
Daily Routine in Spanish: 60 Words You Should Know
Travel phrases will come in handy when you’re gallivanting about in Spanish-speaking countries.
Food words will help you navigate your way around even the most advanced Spanish-language restaurant menus.
But when it comes to vocabulary that you can use every day, there’s nothing quite like Spanish daily routine vocabulary.
Contents
- Morning Routine Spanish Vocabulary
- Hygiene Spanish Vocabulary
- Meal Time Spanish Vocabulary
- Bedtime Routine Spanish Vocabulary
- Activity Routine Spanish Vocabulary
- Vocabulary for Adding Details to Your Routine
- Reflexive Verbs and Daily Routine
- How to Practice Daily Routine Vocabulary
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Morning Routine Spanish Vocabulary
- Despertarse — To wake up
Me despierto en la mañana. (I wake up in the morning.)
- Levantarse — To get up
Me levanté a las ocho y media. (I got out of bed at eight thirty.)
- Hacer la cama — To make the bed
Hago la cama todos los días. (I make the bed every day.)
- Vestirse — To get dressed
Puedo vestirme muy rápido. (I can get dressed very fast.)
- Ponerse — To put on (clothes)
Me pongo la camisa después de ducharme. (I put on my shirt after I shower.)
- Afeitarse — To shave
Él tiene que afeitarse cada mañana. (He has to shave each morning.)
- Maquillarse /pintarse — To put on makeup
No tengo tiempo para maquillarme en la mañana. (I don’t have time to put makeup on in the morning.)
- Ir a… — To go to…
Enrique va a la escuela a las siete. (Enrique goes to school at seven.)
Hygiene Spanish Vocabulary
- Ducharse — To take a shower
Ella prefiere ducharse por la noche. (She prefers to shower at night.)
- Bañarse — To take a bath
Tu te bañas cada mañana. (You take a bath each morning.)
- Lavarse — To clean/wash oneself
Me lavo las manos después de ir al baño. (I wash my hands after going to the bathroom.)
- Lavarse /cepillarse los dientes — To brush one’s teeth
Me cepillo los dientes dos veces al día. (I brush my teeth twice a day.)
- Cepillarse el pelo — To brush one’s hair
Se cepilla el pelo antes de irse a la escuela. (She brushes her hair before leaving for school.)
- Peinarse — To comb one’s hair, to do your hair
No me gusta peinarme. (I don’t like to comb my hair.)
Mi madre me peina. (My mom does my hair.)
Meal Time Spanish Vocabulary
- Comer — To eat
Comemos juntos una vez por semana. (We eat together once a week.)
- Hacer la comida — To make food
Yo hago la comida cuando tengo hambre. (I make food when I’m hungry.)
- Desayunar — To eat breakfast
¿Te gustaría desayunar conmigo el viernes? (Would you like to eat breakfast with me on Friday?)
- Almorzar — To eat lunch
Voy a almorzar con mis amigos cada semana. (I go and have lunch with my friends every week.)
- Cenar — To eat dinner
Mis abuelos salen para cenar los viernes. (My grandparents go out for dinner on Fridays.)
- Tomar un descanso — To rest, to take a break
Tomo un descanso a las cinco. (I take a break at 5.)
- Merendar — To have an afternoon snack/tea
Los ingleses merendan cada tarde. (The English have a tea break every afternoon.)
- Picar — To snack on
Los niños pican papas fritas cuando llegan en la tarde. (The kids snack on potato chips when they arrive in the afternoon.)
Bedtime Routine Spanish Vocabulary
- Llegar a casa — To arrive home
Llegué a casa a las once. (I got home at eleven.)
- Quitarse la ropa — To take off one’s clothes
Me quito la ropa después del trabajo. (I take my clothes off after work.)
- Desvestirse — To undress oneself
Te desvistes antes de ducharte. (You get undressed before you shower.)
- Desnudarse — To get naked
Ella se desnuda antes de ducharse. (She undresses before taking a shower.)
- Acostarse — To go to bed, to lie down
El niño se acuesta a las ocho. (The child goes to bed at 8.)
- Dormirse — To fall asleep
Me duermo temprano. (I fall asleep early.)
Activity Routine Spanish Vocabulary
- Trabajar — To work
Me voy a trabajar a las ocho. (I go to work at 8.)
- Estudiar — To study
Estudias treinta minutos cada día. (You study 30 minutes every day.)
- Ver la televisión — To watch TV
Vemos la televisión mientras cenamos. (We watch TV while we eat dinner.)
- Escuchar música — To listen to music
Ellos escuchan música a las 5 a. m. y lo odio. (They listen to music at 5AM and I hate it.)
- Mandar mensajes — To send texts
Ella me manda mensajes después de trabajar cada noche. (She sends me texts after work every night.)
