Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): En la vida real, mi salón es pequeño, pero en mis sueños es enorme. - In real life, my living room is small, but in my dreams it is huge.

vida real = real life (noun + adjective)
We usually say la vida real = the real life (literally), but it corresponds to English real life.

So:

✅ En la vida real = In real life
❌ En vida real sounds incomplete or foreign.

Could I say En la realidad instead of En la vida real? Is there a difference?

You can say En la realidad, but it sounds a bit more abstract or formal, like “In reality” rather than “In real life”.

En la vida real = everyday, concrete: in the real world, not in dreams, movies, etc.
En la realidad = more conceptual: in reality, in fact.

In your sentence, En la vida real sounds more natural and colloquial.

Why is salón used here? I thought habitación meant room.

In Spain:

salón usually means the living room / lounge of a house.
habitación or cuarto usually means bedroom.
sala de estar is another way to say living room, but salón is very common.

So mi salón = my living room, not just any room.

In some contexts or countries salón can mean “hall” (for events) or be part of phrases like salón de clases (classroom), but in Spain, by default in a house, it’s the living room.

Why is it mi salón and not el salón if we’re clearly talking about “my living room”?

Both can appear in Spanish, but they are not always interchangeable:

mi salón clearly says “my living room”.
el salón could mean “the living room” in general, or the one already understood from context; it doesn’t automatically mean it belongs to the speaker.

For personal possessions like rooms in your own house, mi salón is standard and unambiguous. Using el salón here would sound as if you’re just describing “the living room” of some place already known, not necessarily yours.

Why is pequeño after salón? Could I say mi pequeño salón?

Both positions are possible, but the meaning/naturalness changes slightly:

mi salón pequeño: neutral description, simply “my small living room”.
mi pequeño salón: can sound a bit more expressive or emotional, like “my little living room” with a more personal tone.

In general:

Adjectives after the noun = more neutral, descriptive.
Adjectives before the noun = often more subjective, emotional, or stylistic.

So mi salón es pequeño is the most straightforward, neutral way to say “my living room is small.”

Why is it es pequeño and not está pequeño?

This is the ser vs. estar contrast:

ser is used for inherent or characteristic qualities.
estar is used for temporary states or conditions.

The size of a living room is seen as a permanent characteristic, so Spanish uses ser:

mi salón es pequeño = my living room is (inherently) small.

Está pequeño would sound unusual here, as if its smallness were a temporary condition (which doesn’t really fit for room size).

Why is there a comma before pero? Do you always put one?

In Spanish, you normally do put a comma before pero when it links two clauses or ideas that contrast:

Mi salón es pequeño, pero en mis sueños es enorme.

You may omit the comma in very short phrases, but the standard written form is to include it. So you can think of pero as working like English “but” in this respect.

Why is mi salón repeated only in the first part and not in pero en mis sueños es enorme? Where is the subject in the second part?

Spanish often drops subjects when they’re clear from context, because the verb ending already shows the person/number.

In your sentence:

First clause: mi salón es pequeño → subject is stated.
Second clause: (mi salón) es enorme → subject is understood; we don’t repeat it.

Spanish readers automatically understand that the omitted subject in the second clause is still mi salón. This ellipsis is very natural and common.

Why is it en mis sueños (plural) and not en mi sueño?

The phrase en mis sueños is an idiomatic way to say in my dreams – referring to your dream world or what you imagine, not one specific dream.

en mis sueños = in my dreams / when I dream (in general).
en mi sueño = in my (one specific) dream.

In this sentence, we are contrasting real life with the world of my dreams, so the plural is the natural choice.

Why does sueños have an accent and an ñ? What’s the difference between sueños, sueno, and sueño?

There are two separate things here: the accent mark and the letter ñ.

ñ vs n
- ñ is a different letter from n in Spanish.
- sueño (with ñ) = dream (noun) or I dream (verb).
- sueno (with n and no accent) = I make a noise / I sound (from the verb sonar), not “dream”.
The written accent (´)
- sueño (with accent) is stressed on sue-ÑO.
- Without the accent, the stress would be wrong by Spanish rules.

In your sentence:

sueños = plural of sueño (“dreams”).

Could I say es muy grande instead of es enorme? Is there any difference?

Yes, you could say:

…pero en mis sueños es muy grande.

Both are correct, but:

enorme = “huge”, “enormous” (stronger, more expressive).
muy grande = “very big” (a bit more neutral).

So the original es enorme emphasizes the contrast more strongly: in real life it’s small, in dreams it’s enormous.

Why is it mis sueños but mi salón? How do mi/mis work?

Mi and mis must agree in number (singular/plural) with the noun they modify:

mi salón → salón is singular → mi (my).
mis sueños → sueños is plural → mis (my).

There is no gender change for mi/mis:

mi casa, mi salón, mis casas, mis salones.

Why do we say en la vida real and en mis sueños with en? Could we use a or de instead?

In Spanish, en is used for locations in space, time, or abstract “places” like real life or dreams:

en la vida real = in real life.
en mis sueños = in my dreams.

Using a or de here would be incorrect:

❌ a la vida real – sounds like “to real life”.
❌ de la vida real – means “of/from real life”, not “in real life”.

So en is the correct preposition to match the English idea of “in” in both parts.