Renting or Leasing a Home in Spanish
If you need to rent a house or apartment in a Spanish-speaking location, you need to be able to talk about leasing terms and the type of housing you’re looking for. The following Spanish words and phrases can come in handy in your search for a place to live.
Rental properties can include several different kinds of housing, as described by these terms:
edificio de apartamentos (eh-dee-fee-seeoh deh ah-pahr-tah-mehn-tohs) (apartment building)
casa de una planta (kah-sah deh oo-nah plahn-tah) (one-story house)
casa de dos pisos (kah-sah deh dohs pee-sohs) (two-story house)
casa adosada (kah-sah ah-doh-sah-dah) (semi-detached house [meaning one of its walls touches the wall of the neighboring house])
casa residencial (kah-sah reh-see-dehn-seeahl) (residence; house used for residential purposes)
apartamento en arriendo (ah-pahr-tah-mehn-toh ehn ah-rreeehn-doh) (apartment for rent)
apartamento en régimen de propiedad horizontal (ah-pahr-tah-mehn-toh ehn reh-Hee-mehn deh proh-peeeh-dahd oh-ree-sohn-tahl) (condominium) Literally, this phrase means an apartment that is governed by a set of rules related to horizontal — meaning on the ground — real estate.
Spanish has three words for room. You can take your pick from any of them:
Some specific rooms that you’re likely to talk about include
la sala (lah sah-lah) the living room
el living (ehl lee-bveeng) the living room (in Chile)
el comedor (ehl koh-meh-dohr) the dining room
el dormitorio (ehl dohr-mee-toh-reeoh) the bedroom (in Chile and Argentina)
la recámara (lah reh-kah-mah-rah) the bedroom (in Mexico)
la cocina (lah koh-see-nah) the kitchen; the stove
Some other Spanish vocabulary words that relate to the rental process include
el depósito (ehl deh-poh-see-toh) the deposit
reembolsar (reh-ehm-bvol-sahr) to refund
incluido (een-klooee-doh) included
pagar (pah-gahr) to pay
amueblado (ah-mooeh-bvlah-doh) furnished
limpiar (leem-peeahr) to clean
disponible (dees-poh-nee-bvleh) available
ocupar (oh-koo-pahr) to take up; to occupy
desocupar (dehs-oh-koo-pahr) to vacate
lástima (lahs-tee-mah) pity; shame
pintar (peen-tahr) to paint
el refrigerador (ehl reh-free-Heh-rah-dohr) the refrigerator
You can use the following phrases to convey your need for a dwelling to call your own:
Sin falta necesito un apartamento. (seen fahl-tah neh-seh-see-toh oon ah-pahr-tah-mehn-toh) (I absolutely [literally: without fail] need an apartment.)
Es urgente encontrar un apartamento. (ehs oor-Hehn-teh ehn-kohn-trahr oon ah-pahr-tah-mehn-toh) (We must find an apartment urgently.)
Como tenemos niños, debemos encontrar una casa. (koh-moh teh-neh-mohs nee-nyohs deh-bveh-mohs ehn-kohn-trahr oo-nah kah-sah) (Because we have children, we must find a house.)
Hay que preguntar a los amigos. (ahy keh preh-goon-tahr ah lohs ah-mee-gohs) (We must ask our friends [to help us find a place].)
Hay que ver los avisos del diario. (ahy keh bvehr lohs ah-bvee-sohs dehl deeah-reeoh) (We must look at the ads in the papers.)

Spanish Glossary
adjective
A word that describes a noun or pronoun, giving it specific attributes or characteristics.

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adverb
A word used to modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb by expressing time, place, degree, and so on. Many Spanish adverbs end in -mente.

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bartering
Giving goods or services in return for other goods and services, as opposed to the exchange of money.

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cardinal number
Any number used in counting or showing how many.

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comparative
A form of an adjective or adverb which indicates that one thing has some feature to a greater or lesser extent than the thing it is being compared to. Example: slower, more believable.

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conditional
A verb tense that expresses an action that should have, could have, or would have happened if the conditions were right.

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conjugate
To give different forms of a verb according to voice, mood, tense, number, and person. A conjugated verb is a verb that has been changed from its infinitive form to a form that agrees with the subject.

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consonant
Any of the letters b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, ñ, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z; the double letters ch, ll, and rr may also be considered consonants in Spanish.

