Mi prima se puso el bañador, cogió el flotador de su hija y bajó corriendo hacia el mar desde el chiringuito.

Because ponerse is the usual verb for putting on clothing in Spanish.

• poner = to put, to place
• ponerse = to put on oneself, to get dressed in

So:

• puso el bañador would sound like she placed the swimsuit somewhere
• se puso el bañador means she put the swimsuit on

The se shows that the action is done to herself.

With clothing, body parts, and personal items closely connected to the person, Spanish often uses the definite article (el / la / los / las) instead of a possessive like my / your / her.

So Spanish prefers:

• Se puso el bañador = literally She put on the swimsuit

  rather than:

• Se puso su bañador

Even though English normally says her swimsuit, Spanish often leaves the ownership understood from the context.

In Spain, bañador is a very common word for swimsuit.

A few regional notes:

• In Spain, bañador is standard
• In many parts of Latin America, people might say traje de baño, malla, vestido de baño, or other regional terms

So this sentence sounds very natural for Spanish from Spain.

The accent mark shows the correct stress and also helps distinguish the form.

Cogió is the third-person singular preterite of coger:

• yo cogí
• tú cogiste
• él / ella cogió

The accent on -ió shows that the stress falls there: co-gió.

Without the accent, cogio would be misspelled.

Yes. In this sentence, cogió el flotador means she picked up / took the inflatable ring.

In Spain, coger is a very common everyday verb meaning:

• to take
• to grab
• to catch

Important note: in some parts of Latin America, coger can be vulgar, so learners often notice it. But in Spain, it is completely normal in sentences like this.

Flotador usually means an inflatable float or swim ring used in the water.

Depending on context, it could be:

• a float for a child
• an inflatable ring
• something used to help stay afloat

In this sentence, el flotador de su hija most likely means her daughter’s inflatable swim ring.

Here, de su hija means of her daughter or more naturally her daughter’s.

Since the subject is mi prima, the most natural reading is:

• su hija = her daughter, meaning my cousin’s daughter

This structure is very common in Spanish:

• el libro de su hermano = her/his brother’s book
• la mochila de su hijo = her/his son’s backpack

Also remember that su can mean:

• his
• her
• your (formal)
• their

So context tells you whose daughter it is.

Bajó corriendo literally means she went down running or she ran down.

This structure is very common in Spanish:

• verb of movement + gerund

Here:

• bajó = she went down
• corriendo = running

Together, they show both:

1. the direction/movement: bajó
2. the manner: corriendo

So bajó corriendo hacia el mar means she ran down toward the sea.

If you used corrió, that would simply mean she ran, but it would not express going down as clearly.

Corriendo is the gerund of correr.

It works a bit like running in English. In this sentence, it describes how she went down:

• bajó corriendo = she went down running

Spanish often uses the gerund this way after verbs of movement:

• salió corriendo = she ran out
• entró gritando = he came in shouting
• subió saltando = she went up jumping

So here it expresses manner, not a progressive tense.

Hacia means toward.

So:

• hacia el mar = toward the sea

This emphasizes direction rather than arrival. It tells us where she was heading.

If you said al mar, that would sound more like movement to the sea itself, potentially suggesting arrival at the water. Hacia is often a little softer and more directional.

Desde means from, so:

• desde el chiringuito = from the beach bar / beach shack

A chiringuito in Spain is a small casual bar or food place, often right by the beach.

So this part tells us the starting point of her movement: she ran down toward the sea from the chiringuito.

A chiringuito is a very Spain-specific cultural word. It usually means a small beach bar, often informal, close to the sand, serving drinks, snacks, or meals.

It is not just any bar. It strongly suggests a seaside setting and a relaxed beach atmosphere.

So this word adds a lot of local color to the sentence.

The verbs se puso, cogió, and bajó are all in the preterite.

The preterite is used for:

• completed actions
• events in sequence
• actions seen as whole events

That fits this sentence perfectly, because it narrates a series of completed actions:

1. she put on the swimsuit
2. she took her daughter’s float
3. she ran down toward the sea

This is a classic storytelling use of the preterite.

Because Spanish often omits subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb form or context.

Here, once we know the subject is mi prima, Spanish does not need to keep saying ella.

So instead of:

• Mi prima se puso el bañador, ella cogió el flotador y ella bajó...

Spanish naturally says:

• Mi prima se puso el bañador, cogió el flotador y bajó...

This is one of the most common differences from English.

The comma separates actions in a sequence:

• se puso el bañador
• cogió el flotador de su hija
• y bajó corriendo hacia el mar desde el chiringuito

It helps the sentence flow as a short narrative. Spanish punctuation here works very similarly to English: it breaks up a list of completed actions.

Yes, su is often grammatically ambiguous in Spanish.

Su hija could mean:

• his daughter
• her daughter
• your daughter (formal)
• their daughter

But in this sentence, the most natural interpretation is my cousin’s daughter, because mi prima is the subject and there is no other likely possessor nearby.

Spanish often relies on context for this kind of thing. If the speaker wanted to make it completely explicit, they could say something like:

• la hija de mi prima

But that would usually be unnecessary here.