Portuguese Phrase
O que você me recomenda?
Meaning
Literally ‘What do you recommend to me?’, this question asks the interlocutor for a suggestion—whether it’s a dish, a place to visit, a book, or any other advice. It is polite and direct, and it puts the speaker in the role of a curious listener.
When to use
Use this phrase when you need a personal recommendation from someone you trust: at a restaurant, when planning a trip, while shopping for a gift, or even when asking a colleague for a tool or app. It works in both informal and semi‑formal contexts.
✦Grammar Breakdown
Oquevocêmerecomenda?
O que (interrogative)
‘O que’ is the neutral interrogative pronoun meaning ‘what’. It introduces a question about a thing or action.
você (subject pronoun)
‘você’ is the second‑person singular pronoun used in most of Brazil; it triggers third‑person verb conjugation.
me (indirect object pronoun)
‘me’ is the clitic pronoun for ‘to me’, indicating the person who will receive the recommendation.
recomendar (verb)
The verb ‘recomendar’ is regular in the present indicative: eu recomendo, tu recomendas, ele/ela recomenda, nós recomendamos, vós recomendais, eles recomendam.
Verb‑pronoun order
In Brazilian Portuguese the object pronoun usually comes before the verb (me recomenda). In European Portuguese the enclitic form (recomenda‑me) is also common.
🗨In Conversation
O que você me recomenda?
What do you recommend to me?
Eu recomendo o prato de bacalhau, é o mais famoso da casa.
I recommend the codfish dish; it’s the most famous one here.
✕Common Mistakes
O que você recomenda‑me?
In Brazilian Portuguese the clitic normally precedes the verb; ‘recomenda‑me’ sounds formal or European.
Você me recomenda?
Leaving out the article ‘O’ makes the question sound incomplete; ‘O que’ is required to ask ‘what’.
O que você me recomendar?
Using the infinitive ‘recomendar’ after ‘você’ is a verb‑tense error; you need the conjugated form ‘recomenda’.
↔Alternatives
O que você sugere?
What do you suggest?
Qual é a sua sugestão?
What is your suggestion?
O que você indica?
What do you recommend?
Cultural Tip
In Brazil ‘você’ is the default second‑person pronoun and is perfectly polite in most situations. In Portugal people often use ‘tu’ with friends and ‘você’ with strangers, but the verb still stays in the third‑person form. When you want extra politeness, you can add ‘por favor’ after the question or use the more formal ‘O senhor/a senhora recomenda…?’