- Leer — To read
Intento leer al menos quince minutos cada día. (I try to read at least 15 minutes a day.)
Vocabulary for Adding Details to Your Routine
So we’ve got the main routine words down, but what if you want to describe them a little more—for example, tell someone when or how often you do said routine?
Here are some extra vocabulary words that might come in handy for expressing your routine with a bit more accuracy.
- Día — Day
Trabajo cada día. (I work every day.)
- Semana — Week
Trabajo durante la semana. (I work during the week.)
- Mes — Month
Ella visita a su abuela una vez al mes. (She visits her grandma once a month.)
- Año — Year
Tienes que ver el doctor una vez al año. (You have to see the doctor one time each year.)
- Lunes — Monday
El lunes es el primer día de la semana laboral. (Monday is the first day of the work week.)
- Martes — Tuesday
Mis padres salen a cenar los martes. (My parents go out for dinner on Tuesdays.)
- Miércoles — Wednesday
Ella no trabaja los miércoles. (She doesn’t work on Wednesdays.)
- Jueves — Thursday
Necesitamos ir al supermercado el jueves. (We need to go to the supermarket on Thursday.)
- Viernes — Friday
Hay una fiesta el viernes. (There’s a party on Friday.)
- Sábado — Saturday
¿Quieres ir al cine el sábado? (Do you want to go to the movies on Saturday?)
- Domingo — Sunday
Mi familia va a la iglesia los domingos. (My family goes to church on Sundays.)
- A veces — Sometimes
A veces voy al aeropuerto y veo los aviones. (Sometimes I go to the airport and watch the planes.)
- Normalmente — Normally
Normalmente voy al gym a las 5 p. m. (I normally go to the gym at 5pm.)
- Cada — Each/every
Ella hace huevos cada mañana. (She makes eggs every morning.)
- Hoy — Today
Hoy voy a escuela. (I’m going to school today.)
- Mañana — Tomorrow
Ana tiene una entrevista mañana. (Ana has an interview tomorrow.)
- Ayer — Yesterday
Ayer fui a trabajar después del desayuno. (I went to work after breakfast yesterday.)
- Luego — Later
Nos vamos a juntar luego. (We’re going to meet up later.)
- Ahora — Now
Nos vamos ahora. (We’re leaving now.)
- Más tarde — Later
Ellos van a salir más tarde. (They’re going to go out later.)
- Antes de — Before
Leo antes de tener que ir al trabajo. (I read before I have to go to work.)
- Después de — After
Vas a cocinar la cena después de la fiesta. (You’re going to cook dinner after the party.)
- Entonces — Then
Entonces entendí lo que había pasado. (Then I understood what had happened.)
- Después — Then
Vamos a cenar y después iremos a bailar. (We’re going to have dinner and then we’re going dancing.)
- Ya — Already
¿Ya te cepillaste los dientes? (Did you brush your teeth already?)
- Durante — During
Mi padre duerme durante sus reuniones de trabajo. (My dad sleeps during his work meetings.)
Reflexive Verbs and Daily Routine
You probably noticed that a lot of these words end in se, which means they’re reflexive verbs. This is the verb type we use when the agent of the action is acting on his or her own self.
When an agent is acting on someone else, we might still use pronouns like me, te and le to indicate who is being acted upon, but the verb is no longer reflexive.
Let’s look at the difference between despertar and despertarse (to wake up).
If we’re going to use the reflexive version of this verb, then the acting agent must be the same as who the agent is acting upon, so you’ll start with the reflexive infinitive verb despertarse and turn that into:
Me despierto (I wake up)
Te despiertas (You wake up)
Se despierta (He/she wakes up)
To indicate that someone is acting on someone else, you might have:
Ella despierta a Juan (She wakes up Juan)
Mi madre me despierta (My mother wakes me up)
Te despierto (I wake you up)
How to Practice Daily Routine Vocabulary
Now that we’ve gone over these new vocabulary words, let’s look at some different ways you can practice these words and a few different resources you can use:
- Create a daily journal. Write about what you’ve done each day, using these words to describe your own routine. As you write, you’ll become accustomed to describing your day with your new vocabulary words.
- Listen to these words in use. This will help you learn the words and how to pronounce them correctly. You can listen to native speakers talking about daily routines in Spanish with podcasts and YouTube, or on FluentU if you want a little extra support. The language learning program has hundreds of authentic Spanish videos (covering things like news reports, music videos and inspiring talks) which feature native speakers, and come with interactive subtitles to enhance your learning.
- Create flashcards. Flashcards are the tried-and-true method to learn vocabulary. You can create them by hand or use an app such as Anki.
As you can see, everyday vocabulary doesn’t have to be boring.
With these great words and phrases you can use to describe your daily routine, every day!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)