What I learned today:

1. but - mas
2. pleaed to meet you - muito prazer
3. hotel - hotel
4. the hotel - o hotel
5. where is the hotel? - onde fica o hotel?
6. it is here - fica aqui
7. it is - fica
8. where is it? - onde fica?
9. where is the hotel flamingo? - onde fica o hotel flamingo?
10. restaurant - restaurante
11. the restaurant - o restaurante
12. where is the restaurant? - onde fica o restaurante
13. the restaurant is here - o restaurante fica aqui
14. it is over there - fica la
15. it is not here - nao fica aqui
16. is the hotel here? (Literally: the hotel is located here?) - o hotel fica aqui?
17. and the restaurant is here? - e o restaurante fica aqui?

Since the verb ficar can be used in a sexual context as well, I thought you might be interested in other common uses of it in case you hear them while in Rio.

fica: is located (as used above)
fica: stays (as in a hotel)
fica: dates (as in a one-night stand)
fica: gets (as in gets wet)

Sabio

Speaking of getting wet. How do you say in Portuguese "I like it when you get wet/very wet"?

Eu gosto quando __________________________

Thanks Sman

... voce fica molhada/molhadissima

Hey, thanks for heads up Sabio!

Sabio
Obrigado

De nada, amigos.

Another note on pronunciation, the "r" in spoken Portugese sounds like an "h" to the American ear when at the beginning of a word.

restaurante = HESS-tah-rahn-tey
real = HEY-al
reais = HEY-ice

da'Artagnan:

You are right. This is true for an r in the beginning of a word (in almost all regions of Brazil), hence our beloved Rio is actually Hio .

The same holds for an r preceded but not followed by a vowel (in many regions of Brazil). Hence perto (near) is pehto.

When preceded by a consonant, or sandwiched between vowels, the r is universally pronounced as a normal r.

A double r is used bewteen vowels to effect the h sound (e.g., erro which is pronounced ehu).