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Today we’re going to learn some new nouns for household items, including the words for “home”, “furniture”, “refrigerator”, and “kitchen”. We’ll also get some spoken practice quizzing with these new words in lots of different contexts.
Hogar, dulce hogar.
Intro: Join us on a rigorous, step-by-step journey to fluency. I’m Timothy and this is LearnCraft Spanish.
Today we’re going to learn the last of our vocabulary before the end of our 250-episode journey to fluency. We’re going to focus on nouns for household items, including the words for “apartment”, “refrigerator”, “kitchen”, and “furniture”. And just like yesterday’s episode, this is basically a bonus episode; we’re already well past the top 1000 words in Spanish, so all the words in this episode are less frequent than our essential vocabulary that we’ve learned so far.
Meanwhile, if you know anyone else who needs to learn Spanish, you can tell them to tune into this show on Monday. We’re going to re-release the entire series, all the way from Episode 1, but with some improvements based on our work with students. So this next Monday would be a great time for anyone to start listening to the show.
All right, let’s dive in, and we’ll start with words that reference a home as a place. We’ve already learned the word casa, which literally means “house”, but it’s often used in many of the ways that we use the word “home” in English. For example, to say “at home”, you say en casa, or to say “go home”, you say ir a casa.
But there’s also a specific word that means “home”, the noun hogar, spelled h-o-g-a-r. This literally means “hearth”, but it’s more often translated as “home”. So for example:
I lived there, but it wasn’t my home.
Viví allí, pero no era mi hogar.
Next, let’s talk about types of homes. If you live in a house, you live in una casa. But if you live in an apartment or a flat, there are actually two words in Spanish for that. The word apartamento is almost identical to the English word, just with an O at the end. For example:
My apartment is very close to the library.
Mi apartamento está muy cerca de la biblioteca.
But there’s also a synonym, departamento, which some Spanish speakers prefer. The complication with this word is that it also means “department”, in most of the ways we use that word in English. For example:
What department sells that?
¿Qué departamento vende eso?
For the purposes of our quizzing in these next two episodes, we’ll translate “apartment” as apartamento, and we’ll translate both “department” and “flat” as departamento. For example:
I think I left it at my flat.
Creo que lo dejé en mi departamento.
Our next word is applicable if you’re renting your home. The fee that you pay, or the “rent”, is el alquiler. This word is spelled a-l-q-u-i-l-e-r. Alquiler. So for example:
The rent there is too expensive for me.
El alquiler allí es demasiado caro para mí.
Let’s practice hogar, apartamento, departamento, and alquiler.
I learned those things about renting at her home.
Aprendí esas cosas del alquiler en su hogar.
What do they sell in that department?
¿Qué venden en ese departamento?
She has dinner in her apartment every day because she loves her home.
Ella cena en su apartamento todos los días porque le encanta su hogar.
I don’t think we can pay the rent of that flat.
No creo que podamos pagar el alquiler de ese departamento.
Today we’re having lunch out, but tomorrow we’re going to have breakfast in the apartment.
Hoy almorzamos afuera, pero mañana vamos a desayunar en el apartamento.
All right, now let’s go inside the home and take a look around. We already know the words for “bedroom”, which is habitación, “living room”, which is sala, and “bathroom”, which is baño. Another room that some homes have is a dining room. The word for this is comedor. For example:
This flat has a dining room.
Este departamento tiene un comedor.
The word for “kitchen” is cocina. For example:
He’s in the kitchen making something.
Está en la cocina haciendo algo.
And then there are two common words for “refrigerator”. The first is spelled exactly like the English word, except with a D instead of a T: refrigerador. This is a masculine noun. For example:
There’s nothing in the refrigerator.
No hay nada en el refrigerador.
But another common word for refrigerator, depending on where you are, is nevera, which is a feminine noun. So that same sentence could have been no hay nada en la nevera. For the purposes of our quizzing, we’ll help you predict one or the other by translating “refrigerator” as refrigerador and “fridge” as nevera.
Let’s practice comedor, cocina, refrigerador, and nevera.
