Talking about family and a pet | Learn Spanish in English

Spanish lesson set in a contemporary Madrid everyday setting: In a language classroom, two adults talk about living with a child and having a pet at home..

EN → ES / Level: A1

About This Lesson

Use Talking about family and a pet to practice Spanish conversation, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and quizzes.

Dialogue

A

¿Vives con tu familia?

BEE-bes kon too fa-MEE-lya Do you live with family?
B

Vivo con mi hijo.

BEE-boh kon mee EE-hoh I live with my child.
A

¿También hay una mascota en casa?

tahm-BYEN eye OO-nah mahs-KOH-tah en KAH-sah Is there a pet at home too?
B

Tenemos un perro pequeño.

teh-NEH-mohs oon PEH-rroh peh-KEH-nyoh We have a small dog.
A

¿Cómo se llevan?

KOH-moh seh YEH-bahn How do they get along?
B

Juegan juntos todos los días.

HWEH-gahn HOON-tohs TOH-dohs lohs DEE-ahs They play together every day.

Word by Word

Vives In ¿Vives con tu familia?, Vives means “you live” and asks one person about their living situation. It is the form used with tú in this question. A reusable pattern is ¿Vives con + person or group? when asking whom someone lives with.
con Con means “with” in ¿Vives con tu familia? and Vivo con mi hijo. It links vivir to the person or group someone lives with. A common reuse pattern is the verb for “live” followed by con and a person or group.
tu Tu means “your” in tu familia and identifies the family connected to the person being addressed. It appears before the noun it specifies. A common pattern is tu + singular noun when referring to something belonging to one person.
familia Familia means “family” in tu familia. Here it refers to the family the person may live with. It can be used after a possessive word to talk about someone’s family.
Vivo In Vivo con mi hijo., Vivo means “I live” and states where or with whom the speaker lives. It is the form used for the speaker. A reusable pattern is Vivo con + person or group.
mi Mi means “my” in mi hijo and shows that the child belongs to or is connected with the speaker. It appears directly before the noun it specifies. A common pattern is mi + singular noun when referring to something connected with one person.
hijo Hijo means “child” here in mi hijo and identifies the child the speaker lives with. In this phrase, mi comes before hijo to show the relationship to the speaker. It is useful when talking about a child or son in a family context.
También También means “also” or “too” in ¿También hay una mascota en casa? It adds the pet question to the earlier topic about family and living arrangements. It can be used to add another fact or question to an ongoing conversation.
hay Hay means “there is” or “there are” in hay una mascota and says that a pet is present at home. It is used to introduce something that exists or is located somewhere. A common pattern is hay + noun when saying that something is present.
una Una means “a” in una mascota. It appears before mascota and identifies one unspecified pet. The form una is used before the singular noun mascota.
mascota Mascota means “pet” in una mascota. Here it refers to an animal kept at home as a companion. It is useful when talking generally about a household pet.
en En means “at” or “in” in en casa and introduces the place where the pet is. Here it connects the location to casa rather than expressing the whole meaning of “at home” by itself. It is commonly used before a place.
casa Casa means “home” or “house” in en casa. In this dialogue, it names the home as the location of the pet. The expression en casa is used when saying that someone or something is at home.
Tenemos In Tenemos un perro pequeño., Tenemos means “we have” and states that the speakers have a dog. It is the form used for the speaker together with at least one other person. A reusable pattern is Tenemos + thing or person.
un Un means “a” in un perro and introduces one unspecified dog. It appears before perro and matches the singular masculine noun in this phrase. A common pattern is un + singular masculine noun.
perro Perro means “dog” in un perro pequeño. Here it identifies the pet that the speakers have. It is useful for talking about a dog as an animal or household pet.
pequeño Pequeño means “small” in perro pequeño and describes the dog’s size. In this phrase, it comes after perro and adds information about the pet. It is useful when describing the size of an animal or object.
Cómo Cómo means “how” in ¿Cómo se llevan? and asks about the way two people or animals relate to each other. It introduces a question about their relationship in this dialogue. A common pattern is ¿Cómo + verb...? when asking how something happens or how someone is doing something.
se llevan Se llevan as a whole means “get along” in ¿Cómo se llevan? and asks about the relationship between the child and the dog. Se marks the pronominal form used in this expression, while llevan is the verb form used with the plural subjects. A reusable pattern is ¿Cómo se llevan? when asking how people or animals relate to one another.
Juegan In Juegan juntos todos los días., Juegan means “they play” and describes what the child and dog do. It is the form used for the plural subjects. It can be used to say that several people or animals play.
juntos Juntos means “together” in Juegan juntos todos los días and shows that the subjects share the action. It adds the idea that they play with one another rather than separately. It is useful after an action when emphasizing a shared activity.
todos Todos means “every” in todos los días. Together with los días, it forms the time expression “every day” in the dialogue. Use todos los días to say that an action happens each day.
los Los means “the” in los días and appears before the plural noun días. It is part of the expression todos los días. A common pattern is los + plural noun when referring to specific plural things.
días Días means “days” in todos los días. In this expression, it refers to each day on which the child and dog play. Together with todos, it forms a common way to say that something happens every day.

Grammar Points

perro pequeño

perro pequeño

PEH-rroh peh-KEH-nyoh

small dog

In Spanish, adjectives usually come after the noun and agree with it in gender and number.

se llevan

Se llevan.

seh YEH-bahn

They get along.

Se llevan is a fixed expression meaning “get along”; se is part of the expression, not a separate word for “they.”

Spanish Vocabulary

casa noun
KAH-sah home; house

¿También hay una mascota en casa?

familia noun
fa-MEE-lya family

¿Vives con tu familia?

hay verb
eye there is; there are

¿También hay una mascota en casa?

hijo noun
EE-hoh child; son

Vivo con mi hijo.

mascota noun
mahs-KOH-tah pet

¿También hay una mascota en casa?

pequeño adj
peh-KEH-nyoh small

Tenemos un perro pequeño.

perro noun
PEH-rroh dog

Tenemos un perro pequeño.

se llevan phrase
seh YEH-bahn get along

¿Cómo se llevan?

también adv
tahm-BYEN also; too

¿También hay una mascota en casa?

tenemos verb
teh-NEH-mohs we have

Tenemos un perro pequeño.

vives verb
BEE-bes you live

¿Vives con tu familia?

vivo verb
BEE-boh I live

Vivo con mi hijo.

Quiz

Word Order

Arrange the words in the correct order.

Do you live with family?

Show Answer¿Vives con tu familia?

I live with my child.

Show AnswerVivo con mi hijo.

Is there a pet at home too?

Show Answer¿También hay una mascota en casa?

Spelling

Tap the letters to spell the word.

we have

Show Answertenemos

pet

Show Answermascota

I live

Show Answervivo

child; son

Show Answerhijo