Architect
Describe buildings, styles and materials — and hold a real conversation about them, out loud.
Start with the material words, because they split by region: concrete is el concreto in Mexico but el hormigón in Argentina, Chile and Spain — Mexicans almost never say hormigón. Builders ask for los planos (the blueprints, always plural), everyone asks ¿cómo va la obra? about a build in progress, and the strongest descriptions name a specific element — la fachada de vidrio, la cúpula, los cimientos — instead of staying vague. &Be teaches this vocabulary with no flashcards and no drills: you learn each word by saying it in a live spoken conversation.
Below: the words each lesson puts in your mouth, what locals actually call concrete and facades, and a way to rehearse describing a building out loud.
The warm-up pack
The lines that describe a building, not a vocabulary list about one.
01 · What builders always ask for
¿Tenés los planos?
Do you have the blueprints? (Argentina, voseo — always plural, los planos.)
Builders never ask for 'the blueprint' singular. This is the exact line they use to ask for it.
02 · How everyone checks on a build
¿Cómo va la obra?
How's the build going?
La obra is the site itself — ask this and you sound like someone who's actually followed a project before.
03 · Street Spanish for tearing something down
Van a tumbar la casa.
They're going to tear the house down. — tumbar, the everyday word in Mexico and Colombia instead of the formal demoler.
Tumbar is what you'll actually hear on the street. Demoler is correct, but it sounds like a permit form.
04 · A whole instruction in three words
Hacelo a escala.
Do it to scale. (Argentina, voseo)
A escala works as an instruction on its own — you don't need a longer sentence to sound precise.
05 · Treating 'pedestrian' as a place
¿Vamos por la peatonal?
Shall we go along the pedestrian street? (Argentina/Uruguay)
La peatonal used as a noun, not an adjective — locals talk about 'the pedestrian' the way you'd talk about 'the highway.'
06 · One material, said with confidence
Me fijo en la fachada de vidrio.
I notice the glass facade.
Naming one specific, visible feature — the facade, the material — is what makes a description land instead of staying vague.
07 · A style locals point out on tours
Es el estilo colonial.
It's colonial style.
This isn't a niche term — in Mexico, Peru and Colombia it's what locals point out on any walking tour.
08 · Spain's word, not Mexico's
Piden el diseño sostenible.
They're asking for sustainable design.
Sostenible is what you'll say in Spain. Cross into Mexico or Argentina and diseño sustentable is what you'll actually hear.
09 · Hollow versus solid, in one line
Es el ladrillo hueco.
It's hollow brick.
Argentine builders draw this exact distinction — el ladrillo hueco versus el ladrillo común. Small difference, real one on site.
10 · The permit that comes up eventually
Piden la licencia de obra.
They're asking for the building permit.
The one piece of paperwork that comes up before anything gets built — worth knowing before you need it.
11 · What a neighborhood is missing
Falta el espacio verde.
There's not enough green space.
This is how a conversation about a neighborhood's problems actually starts — naming what's missing, plainly.
FLUENT
Finally, someone to talk to in Spanish.
Ten-minute spoken lessons. A teacher who answers back — and gently fixes what you got wrong.
First 10 lessons freeandbefluent.com/spanish/architectRegional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
| English | Mexico | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
| concrete | el concreto | el hormigón |
| facade | la fachada | el frente |
| brick | el tabique | el ladrillo |
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Olivia
Your vocabulary teacher for this pack
There are no flashcards in the Architect pack — you learn the words by using them. Olivia walks you through a city in conversation: she asks you to describe an interesting building you've seen — the style, la fachada, what it's made of — then shifts to a construction project (¿cómo va la obra?) and what your neighborhood needs more of, espacios verdes or zonas peatonales. You answer out loud, in the moment, until words like el andamio and la cúpula stop feeling like vocabulary.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 6 lessons and Architect is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
It depends where you are. Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean say el concreto; Argentina, Chile and Spain say el hormigón. Mexicans almost never say hormigón, so match your region.
El plano is the blueprint — builders ask for los planos, in the plural. La maqueta is the physical scale model, and el boceto is a sketch — though for a rough hand-drawn sketch on site, locals often say el croquis.
Name the style — el estilo gótico, el estilo moderno, el estilo colonial — then tie it to a feature you can point at, like arcos ojivales for Gothic. In Mexico, Peru and Colombia, el estilo colonial is everyday vocabulary locals use on tours.
Both mean sustainable. Spain says sostenible; Mexico and Argentina lean sustentable — so you'll hear diseño sustentable across much of Latin America.
La obra is the construction site or project itself — ¿cómo va la obra? is how everyone asks how a build is going. The person doing the work is el albañil, and in Mexico and Colombia you'll hear tumbar instead of demoler for tearing something down.
