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Today we’re going to learn some new location nouns, including the words for “direction”, “address”, “destination”, and “area”. We’ll also get some spoken practice quizzing with these new words in lots of different contexts.
¿Cuál es tu destino?
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 a bunch of new nouns that refer to locations, and we’ll start with a familiar word. Remember that we learned estado to mean “state”, as in the state of being or status that someone might be in. This word also means “state” as in a nation or territory. For example:
Today she’s out of town in another state.
Hoy está fuera de la ciudad en otro estado.
Next we have the word dirección, spelled d-i-r-e-c-c-i-o-n, with an accent on the O. Dirección. This word can mean two different things. It can mean “direction”, as in the way that someone or something is moving. For example:
What direction did he go? // In that direction.
¿En qué dirección fue? // En esa dirección.
Note the use of en in both phrases; this is the preposition that tends to be associated with this noun.
But dirección can also mean “address”, as in the specific location of a building or site. For example:
The party is at Juan's house, what's the address?
La fiesta es en casa de Juan, ¿cuál es la dirección?
So in this Spanish sentence, it might sound like the speaker is asking what direction to start walking, but in situations like this it’s generally clear from context that we’re asking for a street address.
Another word that points to a specific location is destino, which is “destination”. For example:
I’ll help you find a flight. What is your destination?
Te ayudaré a encontrar un vuelo. ¿Cuál es tu destino?
And the phrase for “final destination” is destino final. Try using it in this next one:
I missed the flight. My final destination is San Antonio.
Perdí el vuelo. Mi destino final es San Antonio.
Let’s practice estado, dirección, and destino.
That address is not in this state.
Esa dirección no está en este estado.
She went to another state, so now she has a new address.
Se fue a otro estado, así que ahora tiene una dirección nueva.
Give it to me, don’t you see the destination that’s here?
Dámelo, ¿no ves el destino que está aquí?
They pay me to go to that destination, I’ve earned a lot of money that way.
Me pagan por ir a ese destino, he ganado mucho dinero así.
Our next word is espacio, which means “space”. For example:
We need to find a big space for this.
Necesitamos encontrar un gran espacio para esto.
Note that espacio is sort of a synonym for lugar in some circumstances. For example, if you want to say that there’s no space available for anyone else, you can either say no hay lugar or no hay espacio. In general in our quizzing, in circumstances like this, we’ll translate “room” as lugar and “space” as espacio.
Our next word is sitio, which means “site”, as in a place or location. For example:
We couldn’t find it in any place.
No lo pudimos encontrar en ningún sitio.
The awkward thing about this word is that it’s basically a synonym for lugar, parte, and lado. This same phrase could have been translated as ningún lugar, ninguna parte, or ningún lado. In Spanish, these words are often used interchangeably. However, the word “site” in English does tend to be translated as sitio in Spanish, which is a bit easier. This even applies to online sites. For example:
Look! There’s something new on their site.
¡Mira! Hay algo nuevo en su sitio.
In our quizzing, we’ll generally translate sitio as “site”, even when it would be translated as “place” in English.
Another useful word is zona, which means “zone” or “area”. This is spelled z-o-n-a. Zona. For example:
There aren’t enough benches in this area.
No hay suficientes bancos en esta zona.
Let’s practice espacio, sitio, and zona.
There’s nothing fun to do on this site.
No hay nada divertido para hacer en este sitio.
There’s no space for her here, but I don't know how to tell it to her.
No hay espacio para ella aquí, pero no sé cómo decírselo.
It’s impossible that there isn’t space in this area.
Es imposible que no haya espacio en esta zona.
Is the area where you live far from this site?
¿La zona en la que vives está lejos de este sitio?
Next, let’s learn a few words for built places, such as “park” and “plaza”. We’ll start with the word for “bridge”, which is puente. For example:
Yesterday we ran into each other on the bridge.
Ayer nos encontramos en el puente.
The word for “park” is parque, spelled p-a-r-q-u-e. Parque. For example:
Is that the park with the bridge?
¿Ese es el parque con el puente?
The word plaza means “plaza” or “square”, basically any spacious area in a city or town where pedestrians congregate. For example:
Let’s walk to the plaza with the café.
Andemos hasta la plaza con el café.
And the word for “sidewalk” is acera. For example:
We can’t walk by foot, this street barely has a sidewalk.
No podemos andar a pie, esta calle apenas tiene acera.
So the part of the street that pedestrians walk on is la acera. The part that cars go on is the carretera, which means “road”. For example:
You can’t leave it in the middle of the road!
¡No lo puedes dejar en medio de la carretera!
Let’s practice puente, parque, plaza, acera, and carretera.
They’re walking along the sidewalk.
Están andando por la acera.
It’s wonderful that the bridge is near the square.
Es maravilloso que el puente esté cerca de la plaza.
You have to be on the sidewalk, not on the road.
Tienes que estar en la acera, no en la carretera.
It’s weird, but I like the park more and not so much the plaza.
Es raro, pero me gusta más el parque y no tanto la plaza.
Give it(f) to me, you know there’s a need to be careful on the road.
Dámela, sabes que hay que tener cuidado en la carretera.
(formal) Tell it to me! Do I have to go to the park or the bridge?
¡Dígamelo! ¿Tengo que ir al parque o al puente?
Next let’s learn some words for what you call the parts of buildings. The word for “entrance” is entrada, which is related to the verb Entrar, and the word for “exit” is salida, related to the verb Salir. So for example:
The entrance is far from the exit.
