🏠 Rooms - Habitaciones
Beginner Spanish · Home, rooms, and location
Home and Rooms in Spanish
Talking about your home becomes much easier when you can name a few rooms and explain where things are. Learn common home vocabulary, then use hay, estar, and simple location phrases to describe a room.
Your next small win: name common rooms, say what is in a room, explain where an object is, and give a short description of your home.
Start with the spaces around you
Common Rooms
These room names are enough to begin describing a house or apartment.
Bedroom / room
Kitchen
Living room
Bathroom
Dining room
Hallway
Name two rooms
Say “the kitchen and the living room” in Spanish.
La cocina y la sala.
More parts of the home
House
Apartment
Office
Garage
Garden
Balcony
Patio
Stairs
Two useful ways to describe a room
Hay or Estar?
Use hay to say that something exists or is present. Use estar to say where a specific thing is located.
Hay: something is there
There is a table in the kitchen.
There are two windows in my bedroom.
Estar: where a specific thing is
The sofa is next to the window.
My books are on the bookshelf.
Think of the difference this way: hay introduces what is present. estar locates something specific that you are already talking about.
Choose the pattern
You want to say that a table exists in the kitchen.
Hay una mesa en la cocina.
Say exactly where it is
Location Words
Combine these phrases with estar to explain where an object is located.
On / on top of
Under
Next to
In front of
Behind
Between
Find the keys
Say that the keys are on the kitchen table.
Las llaves están encima de la mesa de la cocina.
Add the things inside the rooms
Furniture and Household Items
A small furniture vocabulary gives you plenty of objects to practice with hay and estar.
Bed
Sofa
Chair
Table
Bookshelf / shelving unit
Desk
More household items
Lamp
Television
Mirror
Closet / wardrobe
Door
Window
Put the home vocabulary into sentences
Talking About Your Home
We have a huge sofa next to the window.
The kitchen is small, but it has a lot of light.
My books are on the bookshelf in the hallway.
In the morning, I drink coffee on the balcony.
Visiting someone's home
Your apartment is very nice. How many rooms does it have?
It has two bedrooms and a fairly large living room.
Looking for something
Where are the keys?
I think they're on the kitchen table.
Describe one room
Name a room, say one thing it has, and say where one object is.
Mi dormitorio es pequeño.
Hay una cama y un escritorio.
El escritorio está al lado de la ventana.
More home examples
My bedroom has a window that looks out onto a small garden.
I put the desk near the window to take advantage of the light.
On Sundays, we use the dining room when the whole family comes over.
After dinner, we sit in the living room to watch a movie.
Your turn · 8 quick questions
Practice: Home and Rooms
Choose the phrase that fits each situation. Focus on rooms, furniture, location words, and the difference between hay and estar.
Practice complete
You can describe rooms and locate things at home.
A few home phrases to revisit
One last step: describe a room without choices.
Choose a room in your home or imagine one. Say what is in it and where two things are located.
Hay una mesa en la cocina.
La mesa está al lado de la ventana.
Hay una lámpara encima de la mesa.
A guest asks about your apartment. It has two bedrooms and a fairly large living room. Which answer fits?
- Tiene dos dormitorios y una sala bastante grande.
- Hay una mesa en la cocina.
- El sofá está junto a la ventana.
- Por la mañana tomo café en el balcón.
The sentence describes the rooms the apartment has.
Tiene dos dormitorios y una sala bastante grande.
Someone asks where the keys are. You think they are on the kitchen table. What do you say?
- Creo que están encima de la mesa de la cocina.
- Hay dos ventanas en mi dormitorio.
- La cocina es pequeña.
- Tenemos un sofá junto a la ventana.
Están locates the specific keys, and encima de means on or on top of.
Las llaves están encima de la mesa.
You want to say that a table exists in the kitchen. Which sentence is correct?
- Hay una mesa en la cocina.
- Está una mesa en la cocina.
- La mesa hay en la cocina.
- Es una mesa en la cocina.
Use hay to introduce something that exists or is present.
Hay una mesa en la cocina.
The sofa is next to the window. Which sentence correctly locates the specific sofa?
- El sofá está al lado de la ventana.
- Hay el sofá al lado de la ventana.
- El sofá es al lado de la ventana.
- El sofá tiene al lado de la ventana.
Use estar for the location of a specific object.
El sofá está al lado de la ventana.
Your kitchen is small but has a lot of light. Which sentence matches?
- La cocina es pequeña, pero tiene mucha luz.
- La cocina está pequeña, pero hay mucha ventana.
- Hay pequeña la cocina y mucha luz.
- La cocina tiene pequeña y luz.
La cocina es pequeña describes the kitchen, and tiene mucha luz says it has a lot of light.
La cocina es pequeña, pero tiene mucha luz.
Your books are on the bookshelf in the hallway. Which sentence fits?
- Mis libros están en la estantería del pasillo.
- Mis libros hay en la estantería del pasillo.
- Mis libros son la estantería del pasillo.
- Mis libros tienen el pasillo.
Están gives the location of the specific books.
Mis libros están en la estantería del pasillo.
Which pair means “under” and “behind”?
- debajo de / detrás de
- encima de / al lado de
- delante de / entre
- cocina / pasillo
Debajo de means under, and detrás de means behind.
debajo de = under; detrás de = behind
In the morning you drink coffee on the balcony. Which sentence matches?
- Por la mañana tomo café en el balcón.
- Por la mañana hay café debajo del balcón.
- El balcón está café por la mañana.
- Tomo el balcón en la cocina.
Por la mañana means in the morning, and en el balcón means on the balcony.
Por la mañana tomo café en el balcón.