SCENARIOImagine you are talking to a relative, a friend or a work colleague. You are talking about clothing/ shoes. The other person can't see your shoes and wants you to describe them for him/her. So, he/ she decides to ask you "what are your shoes like?".
The other person could choose to be a bit less formal and say:
¿Cómo son tus zapatos?*
Alternatively, he/ she could choose to be a little bit more formal and say:
¿Cómo son sus zapatos?*
*NB These questions could be adapted to request a description of other items of clothing/ footwear. In order to adapt them, you could just replace 'zapatos' with another item of clothing/ footwear, for example: 'pantalones' (trousers), 'calcetines' (socks), 'guantes' (gloves), etc. However, please remember that the replacement word must be a plural word (singular words, such as 'camisa' (shirt) are not allowed here).
*NB These questions could be adapted to request a description of other items of clothing/ footwear. In order to adapt them, you could just replace 'zapatos' with another item of clothing/ footwear, for example: 'pantalones' (trousers), 'calcetines' (socks), 'guantes' (gloves), etc. However, please remember that the replacement word must be a plural word (singular words, such as 'camisa' (shirt) are not allowed here).
OUR TIPThe first thing to note is that you DO NOT need to be concerned about the level of formality in the other person's question. The other person is inviting you to describe your shoes. Your main concern should be about finding words which describe your shoes appropriately. Perhaps you want to describe them in the following terms:
- The colour of your shoes.
- The type of shoes (sandals/ boots/ etc.).
- The shoe material (leather/ canvas/ etc.).
- Your shoe size.
- Give a description of your shoes.
Here are some examples of what you could say about your shoes:
- Mis zapatos son marrones (my shoes are brown).
- Llevo zapatos negros (I am wearing black shoes).
- Llevo zapatos de tacón de aguja (I am wearing high heel/ spike heel shoes)
- No llevo zapatos, llevo botas(*) (I am not wearing shoes, I am wearing boots).
- Mis zapatos son de piel (my shoes are made of leather).
- Llevo zapatos de cuero (I am wearing leather shoes).
- La suela de mis zapatos es de cuero (my shoes have leather soles).
- Calzo un cuarenta (I take a size 40* in shoes).
- Mis zapatos son muy ligeros (my shoes are very light).
- Mis zapatos son muy cómodos (my shoes are very comfortable).
- Llevo zapatos de última moda (I am wearing the latest fashion in shoes).
- Mis zapatos están muy de moda (my shoes are very fashionable).
- Mis zapatos me quedan muy bien (my shoes fit me fine/ they look really good on me).
(*)NB Please note that you could indicate other types of footwear simply by replacing the word 'boots' with other words, for example:
- Canvas shoes: 'zapatillas'/ 'playeras'
- Espadrilles: 'alpargatas'/ 'zapatillas'
- Flip-flops: 'chanclas'/ 'chancletas'
- Football boots: 'botas de fútbol'
- Sandals: 'sandalias'
- Sand shoes: 'bambas'/ 'playeras'/ 'zapatillas'
- Slippers: 'zapatillas'
- Sneakers: 'zapatillas'
- Thongs/ flip-flops: 'chanclas'/ chancletas'
- Trainers: 'bambas'/ 'playeras'/ 'zapatillas'
- Wellingtons/ wellies: 'botas de agua'
*NB In order to indicate a different size, simply replace "40" with your choice of shoe size. Please note that, as a rough comparison, size 40 (Europe) is approximately equivalent to:
- UK size 6 -> 7
- US (male) size 8 -> 9
- US (female) size 9 -> 10
Now you should practice answering the question:
¿Cómo son tus zapatos?
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