Eu quero descansar bastante nas minhas próximas férias.

I want to rest a lot during my next vacation.

Breakdown of Eu quero descansar bastante nas minhas próximas férias.

• eu: I
• querer: to want
• descansar: to rest
• bastante: a lot
• próximo: next
• minhas: my
• férias: vacation
• nas: in

Questions & Answers about Eu quero descansar bastante nas minhas próximas férias.

Why do we use descansar in this sentence instead of another verb like relaxar?

Descansar generally means to rest or to unwind, focusing on the idea of taking a break and recharging. Relaxar can also mean to relax, but it often implies a more casual, less structured form of taking it easy. In everyday speech, descansar emphasizes the need or desire to actively recover energy.

What does bastante mean here, and can it be replaced by other words?

Bastante means a lot or plenty in this context. It emphasizes the quantity or intensity of the rest the speaker wants. You can replace bastante with synonyms like muito (very/a lot) or bastantão (colloquial, meaning a great amount), though bastantão is much less common and more informal.

Why do we say nas minhas próximas férias instead of em minhas próximas férias?

Nas is the contraction of em + as, so nas minhas próximas férias literally means in the my next vacations. It’s the standard way to say on my next vacation in Portuguese because when using em with a plural feminine noun (like férias), you typically contract it to nas.

What is the difference between quero and queria?

Quero is the present tense of querer (I want), directly expressing a current desire. Queria is the imperfect past of querer (I wanted), but it can also be used politely in the present tense to soften a request or statement. In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, Quero descansar is more direct and certain, while Queria descansar could sound slightly more polite or tentative.

Why is minhas próximas férias plural if it translates to my next vacation (singular) in English?

In Portuguese, férias (vacation) is always used in the plural form, even if you’re referring to a single period of vacation. So you would say minhas próximas férias (my next vacations), but the meaning is understood contextually as my next (period of) vacation. This is just a convention in Portuguese.