It Was Empty in Spanish | Say It The Natural Way

The most natural translation is “Estaba vacío/a,” with the ending matching the thing that had nothing inside.

If you want to say “It was empty” in Spanish, you’ve got a few clean options. The right one depends on two things: what “it” refers to (a room, a bottle, a seat, a website) and what kind of past you mean (ongoing at that moment, or finished as a one-time result).

Most of the time, Spanish speakers reach for estar + vacío. That gives you a simple, native-sounding line that works in daily speech and writing.

Fast Translation That Fits Most Situations

Use this as your default:

• Estaba vacío. = It was empty. (masculine “it,” like el vaso, the glass)
• Estaba vacía. = It was empty. (feminine “it,” like la caja, the box)

Spanish adjectives match the noun. So your job is to match vacío or vacía to the thing you’re describing. If you’re unsure what counts as masculine or feminine, the article gives it away: el tends to pair with vacío, la tends to pair with vacía.

Quick Agreement Cheat Sheet

• El café / el bolso / el asiento → vacío
• La botella / la sala / la bandeja → vacía
• Los bolsillos / los estantes → vacíos
• Las maletas / las mesas → vacías

If you want the official definition and typical uses of vacío, the RAE entry for “vacío” is a solid reference.

Choosing The Verb: Estaba Vs Estuvo

Both can translate as “was,” but they don’t feel the same.

When “Estaba” Is The Better Fit

Estaba (imperfect past) paints a scene. It tells the listener that emptiness was the state at that time.

• Entré y la sala estaba vacía. (I walked in and the room was empty.)
• Miré la caja y estaba vacía. (I looked at the box and it was empty.)
• Cuando llegamos, el restaurante estaba vacío. (When we arrived, the restaurant was empty.)

When “Estuvo” Sounds More Natural

Estuvo (preterite past) marks it as a bounded event. It often hints that the emptiness lasted for a period and then changed.

• El local estuvo vacío toda la mañana. (The place was empty all morning.)
• La playa estuvo vacía durante la tormenta. (The beach was empty during the storm.)

If you want to check meanings and patterns for estar, the RAE entry for “estar” is helpful.

A Simple Way To Decide In Your Head

• If you’re setting the scene: estaba.
• If you’re stating a finished period: estuvo.

Native speech leans toward estaba in everyday storytelling, since people often describe what things were like at that moment.

It Was Empty in Spanish With The Right Past Tense

This phrase trips people up because English “was” is flexible. Spanish makes you pick. Once you do, your sentence clicks into place.

Mini Pattern You Can Reuse

[Subject] + estar (past) + vacío/a

• El vaso estaba vacío. (The glass was empty.)
• La nevera estaba vacía. (The fridge was empty.)
• Mis bolsillos estaban vacíos. (My pockets were empty.)

That’s the core. From there, you can add detail: time, cause, contrast, or what happened next.

Adding Time Without Making It Clunky

• Estaba vacío cuando lo abrí. (It was empty when I opened it.)
• Estuvo vacío por horas. (It was empty for hours.)
• Seguía vacío al día siguiente. (It was still empty the next day.)

Common Meanings Of “Empty” And The Best Spanish Choice

English uses “empty” for containers, places, seats, accounts, shelves, websites, and more. Spanish can mirror that, but it also offers other phrases that feel more precise.

Containers: Box, Bottle, Tank, Bag

Estaba vacío/a works great for physical emptiness.

• La botella estaba vacía. (The bottle was empty.)
• El depósito estaba vacío. (The tank was empty.)

Places: Room, Store, Street, Stadium

You can use vacío, and you can also use a word that means “deserted” when you mean “no people.”

• La calle estaba vacía. (The street was empty.)
• El teatro estaba desierto. (The theater was deserted.)

Seats And Spots: Chair, Table, Parking Space

For “nobody was sitting there,” Spanish often uses libre (free/available) or vacío depending on the tone.

• Ese asiento estaba libre. (That seat was free.)
• La mesa estaba vacía. (The table was empty.)

Messages, Pages, Lists, Carts

Digital “empty” often becomes “there’s nothing” or “it shows nothing,” which can sound more natural than forcing vacío.

• La bandeja de entrada estaba vacía. (The inbox was empty.)
• No había nada en la lista. (There was nothing on the list.)
• El carrito estaba vacío. (The cart was empty.)

Money And Accounts

For “no money,” Spanish often uses sin + noun or no tenía. Vacío can work, but it may sound dramatic depending on the sentence.

