Ponte allí y equilibra la barca.
Get over there and balance the boat.
The little boat rocks on the water and everyone has to find a spot in it, which is the size of boat la barca describes.
Spanish vocabularyA1 · Beginner
How to say "boat" in Spanish
la barca
nounfeminineplural: las barcasbigger boat: el barco
"Boat" in Spanish is el barco for most boats and ships, and la barca for a small open boat, the kind you row on a lake or fish from. In Latin America a small boat is often el bote. Hay barcas en el lago means there are boats on the lake.
Hear "barca" in real movie scenes
A rocking boat and a chase from the shore. Each video starts and stops on that line.
Sigue esa barca.
Follow that boat.
On the shore there's no time to explain, so one wave of the hand starts the chase. Esa barca points at a boat farther away.
From Shakespeare apasionado · Spanish audio
Barco, barca, bote: which boat is which?
Spanish picks the word by size and by what moves the boat.
| Spanish | English | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| el barco | boat, ship | The general word. Ferries, cruise ships and fishing boats are all barcos. |
| la barca | small boat, rowboat | A small open boat, often with oars, on a lake, a river or near the beach. |
| el bote | small boat | Common in Latin America, and in bote salvavidas (lifeboat). In Spain bote also means a jar. |
| la lancha | motorboat | A small, fast boat with an engine. |
| el velero | sailboat | From vela, sail. You can also say barco de vela. |
Tip: To say how you travel, use en barco with no article: Vamos a la isla en barco.
Grammar: la barca, las barcas
Four things to know before you talk about boats.
Barca is feminine, barco is masculine
la barca, las barcas, but el barco, los barcos. Learn each word with its own article.There are boats
Use hay with no article for boats in general: Hay barcas en el lago. Add muchas for a lot of them.By boat, in the boat
en barco is the way you travel. en la barca is the place you sit: Estamos en la barca.One quick r
The r in barca is a single tap of the tongue, BAR-kah. Save the long roll for words with rr.Example sentences
Sentences from the Wordy Spanish course. Tap to listen.
Hay barcas en el lago.
There are boats on the lake.
El aprendiz limpia la barca.
The apprentice is cleaning the boat.
Hay muchas barcas allí.
There are a lot of boats there.
No, hoy no hay barcas.
No, there are no boats today.
Common mistakes
Mistakes learners make with this word, and how to fix them.
✗el barca
✓la barca
Barca ends in -a and takes la. Only barco, with -o, takes el.
✗Voy en el barco (meaning by boat)
✓Voy en barco
When you name the way you travel, drop the article.
✗Hay las barcas en el lago
✓Hay barcas en el lago
After hay, leave out el, la, los and las.
Practice: 3 quick exercises
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1 of 3 · Watch and choose
What do you hear in the video?
The other 29 exercises on this topic are in the app.
How to remember it
Barca starts like bark. Picture a dog barking from a little rowboat in the middle of a lake.
Questions about "boat" in Spanish
How do you say boat in Spanish?
El barco is the general word for a boat or a ship. A small rowing or fishing boat is la barca, and in Latin America people often say el bote.
What's the difference between barco and barca?
Size. El barco covers anything from a fishing boat to a cruise ship, and la barca is a small open boat, often with oars.
How do you say "by boat" in Spanish?
En barco, with no article: Fuimos a la isla en barco.
How do you say sailboat in Spanish?
El velero, or el barco de vela. A small boat with an engine is la lancha.