He had breakfast in the dining room yesterday.
Él desayunó en el comedor ayer.
The refrigerator they have in their kitchen is very expensive.
El refrigerador que tienen en su cocina es muy caro.
Can you go to the kitchen and see if the dishes are dry?
¿Puedes ir a la cocina y ver si los platos están secos?
That fridge suits the kitchen well because it’s brown.
Esa nevera le queda bien a la cocina porque es marrón.
It doesn’t make any sense that there’s a fridge in the dining room.
No tiene sentido que haya una nevera en el comedor.
We had problems with the refrigerator and now we need a new one.
Tuvimos problemas con el refrigerador y ahora necesitamos uno nuevo.
So a refrigerator is an appliance you keep in the kitchen, or en la cocina. Let’s talk about a few things you’ll find en el baño: Bathtub, shower, toilet, and sink. The word for “bathtub” is bañera, spelled b-a-ñ-e-r-a. Bañera. For example:
My dog keeps playing in the bathtub.
Mi perro sigue jugando en la bañera.
“Shower” is ducha. For example:
I always have my best ideas in the shower.
Siempre tengo mis mejores ideas en la ducha.
“Toilet” is inodoro. It might help to remember that the word “odor” is in the middle there. The word is i-n-o-d-o-r-o. Inodoro. For example:
Don’t put those in the toilet.
No pongas esos en el inodoro.
And for “sink”, Spanish has multiple common words, but one of the most common, specifically for a sink in the bathroom, is lavamanos, which is literally “wash hands”. For example:
Our bathroom has two sinks.
Nuestro baño tiene dos lavamanos.
This word can actually be singular or plural, so un lavamanos or dos lavamanos.
Let’s practice bañera, ducha, inodoro, and lavamanos.
The bathtub is beside the sink.
La bañera está al lado del lavamanos.
It’s a short story, don’t you want to write more?
Es una historia corta, ¿no quieres escribir más?
In the house there are two toilets and three sinks.
En la casa hay dos inodoros y tres lavamanos.
What would you like to have? A shower or a bathtub?
¿Qué te gustaría tener? ¿Una ducha o una bañera?
That toilet doesn’t work, so you have to use another one.
Ese inodoro no funciona, así que tienes que usar otro.
I love that shower. I saw one like that when I was traveling a year ago.
Me encanta esa ducha. Vi una así cuando estaba viajando hace un año.
We’re going to have lunch and then we’ll buy a new sink for the house.
Vamos a almorzar y después compraremos un nuevo lavamanos para la casa.
Let’s wrap up this episode by talking about the names of some furniture items. Actually let’s start with the word for “furniture”, which is muebles, a masculine plural noun. For example:
Where did you put the furniture?
¿Dónde pusiste los muebles?
So note that in English, “furniture” is a mass noun, but in Spanish it’s a plural noun. So for example, “all the furniture” would be todos los muebles.
The word for “couch” or “sofa” is sofá. This word is spelled like the English word “sofa”, but it has an accent mark on the A. And it’s also a masculine noun, even though it ends with A. So for example:
I spent all day on the sofa.
Pasé todo el día en el sofá.
A furniture item you might store things in is el armario, which can mean “cabinet”, “cupboard”, or “wardrobe” — basically a large furniture item with shelves, doors, and/or drawers. So for example:
Why are your clothes in the dish cabinet?
¿Por qué está tu ropa en el armario de los platos?
And our last word is the word for “desk”, which is escritorio. This word is closely related to our Verb for writing, Escribir. So for example:
My computer is too big for my desk.
Mi computadora es demasiado grande para mi escritorio.
Let’s practice muebles, sofá, armario, and escritorio.
Of all that furniture, the one I like the most is the sofa.
De todos esos muebles, el que más me gusta es el sofá.
I want him to travel and buy more furniture for the house.
Quiero que él viaje y compre más muebles para la casa.
The sofa is beside the desk, but I don’t know where to put the cabinet.
El sofá está al lado del escritorio, pero no sé dónde poner el armario.
