Buy a House in Spanish

Quick Answer

¡Hola!Learn how to buy a house in Spanish in this article and the lessons above! Specifically, learn how to do the following in Spanish:

• use the term ojalá, with and without que, to express wishes

• talk about wishes and desires in the past

• use vocabulary related to purchasing a house

Vocabulary

Let's start off with the vocab words in these lessons!

Adjectives

Spanish	English
aislado	insulated
pintado	painted
ubicado	located

examples
Ojalá que estuviera bien aislada. I hoped it would be well insulated.
Ojalá que estuviera recién pintada. I hoped it would be freshly painted.
Buscaba una casa que estuviera bien ubicada. I was looking for a house that was well located.

Adverb Phrase

Spanish	English
a gusto	comfortable

examples
No encontré casas que me hicieran sentir a gusto. I didn't find houses that made me feel comfortable.

Nouns

Spanish	English
el almacenaje	storage
la buhardilla	attic
el electrodoméstico	appliance
el estado	shape
la modificación	modification
la orientación	position
el patio	patio
la reforma	renovation
el sistema	system

examples
Ojalá tuviera un sótano para almacenaje. I hoped it would have a basement for storage.
No encontré casas que tuvieran buhardilla. I didn't find houses that had an attic.
Buscaba una casa que incluyera electrodomésticos. I was looking for a house that included appliances.

Noun Phrases

Spanish	English
las buenas vibraciones	good vibes
la energía solar	solar energy

examples
Buscaba una casa que emitiera buenas vibraciones. I was looking for a house that gave off good vibes.
Ojalá que contara con energía solar. I hoped it would use solar energy.

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Spanish	English
aislar	to isolate
emitir	to give off
garantizar	to guarantee

Aislar

Aislar(to isolate) is an -ar verb that is regular in the imperfect subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	aislara	I isolated
tú	aislaras	you isolated	informal singular you
vos	aislaras	you isolated	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	aislara	he, she isolated
usted	aislara	you isolated	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	aisláramos	we isolated
vosotros, vosotras	aislarais	you isolated	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	aislaran	they isolated
ustedes	aislaran	you isolated	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Emitir

Emitir(to give off) is an -ir verb that is regular in the imperfect subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	emitiera	I gave off
tú	emitieras	you gave off	informal singular you
vos	emitieras	you gave off	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	emitiera	he, she gave off
usted	emitiera	you gave off	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	emitiéramos	we gave off
vosotros, vosotras	emitierais	you gave off	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	emitieran	they gave off
ustedes	emitieran	you gave off	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Garantizar

Garantizar(to guarantee) is an -ar verb that is regular in the imperfect subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	garantizara	I guaranteed
tú	garantizaras	you guaranteed	informal singular you
vos	garantizaras	you guaranteed	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	garantizara	he, she guaranteed
usted	garantizara	you guaranteed	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	garantizáramos	we guaranteed
vosotros, vosotras	garantizarais	you guaranteed	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	garantizaran	they guaranteed
ustedes	garantizaran	you guaranteed	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Verb Phrases

In this skill, you learn the following verb phrases!

Spanish	English
contar con	to have
dejar sin aliento	to take someone's breath away
salirse de	to go over

Contar Con

Contar con(to have) is an -ar verb phrase that is regular in the imperfect subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	contara con	I had
tú	contaras con	you had	informal singular you
vos	contaras con	you had	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	contara con	he, she had
usted	contara con	you had	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	contáramos con	we had
vosotros, vosotras	contarais con	you had	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	contaran con	they had
ustedes	contaran con	you had	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Dejar Sin Aliento

Dejar sin aliento(to take someone’s breath away) is an -ar verb phrase that is regular in the imperfect subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	dejara sin aliento	I took someone's breath away
tú	dejaras sin aliento	you took someone's breath away	informal singular you
vos	dejaras sin aliento	you took someone's breath away	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	dejara sin aliento	he, she took someone's breath away
usted	dejara sin aliento	you took someone's breath away	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	dejáramos sin aliento	we took someone's breath away
vosotros, vosotras	dejarais sin aliento	you took someone's breath away	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	dejaran sin aliento	they took someone's breath away
ustedes	dejaran sin aliento	you took someone's breath away	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Salirse De

