Quiero descansar un día completo en casa.

I want to rest a whole day at home.

Breakdown of Quiero descansar un día completo en casa.

• yo: I
• el día: the day
• descansar: to rest
• querer: to want
• la casa: the home
• en: at
• un: a
• completo: whole

Questions & Answers about Quiero descansar un día completo en casa.

Why is it quiero descansar and not quiero descanso?

In Spanish, when you want to say you want to do something, you normally use:

querer + infinitive

• Quiero descansar. = I want to rest.
• Quiero comer. = I want to eat.
• Quiero salir. = I want to go out.

Descanso exists in Spanish, but it’s a noun (rest, break), not a verb:

• Quiero un descanso. = I want a break.

So:

• Quiero descansar. → I want to rest (verb).
• Quiero un descanso. → I want a rest / a break (noun).

Both are correct, but they mean slightly different things, just like in English.

Why don’t we say yo quiero at the beginning?

Spanish usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

• Quiero already tells you it’s yo (I).
• Quieres → tú (you).
• Quiere → él / ella / usted (he / she / you-formal), etc.

So you can say:

• Quiero descansar un día completo en casa. (most common)
• Yo quiero descansar un día completo en casa. (also correct, but adds emphasis on I).

Using yo often adds emphasis, like:

• Yo quiero descansar, no trabajar.
  (I want to rest, not work.)

Can I say voy a descansar un día completo en casa instead of quiero descansar?

Yes, but it changes the meaning a bit.

• Quiero descansar… = I want to rest… (desire)
• Voy a descansar… = I’m going to rest… (plan / intention in the near future)

Both are natural. Use:

• Quiero descansar… when you’re talking about what you feel like doing.
• Voy a descansar… when you’re talking about what you are going to do (a decision/plan).

Why is descansar not reflexive here? Could I say quiero descansarme?

The verb descansar is normally non‑reflexive when it means to rest:

• Quiero descansar.
• Necesito descansar.

You can hear descansarse in some regions or informal speech, but:

• In most of Latin America, descansar (without me) is more standard and more common.
• Descansarse can sound regional, informal, or slightly old-fashioned depending on the country.

So in neutral Latin American Spanish, the best choice is:

• Quiero descansar un día completo en casa.

What’s the difference between descansar, relajarme, and tomarme un descanso?

They’re related but not identical:

• Descansar = to rest, stop working or doing effort, recharge.

  • Quiero descansar. → I want to rest.

• Relajarme = to relax, feel calm, reduce stress/tension.

  • Quiero relajarme en casa. → I want to relax at home.

• Tomarme un descanso = to take a break (from something specific).

  • Quiero tomarme un descanso del trabajo. → I want to take a break from work.

In your sentence, descansar is perfect because you’re talking about resting for a whole day, not necessarily about spa-style relaxation or a short break in the middle of something.

Why is it un día completo and not something like todo el día? Are those the same?

They are close, but not exactly the same:

• un día completo = a whole day, a full 24‑hour period (or at least the idea of a full day).
• todo el día = all day, the entire duration of the day.

In context:

• Quiero descansar un día completo en casa.
  → You want to take one whole day (some day) to rest at home.

• Quiero descansar todo el día en casa.
  → On that particular day, you want to rest all day long at home.

In many real situations, they overlap and both sound natural, but:

• un día completo focuses on one entire day as a unit.
• todo el día focuses on the duration of that day.

Can I say un completo día instead of un día completo?

No, un completo día is not natural in Spanish in this context.

Adjectives in Spanish often come after the noun:

• un día completo
• una casa grande
• un libro interesante

You can sometimes place adjectives before the noun for stylistic or special meanings, but completo almost always goes after:

• ✅ un día completo
• ❌ un completo día (sounds wrong or extremely poetic/archaic)

Could I use entero instead of completo, like un día entero?

Yes. Un día entero is very natural and means essentially the same as un día completo.

• Quiero descansar un día entero en casa.
• Quiero descansar un día completo en casa.

Both = I want a whole day of rest at home.

Nuance: in everyday speech, un día entero may sound a bit more common than un día completo, but both are fine and correct.

Why is it un día and not una día? Doesn’t -a usually mean feminine?

Yes, many nouns ending in -a are feminine, but día is an important exception:

• el día (masculine)
• un día (masculine)

So you say:

• el día, not la día
• un día, not una día

Some other masculine words ending in -a:

• el problema
• el tema
• el mapa

They just have to be memorized.

Why is it en casa and not a casa or en la casa?

All three exist, but they mean different things:

1. en casa = at home (general idea of home)

   • Quiero descansar en casa. → I want to rest at home.
   • No article, no mi → it’s understood you mean your home.

2. a casa = (to) home, motion towards home

   • Voy a casa. → I’m going home.
   • It’s about going, not about being there.

3. en la casa = in the house / in the home (more specific)

   • Quiero descansar en la casa.
     → I want to rest in the house (some particular house, maybe not yours).

In your sentence you’re talking about being at home, not going home, and you mean home in general, so en casa is the most natural choice.

Could I say en mi casa instead of en casa?

Yes:

• Quiero descansar un día completo en mi casa.

This is also correct and clear. The nuance:

• en casa = at home (it’s normally understood it’s your home).
• en mi casa = at my house (explicitly yours, could contrast with someone else’s place).

If there’s no contrast needed, en casa is shorter and more common.

Can I change the word order? For example: Quiero descansar en casa un día completo?

Yes, the word order in Spanish is flexible, and these are all natural:

• Quiero descansar un día completo en casa.
• Quiero descansar en casa un día completo.

Both sound fine. The first is probably slightly more common, but the meaning is the same.

Less usual (but still possible) would be to separate un día completo too far from descansar, or to put it at the very start; those versions can sound more marked or stylistic.

How would I say “I would like to rest a whole day at home” more politely in Spanish?

Use me gustaría (I would like):

• Me gustaría descansar un día completo en casa.

This is softer/more polite than quiero:

• Quiero descansar… → I want to rest…
• Me gustaría descansar… → I would like to rest… (more polite / tentative)

You can also say:

• Quisiera descansar un día completo en casa.

Quisiera is another polite form often used in Latin America, especially in requests.