Lesson 24 · 6 min read
Spanish for the Home and Daily Life
Home vocabulary is the set you will reach for most often once you are actually living in or visiting a Spanish-speaking place. It is also the vocabulary that textbooks tend to cover in a single list and then abandon, even though the verbs attached to it — the ones for tidying, fixing and moving things around — are what conversations are actually made of.
1. Rooms and spaces
Note that a Spanish flat is usually described by its number of bedrooms in a way that differs from English convention, and that el salón and la sala both mean the living room depending on the country. In Spain el piso is a flat and la planta is a floor of a building; in much of Latin America el departamento or el apartamento is the flat.
| Spanish | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| la cocina | the kitchen | Estoy en la cocina. — I'm in the kitchen. |
| el salón / la sala | the living room | Vamos al salón. — Let's go to the living room. |
| el dormitorio | the bedroom | El dormitorio da al patio. — The bedroom looks onto the courtyard. |
| el baño | the bathroom | ¿Puedo usar el baño? — May I use the bathroom? |
| el piso / el departamento | the flat / apartment | Busco un piso céntrico. — I'm looking for a central flat. |
2. Furniture and objects
These are the nouns that come up when you are describing where something is, which in practice means they arrive bundled with the location prepositions: encima de, debajo de, dentro de, al lado de. Learning the two sets together is far more useful than learning either alone.
| Spanish | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| la cama | the bed | Las llaves están en la cama. — The keys are on the bed. |
| la nevera / el refrigerador | the fridge | La leche está en la nevera. — The milk is in the fridge. |
| el armario | the wardrobe, cupboard | Guárdalo en el armario. — Put it away in the cupboard. |
| encima de | on top of | El libro está encima de la mesa. — The book is on top of the table. |
| debajo de | underneath | El gato está debajo de la cama. — The cat is under the bed. |
3. Chores and household verbs
Chore verbs are worth knowing in the imperative as well as the infinitive, because that is how they are most often heard at home. Many of them pair with a specific noun in a fixed way — hacer la cama, poner la mesa, fregar los platos — and learning the pairing saves you assembling it wrongly.
| Spanish | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| hacer la cama | to make the bed | Haz la cama antes de salir. — Make the bed before you go out. |
| poner la mesa | to set the table | ¿Puedes poner la mesa? — Can you set the table? |
| fregar los platos | to wash the dishes | Yo cocino y tú friegas los platos. — I cook and you wash up. |
| sacar la basura | to take out the rubbish | No olvides sacar la basura. — Don't forget to take out the rubbish. |
| ordenar | to tidy up | Tengo que ordenar mi cuarto. — I have to tidy my room. |
4. Visiting and renting
Two situations generate most home-related conversation with people you do not know well: being a guest, and dealing with a landlord or flatmate. Spanish has warm set phrases for the first — estás en tu casa is said to guests constantly and means make yourself at home — and very practical vocabulary for the second.
| Spanish | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Estás en tu casa | Make yourself at home | Pasa, estás en tu casa. — Come in, make yourself at home. |
| el alquiler | the rent | El alquiler incluye los gastos. — The rent includes bills. |
| los gastos | the bills, utilities | Los gastos van aparte. — Bills are separate. |
| el casero / la casera | the landlord / landlady | Hablé con la casera ayer. — I spoke to the landlady yesterday. |
| Se ha roto… | The … has broken | Se ha roto la calefacción. — The heating has broken. |
Common mistakes
Voy a hacer mi cama → Voy a hacer la cama
Spanish uses the definite article where English uses a possessive for things obviously yours. The same applies to me lavo las manos and me pongo el abrigo.
Estoy en el cuarto de baño (in Latin America) → Estoy en el baño
Not wrong, but wordy. El baño is what almost everyone says; cuarto de baño is more common in Spain and sounds formal elsewhere.
El apartamento es en el centro → El apartamento está en el centro
Location takes estar. Ser with a place is only for events — la fiesta es en el centro is fine, but a flat that sits there uses está.