Em abril, minha família vai descansar na praia durante o feriado.

Em abril means in April.

In Portuguese, em is commonly used with months:

• em abril = in April
• em maio = in May
• em janeiro = in January

So this works like English in + month.

Because família is a feminine noun in Portuguese, so the possessive has to match it:

• minha família = my family
• meu carro = my car

Even though the people in a family can be male and female, the word família itself is grammatically feminine.

Vai descansar is a very common way to talk about the future in Brazilian Portuguese.

It uses:

• ir in the present tense
• • an infinitive

So:

• vai descansar = is going to rest / will rest

This is similar to English is going to rest.

You could also say descansará, which is the simple future, but in everyday Brazilian Portuguese, vai descansar sounds more natural and common.

Because the subject is minha família, and família is grammatically singular.

So the verb agrees with família, not with the individual family members:

• Minha família vai descansar. = My family is going to rest.
• Minha família mora aqui. = My family lives here.

This works similarly to English, where family can also be treated as a singular noun, especially in American English.

Descansar means to rest, to relax, or sometimes to take a break.

In this sentence, because they are going to the beach during a holiday, it has the sense of:

• relax
• take it easy
• rest

So vai descansar na praia suggests spending time at the beach to relax.

Because na is the contraction of:

• em + a = na

So:

• na praia = at the beach / on the beach

This kind of contraction is very common in Portuguese:

• no = em + o
• na = em + a
• nos = em + os
• nas = em + as

Examples:

• no carro = in the car
• na escola = at school
• na praia = at the beach

It can mean either, depending on context.

In Portuguese, na praia is the normal expression used for being at the beach area in general. In English, you might translate it as:

• at the beach
• on the beach

In this sentence, at the beach is probably the most natural general translation.

Durante o feriado means during the holiday.

• durante = during
• o feriado = the holiday / the public holiday / the long weekend, depending on context

In Brazil, feriado usually refers to an official holiday or public holiday, not a vacation in general.

So this phrase suggests that the family will rest at the beach during that holiday period.

This is an important difference:

• feriado = a holiday, usually an official/public holiday
• férias = vacation, time off, school holidays, annual leave

Examples:

• No feriado, vamos viajar. = We’re going to travel during the holiday/long weekend.
• Nas férias, vou para o interior. = I’m going to the countryside on vacation.

So in your sentence, feriado does not mean a long vacation; it means a holiday period.

Portuguese often allows time expressions at the beginning of the sentence.

So:

• Em abril, minha família vai descansar na praia durante o feriado.

is very natural and means something like:

• In April, my family is going to rest at the beach during the holiday.

You could also move Em abril later:

• Minha família vai descansar na praia durante o feriado em abril.

But starting with Em abril helps set the time right away.

Yes, because the two expressions give different kinds of time information:

• Em abril = tells you which month
• durante o feriado = tells you which period within that month

So together they mean something like:

• In April, during the holiday, my family is going to relax at the beach.

They are not redundant.

Família is pronounced roughly like fa-MEE-lya.

The accent mark in í shows the stressed syllable:

• fa-MÍ-lia

Without getting too technical, the accent helps show where the voice should naturally emphasize the word.

This is useful because stress placement in Portuguese is important for sounding natural.

Yes. Both are possible:

• minha família
• a minha família

In Brazilian Portuguese, possessives are often used with or without the article depending on style, region, and context.

So both of these sound natural:

• Minha família vai descansar na praia.
• A minha família vai descansar na praia.

The version without the article is very common and perfectly natural here.