Salirse de(to go over) is an -ir pronominal verb phrase that is regular in the imperfect subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me saliera de	I went over
tú	te salieras de	you went over	informal singular you
vos	te salieras de	you went over	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se saliera de	he, she went over
usted	se saliera de	you went over	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos saliéramos de	we went over
vosotros, vosotras	os salierais de	you went over	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se salieran de	they went over
ustedes	se salieran de	you went over	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

The Imperfect Subjunctive

The imperfect subjunctive (el imperfecto de subjuntivo) follows many of the same rules as the present subjunctive. Introduced with a preterite, imperfect, conditional, or past perfect WEIRDO verb in the independent clause, the imperfect subjunctive often refers to a previous experience, but can also refer to unlikely events or possibilities.

Finding the Imperfect Subjunctive Stem

The imperfect subjunctive uses the third person plural of the preterite (minus the -ron). The third person preterite form of a verb, whether regular or irregular, becomes the base for the imperfect subjunctive stem.

Imperfect Subjunctive Endings

When conjugating the imperfect subjunctive, you can choose from two different sets of endings. Both are correct, though the first set, whose yo ending is -ra, is more widespread. For this reason, we use the -ra endings in these lessons.

Subject	Subjunctive 1 Endings	Subjunctive 2 Endings
yo	-ra	-se
tú	-ras	-ses
él, ella, usted	-ra	-se
nosotros, nosotras	-ramos	-semos
vosotros, vosotras	-rais	-seis
ellos, ellas, ustedes	-ran	-sen

Imperfect Subjunctive Uses

The imperfect subjunctive can be used to talk about past occurrences, current opinions of past events, doubts and wishes, as well as in if clauses and polite requests.

Ojalá

Ojaláis followed by a verb in the subjunctive whether or not it is used with the conjunction que.

Ojalá is a Spanish word of Arabic origin. Originally, it meant something like Oh, Allah and may have been used in prayers. In modern times, it has taken on several more general meanings, such as I hope/pray to God, God willing, I hope, I wish or if only. When followed by a verb in the imperfect subjunctive, its meaning is also in the past:

examples
Ojalá tuviera un buen sistema de calefacción. I hoped it would have a good heating system.
Ojalá que tuviera un buen patio. I hoped it would have a nice patio.

Learn more about the imperfect subjunctive in this article!

Arabic had an enormous influence on peninsular Spanish. Learn more in this article!

Quiz Yourself!

Want more practice with the vocabulary you learned in these lessons? Click here!

Spanish Conversation

Fantastic! Let's put the grammar and vocab from above to the test in the following example of a conversation in Spanish.

Francisco:

Queríamos comprarnos una casa. ¿Qué buscabas tú, Carolina?

We wanted to buy a house. What were you looking for, Carolina?

Carolina:

Ojalá no necesitara muchas reparaciones.

I hoped it wouldn't need a lot of repairs.

Francisco:

Sí. Es importante. Yo buscaba una casa que fuera asequible.

Yeah. That’s important. I was looking for a house that was affordable.

Carolina:

Buscaba una casa que emitiera buenas vibraciones.

I was looking for a house that gave off good vibes.

Francisco:

No me importan las vibraciones de la casa. Ojalá no se saliera de mi presupuesto. No encontré casas que fueran asequibles.

I don’t care about the house’s vibes. I hoped it wouldn't go over my budget. I didn't find houses that were affordable.

Carolina:

Yo buscaba una casa que estuviera bien ubicada.

I was looking for a house that was well located.

Want to learn more about how to buy a house in Spanish? Check out the following articles!

• How to Rent an Apartment in Spanish

• How to Write an Address in Spanish

• How to Buy a Car in Spanish

• Spanish Imperfect Subjunctive