November 8, 2022 by Luis F. Dominguez Spanish Vocabulary 0 comments

Spotless Spanish Cleaning Vocabulary for Housekeeping

With this guide, it’s TOO easy to be clean in Spanish!.

Are you looking to learn Spanish for housekeepers? Or perhaps you’re simply looking for a list of chores in Spanish?

If you ever wanted to know how to say sweeping, mopping or cleaning the bathroom in Spanish, this is the post for you.

Keep reading to learn how to give cleaning instructions in Spanish, discover the main cleaning nouns, verbs, and adjectives in the language, and to find out useful Spanish sayings and phrases about cleaning.

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How to Give Imperative Cleaning Instructions in Spanish

Cleaning is an activity that many times requires you to give instructions to someone else. Just think about how you communicate with your cleaning lady or hotel housekeeping in a Spanish situation. Hey, even talking to your child about their chores requires this kind of instruction.

In order to give any type of instructions in Spanish you need to use the imperative mood. In a nutshell, the imperative mood can be formed in two different ways, the formal and informal constructions. Let’s learn about each one of them:

Formal Construction

Use this construction if you’re communicating with a Spanish housekeeper. It requires you to conjugate your cleaning verb in the usted or ustedes persons.

Let’s see a couple of examples with the verb limpiar or “to clean:”

Usted limpie la mesa.
Clean the table.

Ustedes limpien la cocina.
Clean the kitchen.

Informal Construction

Use this construction when you simply want to tell your children to do their chores and clean their room. It requires you to conjugate your cleaning verb in the tú and vosotros persons. This post highlights Ten Spanish Imperatives to Use with Kids that you may find useful.

Let’s see a couple of examples with the verb limpiar or “to clean:”

Miguelito, limpia tu cuarto.
Miguelito, clean your room.

Hijos, limpien sus escritorios.
Children, clean your desks.

As it happens in Spanish with any verb and conjugation, both of these imperatives constructions can get rid of the noun as it’s implied in the conjugation. For example, you could simply say:

limpie la mesa, or
limpia tu cuarto.

Essential Cleaning Verbs and Commands

Now that we’ve learned how to give cleaning instructions in Spanish let’s find out about the essential cleaning verbs and commands in this beautiful language.

Differences Between Limpiar and Lavar

When talking about cleaning in Spanish, you’ll find two verbs that keep appearing: limpiar and lavar. Although it may be tempting to simply translate limpiar as “to clean” and lavar as “to wash,” the reality isn’t as straightforward.

Lavar is used to talk about the body and its parts and clothes. Lavar usually requires water.

Me lavé el cabello.
I washed my hair.

¿Ya lavaste mi ropa?
Have you washed my clothes already?

Limpiar, on the other hand, can both mean “to clean” or “to clean up.”

¿Limpiaste toda la casa tu sola?
Did you clean the whole house by yourself?

Limpien su escritorio y prepárense para su siguiente clase.
Clean up your desk and get ready for your next class.

Learn more: 200+ Spanish Hair Salon Words and Phrases

Limpiar Conjugation Set

Let’s now take a look at the present and past tense of clean in Spanish.

Present Tense
yo	limpio
tú	limpias
él/ella	limpia
nosotros	limpiamos
ustedes	limpian
ellos/ellas	limpian

Past Tense
yo	limpié
tú	limpiaste
él/ella	limpió
nosotros	limpiamos
ustedes	limpiaron
ellos/ellas	limpiaron

Lavar Conjugation Set

It’s time for the present and past conjugation of the verb “to wash” in Spanish.

Present Tense
yo	lavo
tú	lavas
él/ella	lava
nosotros	lavamos
ustedes	lavan
ellos/ellas	lavan

Past Tense
yo	lavé
tú	lavaste
él/ella	lavó
nosotros	lavamos
ustedes	lavaron
ellos/ellas	lavaron

Other Cleaning Verbs and Commands

However, when it comes to cleaning you can’t do simply with limpiar and lavar. This rich and beautiful language has so many cleaning words that you need to learn some of the most common ones at least.

