Ask to Borrow Something: Pode Me Emprestar… — Practice

Make the request from the lender’s point of view

Pode me emprestar…? asks whether the other person can lend something to you. The person you ask owns or controls the object; me identifies who receives it. In English you may ask “Can I borrow…?”, but the natural Portuguese request can frame the same exchange as “Can you lend me…?”.

Name the object and make it easy for the other person to answer. An article or quantity helps distinguish borrowing a particular charger from asking for any pen. These requests concern temporary use: they do not mean that the object is a gift or that you can keep it indefinitely.

Add a return plan

A short return plan makes the request more concrete. Use devolver for returning the object to its owner. Você can be left out when the question is already clear; por favor can soften the request, while the setting and your relationship still affect how it sounds.

Practice both sides: one person asks and the other agrees, sets a limit, or declines. If you are borrowing something valuable, clarify the arrangement instead of treating the language exercise as permission. The examples show useful wording, not a rule about what someone must agree to lend.

Check your understanding

Choose the English meaning of each Portuguese example. Answer before looking back at the tables. These questions check the written examples in this guide; they are not a listening or proficiency test.

Recall the Portuguese, then say it

Read the English prompt and say a Portuguese version before opening the answer. The answer shows the example from the lesson; other natural translations may also work. Compare the meaning and the situation rather than counting a different word as automatically wrong.

1. Can you lend me a pen?

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Você pode me emprestar uma caneta?

2. Can I borrow your charger?

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Posso pegar seu carregador emprestado?

3. I’ll lend you my pen.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Eu te empresto a minha caneta.

4. I’ll return it tomorrow morning.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Eu devolvo amanhã de manhã.

5. You can, but I need it at five.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Pode, mas preciso dele às cinco.

6. All right. I’ll return it to you before then.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Tudo bem. Eu te devolvo antes disso.

Make the phrase useful to you

Choose one example you could actually use. Say it once from memory, then change one detail that fits your life, such as the person, place, time, or object. Check whether your change also needs a different verb form, article, or adjective ending. If it does, compare it with the pattern in the explanation.

Return to two prompts tomorrow without opening the answers first. If a phrase still feels difficult, shorten it to a useful chunk and build the complete sentence again.

Sources and your next lesson

This I Speak Portuguese practice guide builds on our Emprestar vs. Pegar Emprestado: Lend or Borrow in Portuguese lesson on Real Life Portuguese, with written recall tasks and additional speaking practice. The explanations and examples are teaching material; the practice questions are exercises, not a transcript of a recording.

To add Brazilian audio to your routine, choose a lesson in the Real Life Portuguese app. The app offers its own lessons and practice; this page does not imply that every example here has an app recording.