Spanish Neighborhood Vocabulary

Places in Spanish: essential neighborhood vocabulary includes common places such as el supermercado, la farmacia, el banco, and la estación de metro. Learn the most useful places in Spanish, their gender, and simple A1–A2 phrases for describing what is near your home.

Essential neighborhood places

These are the most useful places to learn first at A1.

Spanish	English
la tienda	shop / store
el supermercado	supermarket
la panadería	bakery
la farmacia	pharmacy
el café	café
el bar	bar / café-bar
el restaurante	restaurant
el banco	bank
la oficina de correos	post office
el parque	park

Examples

• Hay un supermercado cerca de mi casa. — There is a supermarket near my house.
• La farmacia está al lado del banco. — The pharmacy is next to the bank.
• Hay una panadería en mi barrio. — There is a bakery in my neighborhood.
• Vamos a tomar un café en el bar. — Let’s have a coffee at the bar.

Public transport

Spanish	English
el metro	metro / subway
la estación de metro	metro station
el tren	train
la estación de tren	train station
el autobús	bus
la parada de autobús	bus stop

A useful distinction:

• estación is normally used for trains and metro systems.
• parada is normally used for bus stops.

Examples

• La estación de metro está cerca. — The metro station is nearby.
• Hay una parada de autobús delante del supermercado. — There is a bus stop in front of the supermarket.
• Voy al trabajo en metro. — I go to work by metro.

Other useful places

These words become especially useful as you move through A1 and A2.

Spanish	English
la biblioteca	library
el gimnasio	gym
el hospital	hospital
el centro de salud	health center
la escuela	school
el colegio	school
la universidad	university
el mercado	market
la peluquería	hair salon
la comisaría	police station
el hotel	hotel
el centro comercial	shopping center / mall

Examples

• Estudio en la biblioteca por la tarde. — I study at the library in the afternoon.
• Voy al gimnasio tres veces por semana. — I go to the gym three times a week.
• Hay un mercado pequeño cerca de aquí. — There is a small market near here.
• El centro de salud está a diez minutos. — The health center is ten minutes away.

Gender and articles

Spanish nouns have grammatical gender, so learn each place together with its article:

• el supermercado
• el banco
• el parque
• la farmacia
• la panadería
• la biblioteca

When you mean a / an, use un with masculine nouns and una with feminine nouns:

• un supermercado
• un banco
• una farmacia
• una biblioteca

Learning el supermercado instead of just supermercado makes the gender easier to remember.

Talking about your neighborhood

Hay + place

Use hay to say that something exists or is available.

hay + un / una + place

• Hay un parque cerca de mi casa. — There is a park near my house.
• Hay una farmacia en mi calle. — There is a pharmacy on my street.
• No hay ningún supermercado cerca. — There isn’t a supermarket nearby.

With plural nouns:

• Hay muchos restaurantes en mi barrio. — There are many restaurants in my neighborhood.

Saying where a place is

Once you have introduced a place with hay, you can use estar to say where that specific place is.

• Hay una farmacia cerca. La farmacia está al lado del banco.
  — There is a pharmacy nearby. The pharmacy is next to the bank.

Useful location expressions include:

Spanish	English
cerca de	near
lejos de	far from
al lado de	next to
delante de	in front of
detrás de	behind
enfrente de	opposite / across from
entre	between
a la derecha de	to the right of
a la izquierda de	to the left of

Examples

• El banco está al lado de la farmacia. — The bank is next to the pharmacy.
• La biblioteca está enfrente del parque. — The library is opposite the park.
• La parada de autobús está delante del supermercado. — The bus stop is in front of the supermarket.

Useful questions

These questions are useful when asking about places in a neighborhood:

• ¿Hay una farmacia cerca? — Is there a pharmacy nearby?
• ¿Dónde está la estación de metro? — Where is the metro station?
• ¿Hay algún supermercado por aquí? — Is there a supermarket around here?
• ¿Dónde está la parada de autobús? — Where is the bus stop?
• ¿Qué hay cerca de tu casa? — What is there near your home?

Talk about what is near your home

A simple A1 pattern is:

Cerca de mi casa hay + place

• Cerca de mi casa hay un supermercado y una farmacia.
• En mi barrio hay muchos cafés y restaurantes.
• Hay un parque a cinco minutos de mi casa.
• La estación de metro está bastante cerca.
• No hay ningún gimnasio cerca de mi casa.

You can combine these patterns to give a short description:

Vivo en un barrio tranquilo. Cerca de mi casa hay un supermercado, una farmacia y varios cafés. También hay un parque. La estación de metro está a unos diez minutos.

I live in a quiet neighborhood. Near my house there is a supermarket, a pharmacy, and several cafés. There is also a park. The metro station is about ten minutes away.

Quick review

For A1–A2, focus on being able to:

• name the most common places in a neighborhood;
• use the correct el / la article;
• use hay to say what is in an area;
• use estar to say where a specific place is;
• use expressions such as cerca de, al lado de, and enfrente de;
• ask simple questions such as ¿Hay una farmacia cerca? and ¿Dónde está el metro?