Describing a House in Spanish: SER + Adjectives

Hola and welcome! In our previous lesson, we covered the most common vocabulary for rooms and parts of the house, “habitaciones y partes de la casa”, as well as how to use the verbs HABER, TENER and ESTAR.  In this lesson, we will learn more about how to use SER with common adjectives to make grammatically correct sentences and paragraphs to describe a house in Spanish and the rooms or areas it has. Apart from reviewing the verbs and vocabulary for this topic, we will also talk a little about likes and dislikes, this time applied to the things we like or dislike about the house in Spanish. Let’s begin…

Vocabulary review: The House in Spanish – La casa

First, we will review the vocabulary related to rooms and parts of the house in Spanish by looking at the picture below. Below each picture, there is a simple description using SER with adjectives (the words in magenta), besides other important verbs we will study in the lesson. Generally speaking, people will use SER with adjectives to describe things or people, e.g. BONITO (beautiful) and DE TEJAS (made with tiles). The examples in the picture also make use of other verbs that are very useful when talking about the house, such as HABER, TENER and ESTAR.

Using SER plus adjectives for describing rooms and parts of the house in Spanish
Partes de la casa y habitaciones en español

How to Describe a House in Spanish: SER with adjectives

Common Spanish adjectives for the house

Let’s start by learning some basic adjectives to describe a house in Spanish and the rooms in it. We could use many adjectives, but possibly the ones that best fit for house descriptions in Spanish are those shown in the image below, some of which can be used to describe the house in general or specific rooms, as shown in the examples at the bottom of the image.

Common adjectives used to describe houses in Spanish such as
GRANDE (big), PEQUEÑO (small), ANGOSTO (narrow), CÓMODO (comfortable), INCÓMODO (uncomfortable), ESPACIOSO (spacious), NUEVO (new), VIEJO (old), MODERNO (modern), CARO (expensive), BARATO (cheap), FRESCO (fresh), CALIENTE (hot) y HELADO (cold).

One of the main differences when compared to English adjectives is that Spanish adjectives will be placed after the noun we are describing, not before in most cases. For example, to describe a big house in Spanish, we could say “Yo tengo una casa grande” (I have a big house) not “Yo tengo una grande casa”. In this sentence, the word GRANDE is the main adjective describing the house in Spanish.

Key verbs to describe houses in Spanish

One of the simplest ways to describe things, particularly for describing a house in Spanish is by using  the verb SER (a form of “to be”) and the grammatical structures:

  • Subject + verb + adjective e.g. La casa es hermosa.
  • Pronoun + verb + noun + adjective e.g. Esta es una casa hermosa.

SER is an irregular verb, and it will be used as “ES” for a single object like CUARTO (room) and “SON” when referring to several objects like CUARTOS. This way, we can create simple sentences using “SER” along with adjectives such as:

  • “La casa es pequeña” (the house is small)
  • “La sala es cómoda” (the living room is comfortable)
  • “Las ventanas son viejas” (the windows are old)

Another way to describe the house in Spanish is with the verb LUCIR (to look). LUCIR will be conjugated as LUCE for a single object and LUCEN for several, as in the sentences:

  • “La casa luce pequeña” (the house looks small)
  • “Las habitaciones lucen espaciosas” (the rooms look spacious)

It is very common regular house description in Spanish, we will also find the verbs HAY and TENER to talk about the things in a room. Both verbs are useful for talking about things in a room. Pay attention to the examples in the following image.

Adjectives and verbs for describing houses in Spanish

Lastly, we will use the verb ESTAR along with prepositions of place to indicate the location of rooms or any object in the house.

Examples of House Descriptions in Spanish – Descripciones de casas

It is time to see how all these things work together in real descriptions. Pay attention to how the vocabulary for the house in Spanish, besides all the things we have discussed, can be used in meaningful sentences. Some of the sentences in these paragraphs will be using “Me gusta + an object” to say what someone likes and “No me gusta + an object” for the opposite.

