How do you learn new vocabulary? Do you make lists you later memorize, or do you stick post-it notes with new words and phrases all-around your room?
What has always worked best with me, and what I always recommend to my students, is building topic vocabulary groups.
In this way, whenever you want to participate in a Spanish conversation on a given topic, you’ll have enough vocabulary to get through.
If you feel this system might actually work for you, let me show you how to go about this vocabulary building exercise.
Let’s take house parts in Spanish as our main topic.
To start with, we need to build our core vocabulary, which in this case will be:
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House parts in Spanish – Basics
la casa –
house, home
el apartamento, el piso, el departamento –
apartment
la cocina –
kitchen
el baño –
bathroom
el dormitorio, el cuarto, la pieza, la habitación –
bedroom
el comedor –
dining room
la sala de estar / el living –
living room
el cuarto de lavado, la lavandería –
laundry room
el ático –
attic
el sótano, el subterráneo –
basement
el techo –
roof
las ventanas –
windows
las puertas –
doors
las paredes –
walls
el piso –
floor
el pasillo –
hall, corridor
patio –
yard
jardín –
garden
If you wonder why sometimes there is more than one alternative to an English word, it is because different Spanish speaking countries may use different names for the same places or objects.
Now, these 18 words alone will already allow you to start building simple sentences.
Este es mi cuarto.
This is my room.
Hay 3 dormitorios y dos baños en esta casa.
There are three bedrooms and two bathrooms in this house.
Busco una casa de dos pisos.
I am looking for a two-story house.
You can also use this core vocabulary group in questions, using some of the common Spanish question words:
¿Dónde está la cocina?
Where is the kitchen?
¿Cuántos dormitorios tiene esta casa?
How many bedrooms does this house have?
¿Qué tan grande es la sala de estar?
How big is the living room?
¿El baño de visita está el el piso de arriba o abajo?
Is the guest bathroom upstairs or downstairs?
When visiting someone’s house for the first time, or receiving guests in yours, you’ll indeed find that directions in Spanish come in handy:
A: Disculpa, ¿me indicas dónde está la cocina?
B: Claro, al final del pasillo, a la derecha.
A: Sorry, can you indicate where the kitchen is?
B: Sure, at the end of the hall, to the right.
A: ¿Puedo ocupar el baño, por favor?
B: Por supuesto, está en el piso de arriba, al lado del cuarto de Juan.
A: Can I use the bathroom, please?
B: Of course, it is upstairs, next to Juan’s bedroom.
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Parts of the house in Spanish – common verbs
The next step in our vocabulary-building exercise is to come up with verbs that are commonly associated with the main topic.
In the case of house-related vocabulary, some of these verbs will be:
comprar –
to buy
construir –
to build
arrendar, alquilar, rentar –
to rent
vender –
to sell
renovar –
renovate
limpiar –
to clean
pintar –
to paint
remodelar–
to remodel
decorar –
to decorate
All these verbs describe what you can do TO a house.
Now, let’s ask ourselves what we typically do IN a house, including house chores – tareas domésticas.
vivir –
to live
descansar –
to rest
dormir-
to sleep
ver tele –
to watch TV
cocinar–
to cook
lavar la loza –
to wash the dishes
pasar la aspiradora –
to vacuum
planchar –
to iron
lavar la ropa –
to do laundry
barrer el piso –
to sweep the floor
trapear –
to mop
Of course, these are only a few examples; feel free to add as many verbs as you want to this list.
What you can actually do with all these verbs will depend on your level of Spanish and the grammar structures you know.
Test Your Spanish Knowledge
I'm Alex, from England (1/3)
These are some of my ideas:
He vivido toda mi vida en esta casa.
I’ve lived all my life in this house.
Ayer por fin vendimos nuestro departamento.
Yesterday we finally sold our apartment.
Vamos a arrendar una casa cerca del colegio.
We’re going to rent a house close to the school.
Si compramos esta casa, tendremos que renovarla y remodelarla entera.
If we buy this house, we’ll have to renovate it and remodel it completely.
¿Puedes pasar la aspiradora en la sala de estar, por favor?
Can you please vacuum the living room?
Lleva tu plato a la cocina y lava toda la loza.
Take your plate to the kitchen and wash all the dishes.
Pedro pasa todo el día en su pieza: allí duerme, come, estudia y descansa.
Pedro spends all day in his room: he sleeps, eats, studies, and rests there.
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Describing a house and its parts in Spanish
Great job with the verbs!
Time for the next step in our vocabulary building.
What do you say if we now turn to adjectives? They are extremely useful in real-life conversations allowing us to describe better the things we talk about.
To see what adjectives are typically related to housing parts in Spanish, ask yourself, “what a house can be like.”
It can be big, expensive, modern, well-located, and so on and so forth.
