Describing healthy habits in Spanish

• Use the present tense to talk about what you currently do to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

• Adverbs of frequency can be used to say how often you do things.

• This guide contains listening and reading practice.

Useful verbs for describing a healthy lifestyle include:

For example:

Para llevar una vida sana, los médicos recomiendan dormir ocho horas cada noche. – For a healthy life doctors recommend sleeping eight hours each night.

All Spanish verbs end in either ar, er or ir. This form of the verb is called the infinitive.

For example:

descansar - to rest

comer - to eat

vivir - to live

When using verbs, you will need to be able to conjugate them. Conjugating a verb means changing the infinitive ending to match the subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, ella etc).

Remember

In Spanish there is a unique verb ending for each subject pronoun, so the verb ending tells you who is doing the action.

For this reason, you don’t always need to use subject pronouns in Spanish.

To conjugate regular verbs, remove the ar, er or ir ending from the infinitive and add the unique ending that goes with each subject pronoun to the stem.

Click or tap on Show more to see how to conjugate the regular verbs in Spanish.

Find out more about about using the regular verbs in the Present tense of regular verbs guide.

Listen to two people talk about healthy living and answer the questions.

Mario is talking about what he does to keep fit and healthy.

Now listen to Nadia.

Useful sentences to describe changing habits and routines include:

All Foundation Tier vocabulary listed in this guide can be found on the vocabulary sheet below.

Useful adverbs to describe frequency and routines include:

For example:

Voy al gimnasio tres veces a la semana. – I go to the gym three times a week.

Monto en bicicleta cada fin de semana. – I go cycling every weekend.

Como pescado una vez a la semana porque es bueno para la salud. – I eat fish once a week because it’s good for your health.

Tomo cinco raciones de fruta y verduras cada día. – I have five portions of fruit and vegetables every day.

On a Spanish forum, two young people are talking about their lifestyle.

Read the extracts and decide:

Which part of each writer’s lifestyle is good?

Which part needs to improve?

Gaby

Es importante dormir lo suficiente y normalmente duermo por lo menos ocho horas. Necesito reducir el estrés* en mi vida porque me preocupan demasiado los exámenes.

Omar

Estoy en forma. Hago muchas actividades deportivas por ejemplo voy al gimnasio tres veces a la semana y juego en el equipo de fútbol de mi colegio. Sé que tomo muchas bebidas que están llenas de azúcar y tengo que tomar menos de éstas en el futuro.

*estrés = stress

Click or tap on the image below for a list of useful vocabulary to use when describing healthy habits.

For example:

Si quieres mantenerte en forma es importante hacer ejercicio físico. - If you want to stay fit, it is important to exercise.

Se recomienda relajarse de vez en cuando si quieres evitar el estrés. - It is recommended to relax from time to time if you want to avoid stress.

All vocabulary listed in this guide can be found on the vocabulary sheet below.

Click or tap on the image below for a list of useful Higher Tier vocabulary to use when describing healthy habits.

Now you have practised the key vocabulary and grammar needed for talking about healthy habits, why not have a look at the Describing accomodation in Spanish guide?