Free guide · Level A1
Looking for a flat in Spain: vocabulary and phrases from the ads
If you're coming to live in Spain, one of your first conversations in Spanish will be about a flat. The ads and the viewings use very specific words, and some don't mean what they seem to.
«Piso» means two things
In Spain piso is both the flat and the floor of the building. That's why «vivo en un piso en el cuarto piso» («I live in a flat on the fourth floor») is a perfectly normal sentence.
Busco un piso en el centro.I'm looking for a flat in the centre (in Latin America: «departamento» or «apartamento»)
Vivo en el tercer piso.I live on the third floor
How floors are counted
The street level is the planta baja (or «el bajo»). The primero is the floor above it, the segundo the next, and so on. Always count from the street.
4.º BFourth floor, door B
Un cuarto sin ascensorA fourth floor with no lift, so you walk up. It's normal, and the rent is usually lower
Dar a: where the windows face
Dar a means to face onto something. A flat can face the street or an inner courtyard, and that changes the noise, the light and the price.
El balcón da a la calle.The balcony faces the street
El dormitorio da a un patio interior.The bedroom faces an inner courtyard: usually quieter, but with less light
The rooms in an ad
- →El salón is where the sofa is; el comedor, where you eat.
- →El dormitorio or la habitación: where you sleep. In ads you'll see «2 hab.», which means two bedrooms.
- →El baño (bathroom), la terraza or el balcón, and el trastero, a small storage room.
Watch out for thisIf you speak American English, watch out: there the first floor is at street level. In Spain the primero is one flight of stairs above the street, so a «tercero sin ascensor» means climbing three flights, not two.
Three questions for a viewing
¿Hay ascensor?Is there a lift?
¿En qué piso está?Which floor is it on?
¿Da a la calle o a un patio?Does it face the street or a courtyard?