La entrada está lejos de la salida.
Next we have the word suelo, which roughly means “ground” or “floor”. For example:
Why is your food on the floor?
¿Por qué está tu comida en el suelo?
Note that in English, we use the word “floor” in multiple ways. Sometimes it refers to the part of a room that you stand on. But other times, we use it to refer to a unit of height for a building. For example:
His house has three floors.
In these cases, we can’t use the word suelo. The word for this is piso. So here’s the Spanish:
Su casa tiene tres pisos.
Note that in these contexts, in English, “floor” is a synonym for “story”. Here’s another example:
His office is on the third story.
Su oficina está en el tercer piso.
Also note that sometimes piso is used to mean “floor”, as in the ground surface of a built environment. But that specific use can be either piso or suelo in Spanish. To help with this ambiguity, in general in our quizzing we’ll translate the word “floor” as piso, and we’ll consistently translate suelo as “ground”, even though in practical use it’s sometimes translated as “floor”.
Let’s practice salida, entrada, suelo, and piso.
There’s a lot of food on the ground.
Hay mucha comida en el suelo.
The floor of the entrance is very pretty.
El piso de la entrada es muy bonito.
I use that exit because the other one is very far away.
Uso esa salida porque la otra está muy lejos.
He gets an office on that floor.
Consigue una oficina en ese piso.
I don’t see the entrance or exit doors.
No veo las puertas de entrada ni de salida.
Our next word is sala, which roughly means “room”. Of course, we’ve already learned that the words cuarto and habitación can mean “room”, although those words tend to mean a room that you sleep in. Sala, on the other hand, tends to refer to a room that people congregate in, such as a living room or a meeting room. For example:
The meeting was in the biggest room of the building.
La reunión fue en la sala más grande del edificio.
Next, the word for “window” is ventana. For example:
The dog went out through the window.
El perro salió por la ventana.
Our last word is kind of random, but it is high on the frequency list: The word for “hell” or “inferno” is infierno. This can either refer literally to hell, or it can refer to a very crazy situation. In the later cases, it tends to be used with un before it. For example:
The last days of that project were hell.
Los últimos días de ese proyecto fueron un infierno.
Let’s practice sala, ventana, and infierno.
It’s really hot outside the window, it seems like hell.
Hace mucho calor afuera de la ventana, parece un infierno.
If you win, you can have that room.
Si ganas, puedes tener esa sala.
He didn’t win, because he hasn’t used the window.
No ganó, porque no ha usado la ventana.
In this last one, to say “the living room is hot”, the idiomatic way to phrase this in Spanish is as “in the living room it makes heat”. See if you can predict the Spanish.
The living room is as hot as hell.
En la sala hace tanto calor como en el infierno.
For more practice with any of this, feel free to dig deeper at LCSPodcast.com/229. Or if you’re ready, let’s go on to today’s final quiz.
You still haven’t paid her? Pay for the new car!
¿Todavía no le has pagado? ¡Paga el nuevo auto!
We’ll play at the park, because there I can win.
Jugaremos en el parque, porque allí puedo ganar.
Welcome(f)! Please go to the living room.
¡Bienvenida! Por favor ve a la sala.
I don’t think you’re stupid just because you haven’t gotten it.
No creo que seas estúpido solo porque no lo has conseguido.
I won, so you have to tell me it.
Gané, así que tienes que decírmelo.
She always pays when she is at the exit.
Siempre paga cuando está en la salida.
That state has a lot of good sites.
Ese estado tiene muchos sitios buenos.
Use the road! There is enough space there.
¡Usa la carretera! Hay suficiente espacio ahí.
This area is hell, look at the ground!
Esta zona es un infierno, ¡mira el suelo!
You have to go to the second floor and give it to him.
Tienes que ir al segundo piso y dárselo.
It worked! I got the site!
¡Funcionó! ¡Conseguí el sitio!
The ground under the bridge isn’t safe.
El suelo bajo el puente no es seguro.
You have to pay for a new window for the entrance of the house.
Tienes que pagar una nueva ventana para la entrada de la casa.
That square was a terrible destination.
Esa plaza era un destino terrible.
I’m not using the window because it doesn’t work.
No estoy usando la ventana porque no funciona.
I will pay in order to get a new living room.
Pagaré para conseguir una nueva sala.
Walking on that sidewalk is hell.
Andar en esa acera es un infierno.
Get the address of the park and we’ll see each other at the entrance.
Consigue la dirección del parque y nos vemos en la entrada.
In her new state, she uses the car to go to the square.
En su nuevo estado, usa el carro para ir a la plaza.
If I pay, I can use the bridge.
Si pago, puedo usar el puente.
He got an excellent space; tell it to him.
Consiguió un espacio excelente; díselo.
The exit is at the end of the sidewalk.
La salida está al final de la acera.
If I get the address, I can get to my destination.
Si consigo la dirección, puedo llegar a mi destino.
If she wins, tell it to me, please.
Si ella gana, dímelo, por favor.
They don’t use this area of the road.
No usan esta zona de la carretera.
Give it to him to see if he can make it work.
Dáselo para ver si él puede hacerlo funcionar.
Did you get the right floor?
¿Conseguiste el piso correcto?
She doesn’t have to tell it to you, but she has to tell it to us.
No tiene que decírtelo, pero tiene que decírnoslo.
For more practice with all of this, go to LCSPodcast.com/229, 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.