Água Mineral: Ordering Bottled Water

In Brazil, we do not drink tap water. Therefore restaurants do not serve you tap water, which means you need to order bottled water if you want to have water during your meal. That's right, in Brazil you do not get the usual glass of water as you wait for your meal like you do here in the U.S.

We call bottled water água mineral. If you hang out with Brazilians in an English speaking country, you may see them ordering "mineral water". What they mean is bottled water, but they are translating it literally from Portuguese. Believe me, I've been there :p

The literal translation of sparkling water also causes some confusion. In Brazil, we say água mineral com gás. Literally, it translates to "mineral water with gas". 

When you order water, the server will often follow up by asking: "Com gás?" Now you know that he is asking if you'd like sparkling water. If you do not want it, you can just say: "Sem gás, por favor." Sem gás means not sparkling.

On the other hand, if you were to translate "bottled water" literally, you would be ordering "água engarrafada", which would cause some good laughter to your server and Brazilian friends :)

PS: I strongly sugest that you do NOT drink tap water when in Brazil!

This beautiful picture is thanks to Snap in Flicker's Creative Commons