Brazilian beaches are famous worldwide and thanks to the tropical climate that covers most of the country, people can go to beaches all year long. But you cannot find English speakers at all beaches.
In fact, some of the most beautiful are quite isolated and with very few non-locals living in the area. So, how could you communicate with them and still have a great time? You just have to learn some vocabulary related to “praia” or beach in Portuguese.
Entao? Vamos a praia? So, let’s go to the beach?
Resources for further reading:
Let's get started with the word for Beach:
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Praia
Beach
When you want to go a beach you need to take a few items. What would you take? Your swimsuit?
Roupa de banho
Swimsuit
Women in Brazil wear either:
Um Biquine
A Bikini
Or
Um maiô
One piece swimsuit
Men usually wear shorts or...
Calção de banho
Man's trunks or swimming shorts
You’d also want to take:
Uma toalha
A towel
Um protetor solar
A sun block / sun screen
Um Guarda-sol
A sun umbrella
What do you see when you go to a beach?
O mar
The sea
A areia
The sand
O sol
The sun
Beaches are often windy, right?
O vento
The wind
Está ventando!
It's windy
Faz sol!
It's sunny!
A onda
The wave
You also need to be aware of certain safety conditions and know where O salva-vidas is:
O salva-vidas
Life-guard
bandeira vermelha
Red flag
Perigo
Danger
bandeira laranja ou amarela
orange or yellow flag
Cuidado
Be careful
bandeira branca
white flag
Propria para nadar
Safe to swim
What about the sports you can do while at the beach?
Nadar
To swim
Mergulhar
To dive
Fazer mergulho
to go diving
Surfar
To surf
Prancha de surf
Surf board
Luckily for many English speakers, Brazilians use many of the English terms for water sports:
Snorkel
Snorkel
Bodyboard
Bodyboard
Kite-surfing
Kite-surfing
To express what you want to do, all you have to do is put the verb “fazer” (to do/to go) in front of the activity, like this:
Fazer snorkel
Go snorkeling
Fazer kite-surf
Go kite-surfing
And so on…
That’s it for today’s lesson. Using this vocabulary will certainly help you enjoy your holiday on a nice beach anywhere in Brazil.
Here are a few recommended Portuguese lessons to try next!
Até mais!
Tereza Pereira: Rocket Portuguese
Reinforce your learning from this lesson with the Rocket Reinforcement activities!