What would some of these adjectives sound like in Spanish?
Positive features | Negative features |
Have you noticed how I used the feminine form in all the adjectives from the table? Do you know why?
It’s because we describe a house – una casa, which in Spanish is a feminine noun.
If I were talking about an apartment – un departamento, I would have put these adjectives in the masculine form.
If you are struggling with the gender forms in Spanish, let me assure you it is a frequent difficulty for English speakers, leading to many common mistakes.
Unlike English, Spanish nouns and adjectives can be either masculine or feminine. Moreover, not only nouns pluralize – adjectives do too.
That means you have to adjust their form when describing more than one object, place, or person.
Have a look at the sentences below to see how it works:
La cocina es grande y espaciosa, pero los dormitorios parecen muy oscuros y chicos.
The kitchen is big and spacious, but the bedrooms seem very dark and small.
No podría vivir en la casa de Pablo. Es siempre tan desordenada y sucia.
I couldn’t live at Pablo’s house. It is always so messy and dirty.
Me encanta este departamento. Es hermoso y moderno, pero demasiado caro.
I love this apartment! It is beautiful and modern, but too expensive.
Si buscas una casa bien ubicada, no esperes que sea barata.
If you are looking for a well-located house, don’t expect it to be cheap.
El departamento de mis abuelos es un poco anticuado, pero muy acogedor.
My grandparents’ apartment is a little old-fashioned but very cozy.
Las casas en este sector no son muy grandes, porque el terreno es muy caro.
Houses in this sector are not very big because the land is pricey.
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Typical furniture, household appliances, and ornaments in different parts of the house in Spanish
Have you noticed how our sentences have been getting increasingly longer? That proves that our vocabulary is increasing!
The last part of our task is to add specific words related to our key-topic. If we were talking about a car, for instance, it would be its different parts. In the case of supermarket-themed vocabulary, it would be various aisles and products.
But since we are talking about parts of the house, our specific vocabulary will describe typical furniture and appliances – los muebles y los electrodomésticos.
Cocina – Kitchen
un refrigerador –
a fridge
una cocina –
a stove, a cooker
un horno –
an oven
un microondas –
a microwave oven
un lavaplatos –
a sink
un lavavajillas –
a dishwasher
una tostadora –
a toaster
un mueble de cocina –
a cupboard, a kitchen cabinet
una mesa –
a table
un taburete –
a kitchen stool
If you’d like to learn more food-related vocabulary, check out my posts on shopping and restaurants.
Baño – Bathroom
una tina –
a bathtub
una ducha –
a shower
una taza de baño –
a toilet
un espejo –
a mirror
un lavamano –
a washing basin
un secador de pelo –
a hairdryer
un gabinete de baño –
bathroom cabinet
una toalla –
a towel
Sala de estar – Living room
un sofá –
a couch, a sofa
un sillón –
an armchair
una mesa de centro –
a coffee table
una lámpara –
a lamp
una alfombra –
a carpet, a rug
una estantería –
a bookcase
una tele –
a TV set
las cortinas –
curtains, drapes
las persianas –
blinds
las cortinas enrollables –
roller-blinds
una tele –
a TV set
un cuadro –
a painting
Dormitorio – Bedroom
una cama –
a bed
un camarote –
a bunk bed
un escritorio –
a desk
una silla –
a chair
un armario, un guardaropa –
a wardrobe
un closet –
a closet
una repisa –
a shelf
un afiche –
a poster
Lavanderia y bodega – Laundry and storage room
una lavadora –
a washing machine
una secadora –
a dryer
una plancha –
an iron
una tabla de planchar –
an ironing board
una aspiradora –
a vacuum cleaner
una escoba –
a broom
una mopa, un trapero –
a mop
As you see, we have started with less than 20 essential words, and now we have almost a hundred! Plus, plenty of real-life use examples.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this exercise, and I encourage you to repeat it with other key-topics as well.
For some extra practice, I am leaving you with a few more sample sentences:
Si nos cambiamos de casa, tendremos que comprar un refrigerador nuevo.
If we move house, we’ll have to buy a new fridge.
La aspiradora se ha echado a perder. Hay que llevarla al servicio técnico.
The vacuum cleaner has broken down. We need to get it serviced.
Este sofá no combina con el color de las cortinas.
This couch doesn’t match with the color of the drapes.
Prefieres dormir en la parte de arriba, o la parte de abajo del camarote?
Do you prefer to sleep in the top or bottom part of the bunk bed?
¿Puedo usar tu secador de pelo? El mío no funciona.
Can I use your hairdryer? Mine is not working.
Ya no caben más libros en esta estantería.
You can’t fit any more books in this bookshelf.
Ordena tu guardaropa, por favor y mete la ropa sucia en la lavadora.
Tidy your wardrobe, please, and toss your dirty clothes in the washing machine.