Example No. 1: Describiendo mi casa

Yo tengo una casa pequeña. Hay cuatro cuartos, una sala, una cocina y cuatro baños. Los baños son pequeños. La sala es espaciosa. La sala tiene un televisor grande y muchos objetos más. La cocina luce pequeña pero en realidad es grande. La cocina está junto a la sala. Cada cuarto tiene baño y una ventana. Hay un pasillo pero es angosto. Me gustan la sala y la cocina de la casa.

Read English translation
I have a small house. There are four bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and four bathrooms. The bathrooms are small. The living room is spacious. The room has a large TV and many more objects. The kitchen looks small but is actually big. The kitchen is next to the living room. Each room has a bathroom and a window. There is a hall, but it is narrow. I like the living room and the kitchen of the house.

Example No. 2: Casa en venta

Vendemos una casa. Tiene 6 habitaciones en el primer piso y 6 habitaciones en el segundo. Tiene garaje y sótano. Hay un jardín en frente. La casa tiene varias ventanas, es cómoda, espaciosa y fresca. Los baños, el techo, las paredes y todas las partes de la casa están en buen estado. La sala tiene una chimenea para que la casa se caliente durante el invierno. La casa luce antigua pero está muy bien cuidada. Hay suficiente espacio para construir aún más. Es bonita y ubicada en un lugar seguro.

Read English translation
House on sale
We are selling a house. It has 6 rooms on the first floor and six rooms on the second. It has garage and basement. There is a garden in front. The house has several windows, it is comfortable, spacious and cool. The bathrooms, ceiling, walls and all parts of the house are in good condition. The living room has a fireplace to warm the house in winter. The house looks old but is well maintained. There is enough space to build further. It is beautiful and located in a safe place.

Listening Activity: Talking about the house in Spanish

Listen to a conversation between a realtor and a woman trying to buy a house. Find out where the rooms are located and listen to how they describe the house in Spanish. Take notes of the most important details and then solve the interactive quiz later.

Key expressions in the conversation:

  1. ¿Qué le/te parece?” means “What do you think about it?”
  2. ¡Eso me gusta!” means “I like that!”
Read English translation
Marcos: ¡Hola Sra. López! Usted está interesada en comprar esta casa, ¿verdad?
Sra. López: Si, así es. ¿Me podría mostrar todas las habitaciones?
Marcos: Claro que sí. Comenzaremos por el piso de abajo… Esta es la sala. ¿Qué le parece?
Sra. López: Es muy espaciosa y luce cómoda también.
Marcos: La cocina está junto a la sala, es grande y tiene una ventana hacia el patio.
Sra. López: ¡Eso me gusta! La puerta de la cocina a la sala es ancha. ¿Qué hay al fondo?
Marcos: Ese es el patio. Usted puede crear un lindo jardín en ese lugar.
Sra. López: Sí, es una buena idea. ¿Qué hay en el segundo piso?
Marcos: Hay tres habitaciones, cada una con un baño. En la planta de abajo también hay un garaje.
Sra. López: ¡Qué bueno! Me gusta el cielo raso, el color de la casa, el techo y todas las habitaciones. Creo que este es nuestro nuevo hogar ahora.

Extra Practice: Describing the houses in Latin America in Spanish

Write a paragraph describing your house in Spanish and say what you like and dislike about it. Then compare your paragraph with the examples provided in this lesson. Thanks for joining us. 

Related Spanish Worksheets:

7 thoughts on “Describing a House in Spanish: SER + Adjectives”

  1. Pingback: Ressie Trumper

      1. hola alex
        yo soy kavya , mi estudia en singapura,
        this is a really very useful link to improve spanish but i would like you to remove the background music because its very disturbing and hence i am not bale to concentrate on the main part
        it would be a great help if you improve that
        thanks a lot
        kavya ?

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