The short version
- People rarely say "What are your hobbies?" in Spanish. They ask ¿Qué haces en tu tiempo libre?
- Use jugar for sports and games, tocar for instruments and hacer for most other activities.
- Llevo… años, Me he apuntado a… and Se me da bien… turn a one-word answer into something people can ask about.
There isn't really an everyday Spanish word for "hobby". You'll hear hobby and afición, but when people want to know about your hobbies in Spanish, they usually just ask what you do in your free time. And they ask it a lot. It comes up with colleagues, new friends, language exchange partners and people you meet at parties.
That makes it one of the most useful topics to prepare. You'll get asked it again and again, and a good answer can carry a conversation for ten minutes.
How people will ask
Learn to recognise the question in all its forms. They all mean roughly the same thing.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| ¿Qué haces en tu tiempo libre? | What do you do in your free time? |
| ¿Qué te gusta hacer? | What do you like doing? |
| ¿Tienes algún hobby? | Have you got any hobbies? |
| ¿Haces algún deporte? | Do you do any sport? |
| ¿Qué sueles hacer los fines de semana? | What do you usually do at weekends? |
The last one is sneaky. It sounds like a question about your weekend, but it's really asking about your hobbies.
Jugar, tocar or hacer?
English uses "play" for both sports and instruments. Spanish splits them, and this is where most learners slip up.
| Verb | Used for | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| jugar a | Sports and games | Juego al pádel. Juego a las cartas. Juego al ajedrez. |
| tocar | Musical instruments | Toco la guitarra. Toco el piano. |
| hacer | Most other activities | Hago yoga. Hago senderismo. Hago punto. |
| ir a | Places and classes | Voy al gimnasio. Voy a clases de baile. |
| salir a | Going out to do something | Salgo a correr. Salgo en bici. |
In Spain, jugar is followed by a, and a + el becomes al: jugar al fútbol, jugar al tenis. You may hear jugar fútbol without the al from Latin American speakers, but in Spain the al is standard.
Juego la guitarra sounds like you're playing a game with it. With instruments, always use tocar: Toco la guitarra, Toco la batería (I play the drums).
Structures that make it a conversation
Me gusta leer is a correct answer. It's also a dead end. These structures add the detail that gives the other person something to ask about.
| Structure | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Me encanta + infinitive | I love… | Me encanta cocinar. |
| Llevo + time + -ando / -iendo | I've been… for… | Llevo dos años tocando la guitarra. |
| Me he apuntado a… | I've signed up for… / I've joined… | Me he apuntado a clases de salsa. |
| Se me da bien / mal… | I'm good / bad at… | Se me da fatal bailar. |
| Soy muy de… | I'm really into… | Soy muy de series. |
| Quedo con… para… | I meet up with… to… | Quedo con unos amigos para jugar al pádel. |
Me he apuntado a is very common in Spain. People sign up to everything: al gimnasio, a un curso de cerámica, a un club de lectura. If you've just started something new, it's the natural way to say so.
Soy muy de… is informal and very Spain. Soy muy de playa, Soy muy de quedarme en casa. It's a quick way to say what kind of person you are.
Building a full answer
Start with the basic sentence and add a piece at a time. Say the whole thing each time.
- Juego al pádel.I play padel.
- Juego al pádel dos veces por semana.I play padel twice a week.
- Juego al pádel dos veces por semana con unos compañeros de trabajo.I play padel twice a week with some people from work.
- Juego al pádel dos veces por semana con unos compañeros de trabajo, pero se me da fatal.I play padel twice a week with some people from work, but I'm terrible at it.
That last bit is a good hook. Admitting you're bad at something makes people laugh and ask more. There's more on adding hooks to your answers in how to keep a conversation going in Spanish.
Here's how a full conversation might go:
If you want to say how much you like something, me gusta and me encanta work differently from English "like" and "love". That's covered in me gusta vs me encanta.
Do your hobby in Spanish
Here's the most useful trick for this topic. The fastest way to learn the words for your hobby is to do the hobby in Spanish for a while.
If you do yoga, follow a Spanish yoga class on YouTube. If you cook, follow a recipe in Spanish. If you watch football, put on the Spanish commentary. If you play an instrument, find a lesson video in Spanish. You'll hear the exact words people use for your hobby, and you'll hear them while you're doing it, which makes them much easier to remember.
After a week, you'll know words that no general vocab list would give you, like estiramiento (stretch) or sofreír (to fry lightly). Those are the words that make your answer sound like it comes from someone who actually does the hobby.
If you live in Spain, you'll hear about pádel a lot. It's a racket sport played in doubles on a small walled court, and it's very popular here. If a colleague asks ¿Juegas al pádel?, it's often an invitation.
Recap
- People ask ¿Qué haces en tu tiempo libre? more than "What are your hobbies?"
- Use jugar al for sports and games, tocar for instruments and hacer for most other things.
- Add detail with llevo… años, me he apuntado a and se me da bien / mal.
- Build your answer up one piece at a time, and add a hook at the end.
- Do your hobby in Spanish for a week to learn the real words for it.
Hobbies is one of the themes in 100 Spanish Conversations, with flashcards, sentence building and a conversation to practise it out loud. If you want to tell other learners about yours, post it in the community on Skool.
Leeroy studied Spanish for years before moving to Spain and finding he couldn't hold a conversation. He built Basically Spanish around the method that fixed it. Questions? leeroy@basicallyspanish.com