My City in Spanish: Write 150 Words, We Might Publish It

By the Audaz Revista editorial team

Updated October 26, 2026 · Reviewed by the Audaz editorial team

Your city is often the first real topic you can write about in Spanish. You know its streets, its weather and its noise. You already have the words in your own language. So the only new part is the Spanish.

Below you’ll find a model piece, a word bank, the Spanish names of some cities and how to send us what you write.

What is the Mi ciudad en español column?

Mi ciudad en español means my city in Spanish. It’s a column written by learners, about the places where they live. Your city can be anywhere in the world, so Delhi is as welcome as Lima.

This is the first call for pieces, so nobody’s piece has been published yet. The first ones to arrive could open the column.

Do you live in a city in the Spanish-speaking world? Our next issue, Ciudades que hablan, is looking for one writer for each of its 18 cities. That has its own form, which you can find on the Ciudades que hablan page. The students’ column is for learners anywhere.

Why write about your own city?

Because it matches what an early learner can do. The Common European Framework of Reference, the CEFR, describes 6 levels from A1 to C2. Its global scale says an A2 learner can understand expressions about “local geography”.

Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.

CEFR global scale, level A2

Your immediate environment is your street, your barrio and your city. At B1, the same scale says you can write “simple connected text” on familiar topics. A city piece lets you practise both.

What does a 150-word piece about a city look like?

Here is a model we wrote for this post, at A2 level. The speaker is made up and the facts about the city are real, so it isn’t a reader’s piece.

Vivo en Nueva Deli, la capital de la India. Es una ciudad muy grande y un poco ruidosa, pero me gusta mucho. El río Yamuna pasa por la ciudad. Mi barrio es tranquilo. Hay un parque pequeño, una tienda de té y muchas motos. Por la mañana tomo el metro para ir al trabajo. El metro de Deli es el más grande de la India. Los sábados voy a Chandni Chowk. Es uno de los mercados más antiguos de la ciudad, del año 1650. En verano hace mucho calor, y algunos días llegamos casi a 45 grados. A finales de junio llega el monzón y llueve mucho. En invierno hace fresco y a veces hay mucha niebla por la mañana. Mi estación favorita es el invierno, porque puedo caminar por la calle sin calor. Mi ciudad tiene mucho ruido y mucha vida. Si vienes a Deli, ¡te invito a un chai!

Model piece, written by the Audaz Revista editorial team (A2)

In English: I live in New Delhi, the capital of India. It’s a very big city and a little noisy, but I like it a lot. The Yamuna river runs through the city. My neighbourhood is quiet. There’s a small park, a tea shop and lots of motorbikes. In the morning I take the metro to work. The Delhi Metro is the biggest in India. On Saturdays I go to Chandni Chowk. It’s one of the oldest markets in the city, from 1650. In summer it’s very hot, and some days we get close to 45 degrees. At the end of June the monsoon arrives and it rains a lot. In winter it’s cool, and some mornings there’s thick fog. My favourite season is winter, because I can walk in the street without the heat. My city has lots of noise and lots of life. If you come to Delhi, the chai is on me!

Look at the shape: it opens with where the writer lives. Then it moves through a few places, the weather and the seasons. It ends with a feeling and an invitation. Most sentences use es, hay (there is, there are) and me gusta (I like).

The small linking words do a lot of work. Y means and, pero means but, and porque means because. With those 3 words, short sentences start to sound like a story.

Which Spanish words help you describe a city?

These are the words we reach for most when we describe a place. Each meaning comes from the dictionary of the Real Academia Española and the other Spanish language academies.

Some city words change from country to country, and the bus is a good example. Pick the word used where your Spanish comes from, or the one your teacher uses.

The plaza has a story of its own. Spain’s Laws of the Indies set out how new towns in the Americas should be planned. Each one was to be built around a plaza mayor, a main square, with straight streets around it. Most towns founded in Spain’s American empire were planned this way. For more on how Spanish changes by place, see our guide to Spanish accents by country.

How do you say the name of your city in Spanish?

Some cities have their own Spanish name, and cities in India can surprise you. The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas, the academies’ guide to tricky usage, gives these:

So a learner from Mumbai can write Vivo en Bombay. If your city has no Spanish name, write it the way people there write it in the Latin alphabet.

To say you’re from India, use indio or india. The same guide says hindú, strictly, means a follower of Hinduism. So Soy india says I’m Indian, and nothing more.

What do you call a person from your city?

Spanish has a word for this: el gentilicio. It’s a word that shows a link with a place. Some are easy to guess from the city name. Others take a little local knowledge.

Mexico City shows how these words can change their tone. Chilango started as a rude name. Today many people use it with humour, though some still hear it as a put-down.

Your own city may not have a well-known gentilicio in Spanish. That’s fine. You can write Soy de Pune, I’m from Pune, and every reader will understand.

How do you send your piece to Audaz Revista?

• Write about 150 words in Spanish about the city or town where you live.
• Write it yourself, mistakes and all. We’d rather read your Spanish than a translation app’s.
• Put Mi ciudad en español in the subject line, and tell us your level if you know it.
• Add your first name, your city and your country at the end.
• Email it to subscription@audazrevista.com.

We publish a piece only with the writer’s written OK. We print your first name and your country, and nothing else, unless you ask us to add more. The best pieces may appear in the column here on the blog.

How can you make your piece better before you send it?

Choose one real place and describe it well. A market, a bus stop or a tea stall says more than a list of famous sights. Add one thing you can hear or smell. Then add one thing you love, and one thing you don’t.

Stay in the present tense if you’re at A1 or A2. Vivo, hay, tomo and me gusta will take you a long way. At B1 you can add a memory with the past tense, like De niña, iba al mercado con mi abuela, as a child I went to the market with my grandmother.

For short texts to read first, try our Spanish reading practice, with 6 everyday texts from A2 to B2.

Try it now. Finish this sentence in Spanish: Vivo en … y mi lugar favorito es … It means I live in … and my favourite place is …. That one line is the start of your 150 words.

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