Intermediate 05: Reserving the Conference Room

MP3 Audio (Lesson) | MP3 Audio (Dialog)

The company may have a new conference room, but just try to make a reservation to use it. Others have it reserved for today. But don’t worry, tomorrow it’s available all day. And after today’s lesson, you be able to make the same reservations in Portuguese too.

Lesson audio

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Dialog audio

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Dialog
Discussion
 A: Bom dia Antônio, você sabe se tem alguém usando a sala de conferências?
Good morning Antonio, do you know if anyone is using the conference room?
  B: Tem sim. O departamento de tecnologia está usando ela para uma vídeo-conferência.
Yes, there is. The Technology Department is using it for a video-conference.
  A: Você sabe até que horas eles vão precisar da sala?
Do you know how long they will need the room?
  B: Não sei, mas acho que vão usá-la até o almoço.
I don’t know, but I believe they will use it until lunchtime.
  A: E hoje à tarde? Alguém já reservou a sala durante a tarde?
And this afternoon? Has anybody reserved the room for this afternoon?
  B: Deixa eu ver aqui. Ah sim, parece que o departamento de vendas reservou ela das 15 às 16:30 da tarde. A senhora quer que eu faça a reserva para as 17:00 horas.
Let me see here. Ah yes, it looks like the Sales Department reserved it from 3:00 – 4:30 in the afternoon. Would you like me to make a reservation for 5:00?
  A: Obrigada, não. Parece que hoje não vai dar mesmo. E amanhã, alguém já reservou alguma coisa?
No thanks. It looks like today’s not going to work out. And tomorrow, has anybody reserved anything?
  B: Deixa eu ver..., Carlinhos vai usá-la amanhã de manhã para fazer as entrevistas com os novos clientes da Argentina. Mas depois das 10:00 não tem nada.
Let me see…, Carlinhos will be using it tomorrow morning to conduct the interviews with the new clients from Argentina. But after 10:00 o’clock there isn’t anything.
  A: Bom, faz a reserva para mim para amanhã das 11:00 às 13:00, beleza? Por favor, convida também o Jackson, porque queremos revisar o orçamento que ele mandou na semana passada.
OK, make the reservation for me for tomorrow from 11:00 – 1:00, OK? And please invite Jackson too, because we want to review the budget that he sent last week.
  B: Sim, tá bom. Qualquer coisa eu aviso a senhora.
Sure, fine. If anything comes up I’ll let you know.

3 comments

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  1. Bern Hyland

    re: “está usando ela,” I totally get the conversational use of this, but would it be appropriate in written Portuguese? I am thinking of, for instance, a formal business letter re: a sale or a project. In such a case, is it a better move to use the grammatically correct “está usando-a”?

    1. Orlando Kelm

      You are 100%, in a formal setting it would be best to avoid saying “está usando ela.” And this is not just in writing, but also in a formal talk, professional context, etc.
      In trying to think of an English example of the same thing, perhaps it’s like good vs. well, or maybe who vs. whom, or maybe that vs. which. That is, we kind of know that “he sings good” should be “he sings well” and in formal situations we are more careful about it.

      1. Bern Hyland

        Thanks much, that is very helpful. Thanks also for another great dialogue.

  2. erik de preter

    I heard the professor talk about the ´grammar section of this lesson´. Are there separate grammar pages for these lessons? I was very happy with just the dialogues. They´ve been very helpful, but if there are also grammar pages linked to it, even better. Where do I find them?

    1. Orlando Kelm

      Hi Erik, first off, thanks for enjoying the lessons. As to grammar parts, there are no actual grammar sections per se, but in each episode we talk about usage, grammar, pronunciation, culture, or whatever other topic that seems to be relevant. Enjoy! Orlando