Breakdown of En el dormitorio de mi hermana hay una alfombra marrón muy suave.
Questions & Answers about En el dormitorio de mi hermana hay una alfombra marrón muy suave.
In Spanish:
- hay = there is / there are (introduces the existence of something)
- es = is (describes what something is)
- está = is (describes location or temporary state of a specific thing)
In this sentence, you are introducing the existence of a carpet in the room, so you use hay:
- En el dormitorio de mi hermana hay una alfombra…
= In my sister’s bedroom there is a carpet…
If you were talking about a specific carpet already known, you might say:
- La alfombra está en el dormitorio de mi hermana.
The carpet is in my sister’s bedroom.
No. That word order sounds wrong in Spanish.
The normal patterns are:
- En el dormitorio de mi hermana hay una alfombra marrón muy suave.
- Hay una alfombra marrón muy suave en el dormitorio de mi hermana.
Both are correct. Spanish allows some flexibility, but hay usually comes before the thing that exists (the alfombra), not after it in this kind of sentence.
Because:
Alfombra is grammatically feminine, so it takes una, not un.
- una alfombra = a carpet/rug
- la alfombra = the carpet/rug
We use una (indefinite article) because we’re talking about a carpet, not a specific, previously mentioned one.
It’s the same idea as English a/an vs the:
- Hay una alfombra… = There is a carpet… (new information)
- La alfombra es marrón. = The carpet is brown. (now it’s specific)
You mostly have to memorize noun gender; there isn’t a fully reliable rule.
General tendencies:
- Nouns ending in -a are often feminine → la alfombra, la casa, la mesa
- Nouns ending in -o are often masculine → el libro, el cuarto
But there are many exceptions. So you learn the noun with its article:
- la alfombra
- el dormitorio
In Spanish, the default order is:
noun + adjectives
So:
- una alfombra marrón muy suave
- alfombra = noun
- marrón and suave = adjectives
- muy modifies suave
If you directly copied English word order, you’d get something like una muy suave alfombra marrón, which sounds odd or overly poetic.
So the natural order is:
- una alfombra marrón muy suave
a very soft brown carpet
It’s technically understandable, but it sounds unnatural.
In this sentence, muy suave feels like one descriptive block, and color adjectives like marrón typically go immediately after the noun:
- una alfombra marrón muy suave ✅ (natural)
- una alfombra muy suave y marrón ✅ (also OK)
- una alfombra muy suave marrón ⚠️ a bit awkward
Safest: alfombra + color + other adjectives → alfombra marrón muy suave.
Adjectives in Spanish usually agree in gender and number, but some have only one form for masculine and feminine.
Marrón is one of these:
- una alfombra marrón (feminine singular)
- un sofá marrón (masculine singular)
It does change for number:
- unas alfombras marrones
- dos sofás marrones
Both marrón and café are common in Latin America.
- marrón = brown (general color)
- café = also brown; very common in many countries, especially for things like hair, eyes, clothing
Examples:
- una alfombra marrón / una alfombra café – both can be heard.
- ojos cafés is more common than ojos marrones in many parts of Latin America.
Usage varies by country and even by person, but marrón is perfectly understood.
Suave can mean:
- soft to the touch (like a carpet, blanket, skin)
- smooth (like a surface, a voice, music, a manner)
In this sentence, with alfombra, it clearly means soft or plush to the touch:
- una alfombra muy suave = a very soft carpet
Because in Spanish:
muy modifies adjectives and adverbs:
- muy suave (very soft)
- muy grande (very big)
- muy rápido (very fast)
mucho modifies nouns and verbs:
- mucho ruido (a lot of noise)
- llueve mucho (it rains a lot)
So with an adjective like suave, you must use muy → muy suave.
They can all mean “bedroom,” but usage varies:
- dormitorio – neutral, clear; used everywhere; also used more in formal/written contexts.
- cuarto – very common in Latin America in everyday speech for “room” and often for “bedroom” (context decides).
- habitación – also “room”; often used in hotels, more formal contexts.
- Country-specific:
- recámara – very common for “bedroom” in Mexico.
- pieza – used in some Southern Cone countries (e.g., parts of Argentina, Chile).
Your sentence with dormitorio is correct and widely understood:
- En el dormitorio de mi hermana… You could also hear in conversation:
- En el cuarto de mi hermana…
- En la recámara de mi hermana… (Mexico)
Spanish doesn’t use the ’s possessive structure. Instead, it uses de:
- el dormitorio de mi hermana
= my sister’s bedroom
(literally: the bedroom of my sister)
Structure:
- el dormitorio (the bedroom)
- de (of)
- mi hermana (my sister)
This de-phrase is the normal way to express possession.
Yes, grammatically that’s fine:
- En su dormitorio hay una alfombra marrón muy suave.
However, su can mean:
- his
- her
- your (formal)
- their
So su dormitorio is more ambiguous.
El dormitorio de mi hermana is clearer: it specifically says my sister’s bedroom.
In many real conversations, context makes su dormitorio clear, but if you want to be precise, de mi hermana is better.