Without further ado, let’s learn how to say sweep and mop the floor in Spanish (among other things):

Other Cleaning Verbs
barrer	to sweep
aspirar	to vacuum
pulir	to polish (metal, floor)
planchar	to iron
fregar	to scrub
lustrar	to polish (shoes, furniture)
encerar	to wax
trapear	to mop
desempolvar, sacudir	to dust
asear	to tidy up
ordenar	to order

Learn more: How to Use the Spanish Word ‘Fregar’ Without Being Vulgar

Informal Cleaning Commands
haz la cama	make the bed
pon la mesa	lay the table
saca la basura	take out the trash
riega las plantas	water the plants
cambia las sábanas	change the bedsheets
lava los platos	wash the dishes
corta el pasto	mow the lawn
tiende la ropa	hang the clothes
sacude los muebles	dust the furniture
limpia las ventanas	clean the windows
aspira el piso	vacuum the floor

Stuff We Clean in Spanish: Nouns

Here’s the household chores list in Spanish you were waiting for! It’s time to learn some things that actually get cleaned. These are the most common nouns that get cleaned in Spanish.

Cleaning Nouns
la cama	bed
la mesa	table
la basura	trash
la planta	plant
la sábana	bedsheets
los platos	dishes
el pasto	lawn
la ropa	clothes
el mueble	furniture
la ventana	windows
el piso	floor
la cocina	kitchen
la olla	pot
el horno	oven
el refrigerador	fridge
los vegetales	vegetables
la casa	house
los libros	books
el baño	bathroom
el cuarto	room
la alfombra	carpet
la oficina	office

How to Describe Clean or Dirty Things in Spanish: Adjectives

In order to complete this list of cleaning words in Spanish, you need to get some useful Spanish adjectives for cleaning.

Cleaning Adjectives
limpio	clean
sucio	dirty
ordenado	tidy
desordenado	untidy
puro	pure
aseado	tidy
higiénico	hygienic
lavado	washed
fregado	scrubbed
desinfectado	sanitized
barrido	swept

Lists of Spanish Cleaning Supplies and Equipment

Being clean in Spanish can be fun. If you’re in the middle of a cleaning spree at home, you’re going to need the help of these cleaning supplies and equipment:

Cleaning Supplies
el detergente	dish soap
el jabón	soap
el shampoo	shampoo
la cera	wax
la lejía	bleach
el suavizante	softener
la bolsa de basura	garbage bag
los guantes de goma	rubber gloves
el desinfectante	disinfectant
el agua	water

Cleaning Equipment
el cepillo	brush
la escoba	broom
el trapeador	mop
la aspiradora	vacuum cleaner
el trapo	cloth
la cubeta	bucket
el plumero	duster
la enceradora	floor polisher
el recogedor	dustpan
la esponja	sponge

Spanish Cleaning Sayings and Phrases

Last but not least, here you have some Spanish cleaning saying that may come handy the next time you have a cleaning conversation.

¡Quiero todo limpio!
I want everything clean and tidy!

¿Ya hiciste los quehaceres?
Have you done your chores?

Estamos limpiando la cocina.
We’re cleaning the kitchen.

Se acabó el detergente.
There’s no more dish soap.

Hay polvo en los muebles.
There’s dust on the furniture.

Cuidado, el piso está mojado.
Be careful, the floor is wet.

Use This Vocabulary and Start Cleaning in Spanish

There you have a thorough study of the world of cleaning in Spanish. From the main cleaning verbs to nouns that get cleaned and useful cleaning adjectives now you’ve got plenty of new cleaning vocabulary in Spanish.

Want more super useful Spanish content? Check out our latest posts!

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Luis F. Dominguez

Freelance Writer at Homeschool Spanish Academy

Luis F. Domínguez is a freelance writer and independent journalist interested in travel, languages, art, books, history, philosophy, politics and sports. He has written for Fodor’s, Yahoo!, Sports Illustrated, Telemundo, and Villa Experience, among other brands of print and digital media in Europe and North America.

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