58 Words and Phrases to Discuss Hobbies in Spanish

Pasatiempo is “hobby” in Spanish, and talking about your pasatiempos means talking about something you love. Combine your passion for your hobby with your passion for Spanish learning and you will have double the motivation to learn.

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Key Vocabulary for Hobbies in Spanish

General Hobbies

Spanish	English	Example
El cine	Cinema, film	Me gusta el cine. (I like film.)
La televisión	Television	Ves la televisión todo el día. (You watch television all day.)
Cocinar	To cook	Mi madre cocina muy bien. (My mom cooks really well.)
Hornear	To bake	Me encanta hornear en invierno. (I love baking in the winter.)
Escribir	To write	Solíamos escribirnos cartas. (We used to write letters to each other.)
Leer	To read	Hacen un picnic y leen. (They have a picnic and read.)
Coleccionar	To collect	Colecciona las tarjetas de béisbol. (He collects baseball cards.)
Ir de compras	To go shopping	Vamos de compras con mi abuela. (We're going shopping with my grandma.)
Viajar	To travel	Me encanta viajar sola. (I love to traveling alone.)

Sports and Physical Activities

Spanish	English	Example
Los deportes	Sports	¿Juegas deportes? (Do you play sports?)
Correr	To run	Podemos correr por la mañana. (We can run in the morning.)
Nadar	To swim	Quiero nadar en el océano. (I want to swim in the ocean.)
Esquiar	To ski	Esquiaremos todo el invierno. (We will ski all winter.)
El karate	Karate	Él tiene clase de karate los lunes. (He has karate class on Mondays.)
El ciclismo	Cycling	Mi pasatiempo favorito es el ciclismo. (My favorite hobby is cycling.)
Bailar	To dance	Tú bailas competitivamente. (You dance competitively.)
Ejercitarse/hacer ejercicio	To exercise / to do exercise	Ejercitan en el gimnasio todos los días. (They exercise in the gym every day.)
Patinar	To skate	Me pidió que fuera a patinar sobre hielo. (He asked me to go ice skating.)
Jugar	To play	Jugué hockey en la universidad. (I played hockey in college.)
El fútbol	Soccer	Los niños están aquí para un torneo de fútbol. (The kids are here for a soccer tournament.)
El fútbol americano	American football	Quiere jugar al fútbol americano en Estados Unidos. (He wants to play American football in the United States.)
El baloncesto/el básquetbol	Basketball	Mi hermano juega básquetbol. (My brother plays basketball.)
El béisbol	Baseball	Vamos a jugar béisbol el viernes. (We're going to play baseball on Friday.)
El hockey	Hockey	A mi padre le encanta ver hockey. (My dad loves to watch hockey.)
El golf	Golf	Mis colegas juegan al golf todos los domingos. (My coworkers play golf every Sunday.)
El tenis	Tennis	Juego al tenis con mi padre después de la cena. (I play tennis with my dad after dinner.)

Visit this post for more sports vocabulary in Spanish: 

Outdoor Hobbies

Spanish	English	Example
Acampar	To camp	Vamos a acampar este fin de semana. (We're going camping this weekend.)
La jardinería	Gardening	La jardinería es el pasatiempo favorito de mi abuela. (Gardening is my grandma's favorite hobby.)
El excursionismo/el senderismo	Hiking	Mi papá y yo vamos de excursión todas las semanas. (My dad and I go hiking every week.)
La naturaleza	Nature	Me encanta pasar tiempo en la naturaleza. (I love spending time in nature.)
La observación de aves	Birdwatching	Hicieron un viaje de observación de aves por su aniversario. (They went on a birdwatching trip for their anniversary.)
Pescar	To fish	Ellos van a pescar mañana. (They're going fishing tomorrow.)
Cazar	To hunt	¿Te gusta cazar? (Do you like to hunt?)

Musical Hobbies

Spanish	English	Example
La música	Music	¿Cuál es tu tipo de música favorito? (What's your favorite type of music?)
Cantar	To sing	Ella canta en un coro. (She sings in a choir.)
Tocar	To play	Tocaba la guitarra cuando era joven. (I played the guitar when I was young.)
El instrumento	Instrument	¿Tocas algún instrumento? (Do you play any instruments?)
La guitarra	Guitar	El hombre que toca la guitarra es famoso. (The man who's playing the guitar is famous.)
El piano	Piano	Mi amiga está tomando clases de piano. (My friend is taking piano classes.)
Escuchar	To listen	Me gusta escuchar música mientras hago ejercicio. (I like to listen to music while I work out.)

Art-related Hobbies

Spanish	English	Example
El arte	Art	Quiero ir a un museo de arte. (I want to go to an art museum.)
Sacar fotos/tomar fotos	To take photos	Mi madre saca muchas fotos cuando viajamos. (My mom takes lots of pictures when we travel.)
La fotografía	Photography	Deberías probar la fotografía. (You should try photography.)
Dibujar	To draw	Estamos dibujando nuestras manos. (We're drawing our hands.)
Pintar	To paint	Estoy pintando algo para mi papá. (I'm painting something for my dad.)
Coser	To sew	Las abuelas cosen ropa para sus nietos. (The grandmas sew clothes for their grandkids.)
Tejer	To knit/weave/crochet	Puedes tejer muy rápidamente. (You can weave very quickly.)
El teatro	Theater	Mi abuela y yo vamos al teatro a menudo. (My grandma and I go to the theater often.)

