la avenida
“la avenida” — avenue in Spanish. Noun, level B1, topic — the city and its places. A wide street with trees; addresses shorten it to Avda. El paseo is wide too but built for strolling: el Paseo del Prado. In a live sentence: “Vivimos en la avenida principal, encima de una farmacia” — We live on the main avenue, above a pharmacy. You can hear how it sounds right here.
In short
| Written in Spanish | la avenida |
| Translation | avenue |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
- la avenidaavenue
Why it looks that way
A wide street with trees; addresses shorten it to Avda. El paseo is wide too but built for strolling: el Paseo del Prado
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Vivimos en la avenida principal, encima de una farmaciaWe live on the main avenue, above a pharmacy
Nearby words: the city and its places
Street, square, pharmacy, bank. An address is built out of these, and an address is something you have to both say and understand.
- el restauranterestaurantMasculine. In Spain people more often head to el bar — morning coffee, lunch, and an evening beer all happen there
- la ciudadcityFeminine, like every word in -dad. Stress at the end: syoo-DAHD
- la callestreetThe ll sounds like the y in 'yes': KAH-yeh. In addresses it's abbreviated: c/ Mayor, 12
- la tiendashopBoth a shop and a tent: una tienda de campaña is a camping tent
- el mercadomarketThe covered city market is el mercado; the street one that comes on certain days is el mercadillo
- la farmaciapharmacyLook for the green cross on the sign. The one on night duty is a farmacia de guardia, listed on every door
- el bancobankThe same word also means 'bench'. Both come from a Germanic word for bench: the money changers worked at one
- la estaciónstationBoth a metro stop and a train station: la estación de metro, la estación de tren
- el semáforotraffic lightseh-MAH-foh-roh
- la bicicletabicycleLa bici in speech. To go by bike: ir en bici
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “the city and its places”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “avenue” in Spanish?
A wide street with trees; addresses shorten it to Avda. El paseo is wide too but built for strolling: el Paseo del Prado
- How do you say “bank” in Spanish?
The same word also means 'bench'. Both come from a Germanic word for bench: the money changers worked at one
- How do you say “street” in Spanish?
The ll sounds like the y in 'yes': KAH-yeh. In addresses it's abbreviated: c/ Mayor, 12
- How do you say “bicycle” in Spanish?
La bici in speech. To go by bike: ir en bici
- How do you say “pharmacy” in Spanish?
Look for the green cross on the sign. The one on night duty is a farmacia de guardia, listed on every door
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “avenue” in Spanish?
«la avenida». In a live sentence: “Vivimos en la avenida principal, encima de una farmacia” — We live on the main avenue, above a pharmacy. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level B1, from the set “the city and its places”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
A wide street with trees; addresses shorten it to Avda. El paseo is wide too but built for strolling: el Paseo del Prado. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.