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customs
1. The government agency in charge of collecting taxes or duties imposed on imported and/or exported goods. 2. The common social acts and conventions of a particular area.

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declare
To inform customs officials of any goods you’re carrying that may be taxable.

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definite article
Any one of the words el, la, los, or las used as adjectives to point out a specific noun.

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demonstrative adjective
An adjective that indicates or points out this, that, these, or those people, places, or things to which a speaker is referring.

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demonstrative pronoun
Replaces a demonstrative adjective and its noun.

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diminutive
1. Small. 2. A word that has been altered with a suffix to indicate a degree of smallness, often ending with -ito or -ita.

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diphthong
A complex vowel sound made by gliding from one vowel sound to the next within the same syllable.

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direct object noun
A sentence element that answers the question, Whom or what is the subject acting upon? and may refer to people, places, things, or ideas.

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direct object pronoun
Replaces a direct object noun and agrees with it in number and gender.

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duty
A tax imposed on imports, exports, or manufactured goods.

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future
Verb tense indicating an action to come.

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gerund
A verb form that ends in -ing and works like a noun. Spanish gerunds are also derived from verbs.

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haggling
Negotiations between a seller and a buyer to come to an agreement upon the price of an item for sale. The vendor typically proposes a high price while the buyer suggests a significantly lower price, and, through bartering, the two typically meet somewhere in the middle.

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imperative
A verb mood that indicates a command or request.

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imperfect
Verb tense indicating a continuing, uncompleted, customary, or simultaneous past action.

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indefinite article
Any one of the words un, una, unos, or unas used as adjectives to point out some person, place, thing, or idea, but not a specific one.

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indirect object noun
Answers the question To or for whom is the subject doing something? and refers only to people or beloved pets.

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indirect object pronoun
Replaces an indirect object noun, but is also used when the indirect object noun is mentioned.

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infinitive
The unconjugated form of a verb — dormir (to sleep), for example.

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interrogative adverb
An adverb used to ask a question.

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interrogative pronoun
A word that replaces a noun and is used to ask a question.

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market
1. (noun) In Spanish cultures, a traditional market is where vendors gather to sell their goods. Markets may be open or under a roof, and they offer a less formal shopping environment than typical supermarkets or grocery stores. Prices are usually negotiable. 2. (verb) To advertise and sell an item.

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mood
1. A characteristic of a verb that indicates the manner in which the action occurs. 2. A characteristic of a person that indicates the overall emotional state of that person.

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ordinal number
A number used to indicate order in a particular series.

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past participle
A form of a verb that expresses a completed action or a time gone by.

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possessive adjective
A word that goes before the noun that’s possessed in order to express my, your, his, her, its, our, or their.

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possessive pronoun
A word that replaces a noun and its possessive adjective and indicates ownership.

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preposition
A word that connects nouns to nouns, verbs to verbs, or verbs to nouns/pronouns and shows their relationship to one another.

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prepositional pronoun
A pronoun that serves as the object of a preposition and always follows the preposition.

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preterit
Verb tense expressing a past action or state.

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pronoun
A word that takes the place of a noun in a sentence.

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reflexive pronoun
A pronoun used in conjunction with a reflexive verb to express that an action is performed by a subject on itself.

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reflexive verb
A verb that indicates that the sentence's subject is acting upon itself. Reflexive verbs require reflexive pronouns.

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stem-changing verb
A verb that requires an internal change in the vowel before the -ar, -er, or -ir infinitive ending in all the singular and third-person plural forms of certain tenses.

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subject pronoun
A pronoun used as a subject.

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subjunctive
A grammatical mood indicating uncertainty, desire, supposition, hypothetical and theoretical situations, or impersonal opinions.

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subordinate clause
A part of a sentence containing a subject and verb that can’t stand on its own but describes something in the larger sentence.

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suffix
Letters added to the end of a word that change its meaning, give it a different grammatical function, or form a new word.

Spanish Glossary
superlative
A form of an adjective or adverb which indicates that one thing has some feature to a greater degree than anything it is being compared to. Example: greatest, most honorable

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syllable
A word or part of a word pronounced with a single sound, usually consisting of a vowel and one or more consonants.

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tilde
A mark (~) used in Spanish over an n to indicate the ny sound.

Spanish Glossary
vowel
Any of the letters a, e, i, o, and u. The letter y is never a vowel in the Spanish language, unlike its use in English.