Portuguese Phrase
Me dá um copo d'água, por favor.
Meaning
A polite way to ask someone to give you a glass of water. The sentence combines a direct request (me dá) with the courtesy marker ‘por favor’, and uses the common contraction ‘d'água’ for ‘de água’. It’s informal but perfectly acceptable in everyday conversation.
When to use
Use this phrase in casual settings such as restaurants, cafés, a friend’s house, or any situation where you need a drink of water and want to be polite without sounding overly formal.
✦Grammar Breakdown
Medáumcopod'águaporfavor
Me (indirect object pronoun)
‘Me’ replaces the person receiving something; it’s the indirect object pronoun for ‘eu’.
dá (present of dar)
‘Dá’ is the third‑person singular present indicative of the verb ‘dar’ (to give). The accent on the ‘á’ is required.
um (indefinite article)
‘Um’ is the masculine singular indefinite article, equivalent to ‘a’/‘an’ in English.
copo (noun)
‘Copo’ means ‘glass’ or ‘cup’; it’s a masculine noun.
d'água (contraction)
‘d'água’ is the contraction of ‘de água’ (of water). The apostrophe replaces the vowel ‘e’.
por favor (polite phrase)
Adding ‘por favor’ makes the request courteous; it literally means ‘by favor’.
🗨In Conversation
Me dá um copo d'água, por favor?
Could you give me a glass of water, please?
Claro, aqui está.
Sure, here you go.
✕Common Mistakes
Me da um copo d'água, por favor.
The verb ‘dar’ needs the acute accent on the ‘a’ (dá) to indicate the present tense; without it, it reads as the preposition ‘da’ (of the).
Me dá um copo de água, por favor.
In spoken Brazilian Portuguese the contraction ‘d'água’ is preferred; saying ‘de água’ sounds overly formal.
Me dá um copo água, por favor.
You must keep the preposition (contracted) to link ‘copo’ and ‘água’; omitting it makes the phrase ungrammatical.
↔Alternatives
Você pode me trazer um copo d'água, por favor?
Could you bring me a glass of water, please?
Pode me dar um copo d'água, por favor?
Can you give me a glass of water, please?
Um copo d'água, por favor.
A glass of water, please.
Cultural Tip
In Brazil, adding ‘por favor’ is essential for politeness, even in informal settings. While ‘Me dá um copo d'água’ is perfectly natural among friends, in more formal contexts (e.g., a fine‑dining restaurant) you might opt for ‘Poderia me dar um copo d'água, por favor?’ to show extra courtesy. Also, the contraction ‘d'água’ is the most common spoken form; writing it out as ‘de água’ is acceptable but sounds a bit stilted.