Shapes and locations of things in Spanish
Las formas y la ubicación de las cosas.
Click here to learn the names of some shapes in Spanish and to hear their pronunciation.
Sometimes you want to say that things are round or triangular instead of just naming a shape, here are some examples.
Es redondo/a. It’s round.
Es rectangular. It’s rectangular.
Es cuadrado/a. It’s square.
Es triangular. It’s triangular.
Es una esfera. It’s a sphere.
Tiene forma de bumerán. It’s boomerang shaped.
If you want to talk about the size of things you could use some of these words:
size tamaño
huge enorme
large grande
long largo
medium mediano
narrow estrecho
short corto
small pequeño
tiny pequeñito
wide ancho
It’s medium sized. Es de tamaño mediano/a.
It’s large. Es grande.
It’s very wide. Es muy ancho.
It isn’t very long. No es muy largo.
When you want to talk about where something is you might find the following words/phrases handy …
Está …. It is ….
Cuelga … It’s hanging from …
Está a mi derecha. It’s on my right ….
On/To the left …. A la izquierda ….
On/To the right …. A la derecha ….
Straight ahead. Todo seguido ….
Next to, beside, near Junto a ….
Besides …. Al lado de ….
Opposite …. / Across from … / Facing … En frente de
In front of … Delante de …
Behind … Detrás de …
Near (to) … Cerca (de) …
Far (from) … Lejos (de) …
On top of …. Encima de …
Over / Above … Sobre …
Under …. Bajo … / Debajo de …
On/In … En …
Inside … Adentro de …
Everywhere … Por todas partes …
EXERCISE
Now try looking around your room and see if you can describe objects by their shapes or their locations to other things.
Try looking around your room and answering these questions:
¿Dónde está el escritorio? Where is the desk?
Example. El escritorio está al lado de la cama.
The desk is next to the bed.
¿Dónde están las cortinas? Where are the curtains?
Las cortinas están delante de la ventana.
The curtains are in front of the window.
¿Dónde está el ventilador? Where is the fan?
El ventilador cuelga del techo.
The fan is hanging from the ceiling.
And finally ….
If you want to know the colour of something you say …
¿De qué colour son las cortinas? (Of) What colour are the curtains?
¿De qué color es la alfombra? (Of) What colour is the carpet?
And to answer …
Las cortinas son de color rojo. The curtains are red.
La alfombra es de color azul. The carpet is blue.
Now test yourself on the Spanish prepositions of place with these flashcards.