House – A Casa
Home – O Lar (like ‘Home, Sweet Home’ = ‘Lar, Doce Lar’)
Apartment – O Apartamento (shorthand apê)
Studio apartment – O Conjugado
Small apartment – O Quitinete* (may be written as ‘kitinete’)
Mansion – A Mansão
Shack – O Barraco
Room – O Quarto
Living room – A Sala de estar
Kitchen – A Cozinha
Dining room – A Sala de jantar
Garage – A Garagem
Backyard – O Quintal
Bathroom – O Banheiro
Attic – O Sótão
Basement – O Porão
Laundry room – A Área de serviço
Closet – O Armário* (or ‘o guarda-roupas’, or ‘o roupeiro’)
Roof/Ceiling – O Teto
Driveway – A Entrada de veículos/carros (or ‘o caminho de entrada’)
Bookshelf – A Estante de livros
Fireplace – A Lareira (although I’d guess it’s not needed in most of Brazil)
Ceiling fan – O Ventilador de teto
* – Quitinete could be feminine or masculine. I haven’t been able to get confirmation…just opinions. Although formally, it seems the masculine article is used while informally, the feminine is used.
* – Guarda-roupas seems to have a fuzzy definition. Most Brazilians tell me it doesn’t mean closet, but rather “wardrobe”. The problem is that “wardrobe” means both a collection of clothes and where those clothes are kept. The word “armário” or armoire, also means wardrobe but in the second sense. Roupeiro is where one keeps their clothes. All in all, these seem like they are cabinets where clothes are kept and not built-in spaces within a bedroom or near a hallway. Come to think of it, from my recollection, Brazilians don’t have closets, just cabinets.
Tags: eyes on brazil, home, house terms, portuguese, vocabulary
July 14, 2009 at 9:35 AM |
Nice vocabulary! Just two observations: There is the word closet in portuguese and we pronounce it a little differently “clouseti”. ‘Armário’ or ‘guarda-roupas’ would be ‘wardrobe’. Also, ‘roof’ is ‘telhado’, the external part of the house while ‘ceiling’ is the ‘teto’, the interior part.
Keep up with the great job!
July 14, 2009 at 7:33 PM |
good job!
to add what fabio said: some people says “O guarda-roupa”, though i really dont know which one is “more correct”.
cheers!
July 14, 2009 at 7:48 PM |
Thanks for the correction. Upon searching, it seems it is masculine.
I’ll try to hit two birds with one stone here. In various instances, I have heard that guarda-roupa means wardrobe but when searching sites that offer furtinture in Brazil, the terms correspond with what closet means. Wardrobe in the US means the clothing, while closet is the space where the clothing is kept. Upon re-reading the definition of wardrobe in English, it seems wardrobe consists of both the clothing and the cabinet area where it is kept. This can get confusing! lol
July 16, 2009 at 9:16 AM
according to cambridge dictionary:
wardrobe:
http://tinyurl.com/kuec4p
closet:
http://tinyurl.com/mnjxx9
confusing, indeed. hehe!
but like we say, “trocando em miúdos”, here in brazil when we say “guarda-roupas” we mean to say the of a piece of forniture, that you could disassemble and move it with you to somewhere else and you won’t get inside it to change your clothes. while a closet is usually can be “built-in” in a room and you can’t disassemble it – of course you can remove its shelves and etc, but you know what I mean. ;]
above 2 images that ilustrates what *we* mean with closet and guarda-roupas:
images: (searching for guarda-roupas)
http://tinyurl.com/nupxcf
(searching for closet)
http://tinyurl.com/lxmkfr
cheers!
keep the good work
July 15, 2009 at 5:47 AM |
Let me correct my comment. The word is ‘guarda-roupa’ being ‘guarda-roupas’ the plural. It’s always masculine. No doubt about it.
I guess “closet” in Brazil is a room where you keep your clothes and shoes. It’s big and you can go inside. In general, wealthy people can afford to have extra room just for the clothes. “Armário” can be a cabinet where you put things. Where we put clothes we just say “armario”. For things like dishes, cups, food we say “armário de cozinha” (cupboard). We have an expression to this “sair do armario” which means “to come out (of the closet)”.
Maybe wardrobe meant the cabinet in the past, changing its meaning to clothing. Guarda-roupa can also mean clothing, but in specific situations. “Tenho que trocar me guarda-roupa”, it means that I need to buy new clothes and get rid of the old ones. Not used much though.
July 15, 2009 at 5:50 AM |
I forgot to say that “roupeiro” sounds like Portuguese from Portugal. Well, Brazil is big so you mean hear it somewhere in this country, but not in Rio.
July 15, 2009 at 11:41 PM |
No! In Portugal people don’t say “roupeiro” either, but “guarda-roupas”. the word roupeiro might be an expression used in other regions of Brazil, I supose.
Cheers!
July 15, 2009 at 11:42 PM |
By the way, this is a very interesting website
I don’t know whose idea was this but carry on! 
July 16, 2009 at 7:16 AM |
Thank you! It was totally my crazy idea to never stop thinking about Brazil, lol
July 16, 2009 at 9:49 AM |
That’s helpful, thanks!