How to Say Life in Spanish

Co-authored by Diana Con Webber and Jennifer Mueller, JD

Last Updated: March 3, 2020 References

Life is a word with many uses, and plays a role in many common phrases, such as "a matter of life and death" or "not on your life." While similar phrases exist in Spanish, not all of them have a direct translation using the Spanish word for life. If you want to learn how to say life in Spanish, you should not only learn that word, but also other related words and phrases. It also may be helpful to learn the verb that means "to live."^{[1]
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Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Learning the Noun

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Say vida. In Spanish, the word vida means the same thing as the English word life. It is a feminine word, so you would say la vida in most instances. Vida is pronounced VEE-dah.^{[2]
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- For example, if you said "eso es la vida," (pronounced ESS-oh ess lah VEE-dah) you would be saying "this is the life."
- You may remember the song "Livin' La Vida Loca," by Ricky Martin. The title of the song, fully translated into English, would be "Livin' the crazy life."
- If you need to pluralize vida, you would say las vidas, which means "the lives."
2
Use the correct possessive pronoun. Sometimes you may want to refer to your life, or to someone else's life. In those situations, instead of using la or las before the word vida, you would use the word that corresponds to the person whose life you're talking about.^{[3]
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- For example, if you wanted to say "my life is crazy," you would say "mi vida es loca." Mi is the Spanish possessive pronoun that means "my."
- If you wanted to say "her life is beautiful," you might say "su vida es bella." Note that since the word vida is feminine, the adjective is feminine as well ("bella" instead of "bello"). This is the case whether you're talking about a man or a woman with a beautiful life – the adjective describes the life, so the gender of the adjective matches that of the noun, not the person whose life you're describing.
- The familiar possessive pronoun for "you" is "tu." You could also use “su” for the formal you. If you're talking to a group of people, or if you're addressing someone with whom you're not on familiar terms, you would use "vuestra." This is the feminine form, since the word vida is feminine.
- To speak about "our" life, you would use the possessive pronoun "nuestra" (nuestra vida).
- Note that you use plurals if you are discussing multiple things. In this context, a single life would take a singular possessive pronoun. If you were talking about several lives, you would use the plural "tus" for the familiar you (tus vidas), “sus” for the formal you (sus vidas), "mis" for "my" multiple lives (mis vidas), "nuestras" for "our" multiple lives (nuestras vidas), or "vuestras" for "y'all's multiple lives (vuestras vidas).
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3
Recognize other Spanish words that also mean life. In English, the word life is used in many phrases and contexts for which there is a different word in Spanish. In those situations, the word vida would be incorrect.^{[4]
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- In Spanish, the word vital (pronounced VEE-tal) is used in many places where you would use the word life in English. For example, "life cycle" is "ciclo vital," and "life force" is "fuerza vital." However, "life form" is "forma de vida."
- The word vida typically only refers to living things. So, for example, if you're speaking about battery life, you would use the phrase la duración, as in "Las pilas tienen una duración de dos meses" ("The batteries have a life of two months").
- If someone is sentenced to life in prison for committing a crime, the phrase you would use would be cadena perpetua.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Conjugating the Verb

1
Learn the Spanish verb vivir and its meaning. In Spanish, if you want to talk about where you live, or if you want to say that someone is living, you would use vivir, pronounced like BIB-ear.^{[5]
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- If you look at the verb and the noun for life, vida, you can see that the two words are related in that they both start the same way.
- The verb often is used along with the noun. For example, if you wanted to say "I live a good life," you could say "vivo una buena vida" or "vivo una vida buena" (the order of nouns and adjectives in Spanish doesn't matter the way it does in English).^{[6]
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2
Use vivir in the present tense. In present tense, you're talking about something that is happening at the same moment as you are speaking. Since you must be alive if you are speaking (or writing), you'll typically use present tense when talking about your own life.^{[7]
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- For example, if you want to say "I live in Mexico" in Spanish, you would say "vivo en México."
- To say "you live in Mexico," you would say "vives en México" (familiar), "vivís en México" (plural or formal), or “usted vive" (formal you used in Latin America).
- To say "we live in Mexico" in Spanish, say "vivimos en México." For "they live in Mexico," you would say "viven en México."
3
Understand how to conjugate vivir in past tense. Sometimes you need to talk about life and living in the past tense. This could be the case if you used to live in one place, but then moved to another place. You also might speak about living in the past tense if you're referring to someone who has died.^{[8]
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- If you wanted to speak about your own living in the past tense, for example to say "I lived in Mexico," you would say "vivía en México." The third-person past is the same as the first person past, and for the second-person form you simply add an s: "vivías en México," or "You lived in Mexico."
- To say "they lived" you would use the form vivían, as in "vivían en México" or "they lived in Mexico." The plural (or formal) second-person form is vivíais, as in "vivíais en México" or "you all lived in Mexico."
- If you wanted to say "we lived," you would use the form vivíamos, as in "vivíamos en México" or "we lived in Mexico."
- Pay attention to the accent marks when conjugating the verb vivir in past tense. The accent indicates that a different syllable should be emphasized than the traditional rule in Spanish of emphasizing the second-to-last syllable. In the past tense forms of vivir, there is an accent mark over the second i.
4
Say vivir using the future tense. If you plan to move to a new location, or are talking about someone else moving, you might want to use the future tense form of vivir, which is formed in a similar way to the past tense.^{[9]
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- Whereas you form the past tense of the verb vivir by taking off the r and adding the appropriate ending, to form the future tense you're going to leave the entire infinitive form as it is, and then add the appropriate ending. The endings are the same as they are in the present tense.
- For example, to say "I will live in Mexico," you would say "viviré en México." For all future forms except we/nosotros, the last syllable is emphasized. Don't forget the appropriate accent mark.
- To say "we will live in Mexico" in Spanish, you would say "viviremos en México."