I want a wardrobe and a desk, but I need to learn to not use so much money.
Quiero un armario y un escritorio, pero necesito aprender a no usar tanto dinero.
For more practice with any of this, feel free to dig deeper at LCSPodcast.com/249. Or if you’re ready, let’s go on to today’s final quiz.
The food is cold because you arrived late to the dining room.
La comida está fría porque llegaste tarde al comedor.
Your home is very pretty; you only need a desk and a sofa.
Tu hogar es muy bonito, solo necesitas un escritorio y un sofá.
The toilet in her apartment is gray and the refrigerator is red.
El inodoro en su apartamento es gris y el refrigerador es rojo.
I’m reading the same thing she’s reading.
Leo lo mismo que ella lee.
The sink of her flat is dirty.
El lavamanos de su departamento está sucio.
We have dinner early and they have breakfast late.
Nosotros cenamos temprano y ellos desayunan tarde.
That place is cheap and you’ll know it when you travel there.
Ese lugar es barato y lo sabrás cuando viajes ahí.
The desk is very wide, and I don’t like that it’s yellow.
El escritorio es muy ancho, y no me gusta que sea amarillo.
He wrote very slowly because he wasn’t in a rush.
Él escribió muy despacio porque no tenía prisa.
The movie is slow, but I think you’ll like it.
La película es lenta, pero creo que te gustará.
I love that the sink and the bathtub are pink.
Me encanta que el lavamanos y la bañera sean rosas.
Do you think that cabinet should be beside the refrigerator? It’s very antique.
¿Crees que ese armario debería estar al lado del refrigerador? Es muy antiguo.
You can’t walk all over the flat if you’re wet!
¡No puedes andar por todo el departamento si estás mojado!
We’d love to travel to that country because it's our home.
Nos gustaría viajar a ese país porque es nuestro hogar.
I know it’s your apartment, but the sofa can’t be beside the desk.
Sé que es tu apartamento, pero el sofá no puede estar al lado del escritorio.
The weather is cool today; I don’t want to go out to dinner.
El tiempo está fresco hoy, no quiero salir a cenar.
Learn that you have to pay the rent on time!
¡Aprende que tienes que pagar el alquiler a tiempo!
The food is lukewarm because I never have breakfast with them.
La comida está tibia porque nunca desayuno con ellos.
Today I’m having dinner late, but I want the food to be hot.
Hoy ceno tarde, pero quiero que la comida esté caliente.
It’s a narrow space; you can’t put all that furniture here.
Es un espacio estrecho, no puedes poner todos esos muebles aquí.
Haven’t you learned anything paying that rent?
¿No has aprendido nada pagando ese alquiler?
I don’t know if I want a bathtub or a shower for the bathroom.
No sé si quiero una bañera o una ducha para el baño.
That furniture is purple, and the toilet too.
Esos muebles son violetas, y el inodoro también.
Their dog is very dirty because they had lunch at the park.
Su perro está muy sucio porque ellos almorzaron en el parque.
Read that! Why don’t you want to read what I’ve written?
¡Lee eso! ¿Por qué no quieres leer lo que he escrito?
That fridge doesn’t suit the kitchen well, but the cabinet is fine.
Esa nevera no le queda bien a la cocina, pero el armario está bien.
Write about what happened in the dining room and in the kitchen.
Escribe sobre lo que pasó en el comedor y en la cocina.
You need a new fridge, not a new shower.
Necesitas una nevera nueva, no una ducha nueva.
I have lunch at home during the week, but I go out on the weekends.
Almuerzo en casa durante la semana, pero salgo los fines de semana.
For more practice with all of this, go to LCSPodcast.com/249, or tune in tomorrow for a big quiz to practice everything we’ve learned this week.
This show is brought to you by LearnCraftSpanish.com. The Spanish voice in this episode was our coach Michael Agudelo. Our music was performed by the Seattle Marimba Quartet, and I’m Timothy, encouraging you to do the hard work of learning Spanish. Acquiring a second language is one of the most fulfilling things you can do, so start your fluency journey today at LCSPodcast.com.
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