Talking about where you live in Spanish using 'ser' and 'estar'

Where you live

To ask where someone lives, ask ¿Dónde vives? - Where do you live?

For example:

• ¿Dónde vives? - Where do you live?

• Vivo en un piso - I live in a flat.

• Vivo en una casa en un pueblo - I live in a house in a village.

Look at the language in the table. Can you describe where you live?

Describing where you live

There are two verbs for 'to be' in Spanish, ser and estar that you can use to talk about where you live.

Ser is used to give descriptions and estar is used for location.

For example:

• Ser

  • Mi pueblo es grande - My town is big.

• Estar

  • Mi pueblo está lejos de Mánchester - My town is far from Manchester.

Describing location

You can give more details about where you live by using está (is).

For example:

• Vivo en una ciudad pequeña. Está en la costa y está cerca de Aberdeen - I live in a town. It is on the coast and is near to Aberdeen.

• Vivo en un pueblo en la montaña. Está lejos de la capital - I live in a village in the mountains. It is far from the capital.

Use the table below to give more detail about where you live.

Describing where you live

In order to give more details about what your house or town is like, you can use es (‘is’, from the verb ser) followed by an adjective.

Adjectives are words used to describe people, places or things.

Remember to make the adjective agree with whatever you are describing.

For example:

• ¿Cómo es tu barrio? - What is your neighbourhood like?

• Vivo en un pueblo pequeñ_o_. Es antigu_o_ pero animad_o_ - I live in a small town. It is old but lively.

• ¿Cómo es tu aldea? - What is your village like?

• Es bastante tranquil_a_ pero es aburrid_a_ - It is quite peaceful but it is boring.

• ¿Cómo es tu ciudad? - What is your city like?

• Vivo en una ciudad turístic_a_, pero en mi opinión es suci_a_. No es muy ecológic_a_. - I live in a touristy city, but in my opinion it is dirty. It is not very eco-friendly.

Have a look at this downloadable vocabulary list to see more useful adjectives you can use to describe where you live

Using comparatives

To compare two places, use más…que and menos…que with different adjectives.

Remember that the adjective needs to agree with what you are describing.

For example:

• Londres es más grande que Mánchester - London is bigger than Manchester.

• Mi ciudad es menos moderna que Bilbao - My city is less modern than Bilbao.

Talking about what there is where you live

To ask someone what there is where they live, ask: ¿Qué hay en tu pueblo? - What is there in your town?

For example:

• ¿Qué hay en tu pueblo? - What is there in your town?

• En mi pueblo hay una piscina y unas tiendas - In my town there is a pool and some shops.

• En mi ciudad hay un supermercado, una mezquita y también hay una estación de tren - In my city there is a supermarket, a mosque and there is also a train station.

You can use muchos/muchas to say there are lots or many of something.

For example:

• Hay muchos parques y restaurantes - There are lots of/many parks and restaurants.

Remember that the indefinite article is not used with no hay (there is no…) .

• En mi pueblo no hay polideportivo - In my town there is no sports centre.

The indefinite article is the word for ‘a’, 'an' or ‘some’. In Spanish these are 'un', 'una', 'unos' and 'unas'.

Use the language in the table below to describe what there is and what there isn’t in your town or city.

Talking about what you do where you live

To discuss what you do where you live, you can ask ¿Qué haces en tu pueblo los fines de semana? - What do you do in your town at the weekends?

You can enhance your answer by using different time phrases and frequency expressions with a variety of activities.

For example:

• Los fines de semana voy al cine con mis amigos - At the weekend I go to the cinema with my friends.

• A veces ceno en un restaurante con mi familia - Sometimes I have dinner in a restaurant with my family.

• Normalmente mi hermano va de compras - Normally my brother goes shopping.

Use the table below to say what you do where you live.

Quiz

Find out how much you know about talking about where you live in Spanish with this short quiz!