• La cuenta estaba en cero. (The account was at zero.)
• No tenía dinero. (I had no money.)
• La cartera estaba vacía. (The wallet was empty.)

To see guidance on the verb vaciar (“to empty,” “to become empty”), the RAE DPD entry on “vaciar” is a clean, usage-focused reference.

What “It” Was	Natural Spanish	When It Fits Best
Room, hall, store	Estaba vacío/a	Describing the scene when you arrived or looked
Bottle, box, bag	Estaba vacío/a	Nothing inside a container
Seat, chair	Estaba libre / Estaba vacío	Libre for availability; vacío for “no one there”
Inbox, cart, folder	Estaba vacía/o	Digital container with zero items
List, form, field	Estaba en blanco / No había nada	Nothing written or nothing present
Shelves, fridge	Estaban vacíos/as	Multiple items; match plural agreement
Period of time (a place stayed empty)	Estuvo vacío/a	Empty for a bounded stretch, then it changed
After an action (it ended up empty)	Quedó vacío/a	Result after something happened
After being emptied	Se quedó vacío/a	Emphasizes the result and the new state

Spanish Alternatives That Often Sound More Native

Sometimes “empty” in English is shorthand for something more specific. Spanish lets you say that directly, which can sound smoother.

“There Was Nothing”

This is perfect when you’re pointing out absence, not describing a state as a label.

• No había nada. (There was nothing.)
• No había nada adentro. (There was nothing inside.)
• No había nadie. (There was nobody there.)

“It Was Blank”

Great for forms, pages, screens, and notebooks.

• La página estaba en blanco. (The page was blank.)
• El campo estaba en blanco. (The field was blank.)

“It Ended Up Empty”

Use this when something happened and emptiness is the result.

• La caja quedó vacía. (The box ended up empty.)
• El vaso se quedó vacío. (The glass ended up empty.)

If you want a deeper grammar-focused take on ser and estar and why learners mix them up, this Instituto Cervantes paper is useful: “Usos de ‘ser’ y ‘estar’” (CVC Cervantes).

Where Learners Slip: “Era Vacío” And Other Near Misses

Spanish learners sometimes translate word-by-word and land on phrases that sound off.

Why “Era Vacío” Often Sounds Wrong

Ser describes identity and traits. Estar describes states and conditions. “Empty” is usually a condition, so estar is the default.

You might hear ser used with vacío in special cases, usually when “empty” becomes a trait in a more abstract sentence. In daily speech about rooms, bottles, seats, and shelves, estar is the safer choice.

Gender And Number Mistakes That Change The Sound

Spanish listeners notice agreement fast. These fixes help your line sound clean:

• La sala estaba vacía (not vacío)
• Los estantes estaban vacíos (plural)
• Las botellas estaban vacías (plural + feminine)

Picking The Right Option In Real Speech

If you’re speaking and you want a safe, natural sentence without pausing to think, these three cover most needs:

1. Estaba vacío/a. Scene description.
2. No había nada. Absence of items or content.
3. Quedó vacío/a. Result after an event.

Then, if you want a more precise feel, swap based on what you mean:

• People missing from a place: No había nadie or estaba desierto.
• Forms and pages: estaba en blanco.
• A fixed time window: estuvo vacío/a + time phrase.

Meaning You Want	Best Past Form	Sample Sentence
State at that moment	Estaba vacío/a	Cuando abrí la caja, estaba vacía.
Empty during a set period	Estuvo vacío/a	El bar estuvo vacío toda la tarde.
Result after something happened	Quedó vacío/a	Después de la mudanza, la casa quedó vacía.
Nothing present (items)	No había nada	Miré el cajón y no había nada.
Nobody present (people)	No había nadie	Toqué la puerta y no había nadie.
Blank (text not filled)	Estaba en blanco	El formulario estaba en blanco.
Available seat/spot	Estaba libre	Ese asiento estaba libre.

Short Practice Set To Lock It In

Try these. They’re the kinds of lines you’ll actually say.

Fill In The Missing Word

• La botella estaba _____. (vacía)
• El cuarto estaba _____. (vacío)
• Las mesas estaban _____. (vacías)
• Los bolsillos estaban _____. (vacíos)

Swap The Past To Change The Meaning

Start with this:

• El local estaba vacío. (scene)

Now change it:

• El local estuvo vacío. (bounded period)
• El local quedó vacío. (result)

Once you can feel those differences, “It was empty” stops being a translation puzzle and becomes a quick choice.