a real cooking video in which the speaker explains a change. A list of ingredients on screen is not enough for this listening task. Draw two columns: original recipe and today's batch. Put each ingredient on its own row. Add a unit field. A change from two cups to one cup is different from a change from two spoons to one cup. Numbers without units cannot describe the result.

The original sample uses Brazilian cup wording: xícara. In Portugal, chávena is common. Colher de sopa means tablespoon and colher de chá means teaspoon. Those names are not instructions to use the nearest household spoon. For this language task, keep the stated unit exact. Follow reliable measurement and food safety guidance for actual cooking.

Track exceptions to the overall reduction

Vou fazer metade means I am going to make half. That gives an overall plan. The speaker then specifies a flour reduction and a different egg choice. Do not divide every number automatically. A cook may keep one ingredient unchanged or adjust seasoning separately. The exercise asks what the speaker says, not what a mathematical half-recipe ought to contain.

Em vez de duas xícaras gives the old flour amount. Uso só uma gives the new amount. The noun xícara is omitted in the second phrase, but its unit carries over. For eggs, mantenho dois means I keep two. Mantenho blocks the assumption that two becomes one. Underline that verb. It is the point where the spoken adjustment differs from a simple calculation.

Separate timing from quantities

O tempo pode ser menor means the time may be shorter. It does not state a new duration. If the speaker adds vou verificar antes, I will check earlier, that is an action, not a precise number of minutes. Put timing in a separate note below the ingredient table. Do not turn a vague timing adjustment into a fixed cooking instruction. This page does not provide a complete usable recipe.

Listen first for the overall batch change. On the second pass, write the final amount for each named ingredient. On the third, identify exceptions and uncertain timing. Only then compare with captions or on-screen text. A recipe card may show the original batch while the speaker makes a smaller one. The disagreement can be intentional and is exactly what this worksheet teaches you to notice.

Check the final batch, then use another cook

We make Jibber Jabber. Caption word lookup can help you check an ingredient or unit in an available cooking video. The linked vocabulary guide explains how to select useful phrases. The app is not a recipe safety checker. This workbook does not verify the nutritional or cooking result of an altered recipe. Choose safe, complete instructions when you actually prepare food.

For the sample, report flour, eggs and timing separately. Explain why half the batch does not produce half of every stated quantity. Then find another real cook who adjusts seasoning by taste. Add an approximate column if necessary. This second scene makes you work with a different type of change. The aim is to preserve the cook's actual choices instead of replacing their speech with your own arithmetic.

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

• Catch quantities at a Portuguese market
• Understand approximate amounts in Portuguese speech
• Rebuild a Portuguese story after a spoken correction

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