Portuguese Phrase
Você prepara o jantar?
Meaning
Literally, “Do you prepare the dinner?” It is a polite way to ask someone if they will be cooking the evening meal, often used among family members or roommates.
When to use
Use this question when you want to know who is in charge of cooking tonight, or when you’re offering to share the workload. It works in informal home settings and in casual conversations with friends.
✦Grammar Breakdown
Vocêpreparaojantar?
Você (pronoun)
‘Você’ is the polite second‑person singular pronoun in Brazilian Portuguese; it triggers third‑person verb conjugation.
prepara (present indicative)
The verb preparar is conjugated in the present indicative: eu preparo, **você prepara**, ele/ela prepara.
o (definite article)
The article ‘o’ agrees in gender and number with the noun ‘jantar’ (masculine singular).
jantar (noun)
‘jantar’ means ‘dinner’ or ‘the evening meal’; it can also be used as a verb (to dine).
🗨In Conversation
Você prepara o jantar?
Do you prepare dinner?
Sim, eu já estou cortando os legumes.
Yes, I’m already chopping the vegetables.
✕Common Mistakes
Tu prepara o jantar?
If you use ‘tu’, the verb must be ‘preparas’; using ‘prepara’ with ‘tu’ is a mismatch.
Você prepara jantar?
The article is required; dropping ‘o’ makes the sentence sound incomplete.
Você prepara o jantar?
‘Fazer’ or ‘cozinhar’ are more common in everyday speech; using ‘preparar’ can sound overly formal.
↔Alternatives
Você faz o jantar?
Do you make dinner?
Você cozinha o jantar?
Do you cook dinner?
Você vai preparar o jantar?
Are you going to prepare dinner?
Cultural Tip
In Brazil, ‘preparar o jantar’ sounds a bit more formal than ‘fazer o jantar’ or ‘cozinhar o jantar’. When you’re speaking with close friends or family, most people will use the simpler ‘fazer’. Also, remember that Brazilian Portuguese prefers the polite ‘você’; the informal ‘tu’ is common only in the South and some rural areas, and it would change the verb form to ‘preparas’.