Daily routine in Spanish

A collection of common words to describe your daily routines and activities in Spanish. Let’s check out!

Daily routine vocabulary

• daily routine – rutina diaria
• to awaken – despertar (used to talk about someone or something that wakes a person, like your mother or an alarm clock.)

Note: If you want to talk about someone being woken up by something or someone else, use reflexive pronouns such as me or te to indicate who is being awoken. In this case, the verb isn’t reflexive.

E.g: My mother wakes me up – Mi madre me despierta

• to wake up – despertarse (used when someone has woken up without provocation)

E.g: I wake up in the morning – Me despierto en la mañana

• get up – levantarse
• wash one’s face – lavarse la cara
• brush one’s teeth – cepillarse los dientes (Me lavo los dientes – I wash/brush my teeth)
• have a shower – ducharse (I have a shower – Me duchowear – vestir)
• get dressed – vestirse (I get dressed – Me visto)
• put on clothes – ponerse la ropa
• shave – afeitarse (I shave – me afeito; Do you shave? – ¿te afeitas?)
• put makeup on oneself – Maquillarse/pintarse
• have a shower – ducharse (I have a shower – me ducho)
• bath – bañarse

If can use this Spanish dictionary online to search for meanings of words in both Spanish and English and expand your vocabulary.

Note:

You may have noticed that all these verbs end in -se. And they are reflexive. So the subject of the sentence performs an action on itself.

E.g: Me baño – I bath (I bath myself)

When conjugating these verbs, you have to add the reflexive pronouns (me/te/se/nos/os/se) in front of conjugated forms.

E.g:

Me lavo la cara, me cepillo los dientes y me ducho – I wash my face, I brush my teeth and I have a shower

• make the bed – hacer la cama
• I comb my hair – me peino
• eat – comer
• prepare the food – hacer la comida
• have breakfast – desayunar
• have lunch – almorzar
• have dinner – cenar
• rest – descanso
• leave the house – salir de casa (Salgo de casa a las ocho. – I leave home at 8 o’clock)
• arrive home – llegar a casa
• take off one’s clothes – quitarse la ropa
• go to bed – acostarse
• fall asleep – dormirse
• go to work – trabajar
• study – estudiar
• watch television – ver la televisión/ver la tele
• listen to music – escuchar música
• kiss – besarse
• hug – abrazarse
• go to school – ir a la escuela
• drive – manejar
• catch the bus – tomar el autobús
• do some exercise – hacer ejercicio
• do the homework – hacer la tarea
• set the alarm clock – poner el despertador