Beach in Portuguese

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:

Pronouncing beach in Portuguese

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

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