How to Talk About Hobbies in Spanish

General questions and answers

If you want to ask someone what their hobby is, you can ask one of these questions.

Spanish	English
¿Tienes algún pasatiempo?	Do you have any hobbies?
¿Qué haces en tu tiempo libre?	What do you do in your free time?
¿Qué haces para divertirte?	What do you do for fun?
Mi pasatiempo favorito es pintar.	My favorite hobby is to paint.
Estoy interesado en la astronomía.	I'm interested (masculine) in astronomy.
Estoy interesada en la astronomía.	I'm interested (feminine) in astronomy.

Gustar (Like)

If you want to talk about what you like, you can use this grammar form. This can be a tricky grammar formulation as it uses Spanish indirect pronouns, but all it takes is practice!

Spanish	Pronoun
Me gusta	I
Te gusta	You (informal singular)
Le gusta	He She You (formal singular)
Nos gusta	We
Os gusta	You (informal plural)
Les gusta	They You (formal plural)

Verbs like gustar agree in number with the noun they’re referring to, not with the subject doing the liking. For example, Me gusta is used when the thing you like is singular, while me gustan is used when it’s plural.

You can use this structure with other verbs and use them with indirect pronouns, such as interesar (to interest), encantar (to love), or fascinar (to fascinate). 

Me gusta(n) — I like

Me gusta bailar. — I like to dance.

Me gustan los libros. — I like books.

Te gusta(n) — You (informal singular) like 

¿Te gusta cocinar? — Do you like to cook?

Te gustan las películas de terror. — You like horror movies.

Le gusta(n) — He/she likes, you (formal singular) like 

This one can mean “he likes,” “she likes,” or “you (formal) like.” This is contextual so it has to be clear who you are referring to. 

Le gusta leer. — He likes to read.

Le gustan los animales. — She likes animals.

Nos gusta(n) — We like

Nos gusta viajar. — We like to travel.

Nos gustan las películas de comedia. — We like comedy movies.

Os gusta(n) — You (informal plural) like

This is a bit less common and is only used in Spain. It’s the plural form of te gusta but addressing a group informally.

¿Os gusta el fútbol? — Do you all like soccer?

Os gustan los conciertos en vivo. — You all like live concerts.

Les gusta(n) — They/you (formal plural) like

Les gusta jugar al ajedrez. — They like to play chess.

Les gustan las frutas. — You like fruits.

If you want to use someone’s name or specify the pronoun, you can add “a” + name/pronoun first.

A mí me gusta cocinar. — I like to cook.

A Juan le gusta nadar. — Juan likes to swim.

A nosotros nos gusta bailar y a vosotros os gusta cantar. — We like to dance, and you like to sing.

Disfrutar/Amar (Enjoy/Love)

If you want to use simpler verb conjugations, try out the verbs disfrutar (to enjoy) or amar (to love)—which is even stronger than encantar—. These verbs follow the regular rules of Spanish verb conjugation. 

Conjugation	Pronoun
Yo amo	I
Tú amas	You (informal singular)
Él ama Ella ama Usted ama	He She You (formal singular)
Nosotros amamos	We
Vosotros amáis	You all (informal plural)
Ellos aman Ustedes aman	They You all (formal plural)

After amo, you can then put either a noun or a verb in its infinitive form, such as pintar or jugar in the following examples.

Yo amo pintar paisajes en mis ratos libres. — I love painting landscapes in my free time.

Él ama leer novelas de misterio. — He loves reading mystery.

Vosotros amáis jugar al fútbol en el parque con amigos. — You all love playing soccer in the park with friends.

Conjugation	Pronoun
Yo disfruto	I
Tú disfrutas	You (informal singular)
Él disfruta Ella disfruta Usted disfruta	He She You (formal singular)
Nosotros disfrutamos	We
Vosotros disfrutáis	You all (informal plural)
Ellos disfrutan Ustedes disfrutan	They You all (formal plural)

After disfrutar, it’s standard to add de before the thing you enjoy doing, although this is often omitted in everyday speech:

Tú disfrutas de ir a pescar. or Tú disfrutas ir a pescar. — I enjoy going fishing.

Why Learn to Talk About Hobbies in Spanish

• Knowing Spanish vocabulary about hobbies will help you engage in small talk and allow you to continue a conversation to build connections.
• Most hobbies are relatively neutral topics, making them great conversation points for when you’re talking to someone new.
• Learning Spanish vocabulary related to your hobbies will also help you connect with people with similar interests. 
• Your hobby-related vocabulary will even help you understand material about your favorite pastimes.
• Learning key vocabulary can improve your understanding of authentic reading materials, videos or streaming programs about your hobbies.

To find some great video material about your hobbies, you can look at FluentU.

 

Go ahead and share your interests! With these Spanish hobby-related vocabulary words, you will never be at a loss for something fun to talk about.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)