Pedir vs perguntar: asking for things and asking questions

Both verbs run through the whole day — ordering food, asking a favour, asking someone to wait, asking the price, asking if the shop is open — so the choice matters. To order a coffee, use Pedi um café; to ask the price, use Perguntei o preço. The distinction is useful without being absolute: pedir informações is also valid. And because English can attach the person straight to the verb (ask him), the Portuguese frames matter too: practise pedi para ele esperar, pedi ajuda para ele and recipient pronouns such as me.

1. English has one "ask"; Portuguese has two

Ask does two jobs in English. It requests things — ask for a coffee, ask him to wait — and it seeks information — ask the price, ask whether she is coming. Portuguese commonly distinguishes requests with pedir from questions with perguntar. This is a useful guide, not an absolute division: pedir informações is a valid request for information.

• pedir = you want a thing or an action. A request.

• perguntar = you want information. A question.

A quick guide is to picture the response. For an order or a favour, use pedir; for a question about a fact, use perguntar. Requests for information, such as pedir informações, also use pedir.

At the table you pedir; out of curiosity you perguntar. Hold on to that one sentence and most of the confusion goes away:

• Pedi um café. (I ordered a coffee.)

Common Pitfalls

• Ordering a coffee. To request a coffee, use Pedi um café. (I ordered a coffee.) Perguntar is for asking a question about it.

• Asking the price. Perguntei o preço. (I asked the price.) is the usual model for this question. A request for information can also use pedir, as in pedir informações.

• A requested thing is normally a direct object. For ordering coffee, use Pedi um café, without translating English "for" as por. This is not a ban on por after pedir: it can introduce a beneficiary, reason or price.

• The subject after para. Use Pedi para ele esperar. (I asked him to wait.) A separate recipient is also possible: Pedi a ele para esperar.

• The person you ask. In this recipient construction, ❌ Perguntei ele → ✅ Perguntei para ele. (I asked him.) A and recipient pronouns such as lhe are also possible.

• A common collocation. Fiz uma pergunta. (I asked a question.) is usual; pus, coloquei and formulei uma pergunta are also valid. Avoid the repetition in perguntei uma pergunta.

• The eu form in the present indicative. ❌ eu pedo → ✅ eu peço. (I ask for.) Only eu changes its stem in this tense, but the present subjunctive has peça.