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Understanding Useful Phrases

1
Speak about matters of life and death. There are many common phrases in Spanish that incorporate the word vida to indicate the importance or gravity of a situation. In Spanish as in English, you may fight for your life (debatir entra la vida y la muerte), lay down your life (dar la vida) or lose your life (perder la vida).^{[10]
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- If something awful or difficult has happened, but you want to communicate that the troubled times will pass and you will move on, you might say "la vida sigue" ("life goes on"). If the awful thing has never happened to you before, you might say "en mi vida" ("never in my life").
- If something is a matter of life and death, it is "cosa de vida o muerte." If a desperate situation requires you to risk life and limb then it requires you jugarse la vida.
- Not all phrases about life use the word vida. For example, if you wanted to tell someone in Spanish that they gave you the fright of your life, you would say "¡Qué susto me diste!"
2
Learn how to greet people in Costa Rica. You may already know that "¿Como estas?" means "how are you?" in Spanish, and you may know to respond "Bien, gracias" to mean "I'm well, thank you." But Costa Ricans use a different phrase as a greeting that incorporates the word vida.^{[11]
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- If you are in Costa Rica, you'll hear people use the phrase "pura vida." While the direct translation of this phrase is "pure life," the use of the phrase goes far beyond the direct translation. More accurately, it describes a relaxed lifestyle that values happiness and joy.
- You might hear the phrase in other Central American countries as well, but it's most common in Costa Rica. There, the phrase is used as a general greeting, as well as the response to that greeting.
- It also is used as a general expression of gratitude or satisfaction. For example, if you say "¡Muchas gracias!" someone might respond "Pura vida!" by which they mean something more like "you're welcome."
- In English, you might ask someone "how's life?" instead of saying "how are you?" or a similar greeting – especially if you haven't seen the person in awhile. In Spanish, you would say "¿Qué tal te va?" or "¿Cómo va eso?" Not these phrases do not include the word vida.^{[12]
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Talk about liveliness. In English, there are many phrases incorporating the word life to talk about how something seems real, or how a person brought life to a place or event that was dead or dull before they arrived. Spanish has similar phrases, though not all of them use the word vida.^{[13]
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- Many of these phrases use the verb animarse, which means "to come to life." For example, if you want to say that a particular guest brought the party to life, you would say "animó la fiesta." If that person was the life and soul of the party, you would say "el alma de la fiesta."
- Perhaps you're having trouble with the office printer, and you want to say in Spanish that the machine seems to have a life of its own. You would use the phrase "tener vida propia" (which means "to have a life of its own").
4
Make comments about your life. Particularly when you're speaking to someone you haven't seen in awhile, they may ask after your life in general. You can respond in equally generic terms by using common phrases in Spanish.^{[14]
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- For example, if you want to tell someone that you have a good life, you might say "es una vida agradable" ("it's a good life") or "la vida me ha tratado bien" ("I've had a good life").
- In contrast, if you wanted to say that you've been having difficulties, you might say "la vida es muy dura" ("it's a hard life").
- If you want to tell your significant other that they are the love of your life, you would say "eres el amor de mi vida" ("you are the love of my life").
5
Add common exclamations and interjections to your vocabulary. There are many phrases using the word "life" in English, such as "that's life," that can be used to express how you feel about something happening. In Spanish, there are similar phrases that mean the same thing, even though the translation isn't always literal.^{[15]
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- To say something similar to "that's life!" or "such is life!" in Spanish, you would say "¡así es la vida!"
- If you want to tell someone to get a life, you would say ¡espabílate y haz algo!"
- If someone asks you to do something that you have no intention of doing, you might say "¡ni hablar!" which means "not on your life!"