5 Spanish slang you need to know
Today I will give you five words that you will love, some of them you might have heard before some maybe with a different meaning so let’s go to it.
I will not give you an accurate meaning as they do not really have one, grab pen and paper and make your notes
1-Rollo,
when we say something is “un rollo” we mean that is really boring, if it is a really big one we can say “rollazo” to make it sounds like something you do not really want to check it out
Ayer vi la película del director Peréz, !menudo rollo! –“Yesterday I watched the movie of Perez, such a boring one!”
Watch out!– enrollado, even when it can seem the same, it is not! Enrrollado is actually a good word, we use it when someone is cool.
Mi jefe es muy enrrollado, me deja salir pronto si he acabado el trabajo -“My boss is really cool, he let me leave early if I have done all the work”
2-Guay,
an informal word to agree, or to say something is cool or trendy, because either looks good (in this case some people use chulo or Chula, depending on the gender of the thing we talk about)or because it has great features.
an informal word to agree, or to say something is cool or trendy, because either looks good (in this case some people use chulo or Chula, depending on the gender of the thing we talk about)or because it has great features.
¿Qué te parece si vamos al cine esta noche? -¡Guay!
-“What do you think if w ego to the cinema tonight? –Cool!”
Me encanta su nuevo piso está muy bien decorado, es muy guay/chulo
-“I love her new flat, it is so well decorated, it is very cool/trendy”
Mi móvil nuevo es guay, puedes jugar en red y todo.
3-Tío/tía
you probably know this one, but referring to family members, in this case, it is a popular way to refer to a friend, and the gender changes depending if it is a female friend (tía) or a male one (tío), quite similar to your brother or man shout in english.
Hey, ¿Qué pasa tío? Hace mucho que no te veo , ¿todo bien?–“ Hey, what’s up?I have not seen you in a while!All good?”
4-Puto (puñetero)/puta (puñetera),
the word in brakets are the soft ones, as puto y puta are quite harsh, and they are famous to be swear words but..surprise!They can mean something good too J, all depending on what you want to transmit in your speech.
We use it to express something is bigger or better, kind of “muy”
¿Has visto el nuevo coche de Juan?Es puto rápido –“Have you seen Juan’s new car?It is really fast”
It can have a bad tone as well, meaning big too
La conferencia de ayer, fue una pérdida de tiempo, un puto/puñetero rollo. –“The conference yesterday was a waste of time, so boring”
Note-this is a word we, Spanish people love, we can pretty much using it in front of any noun, to put emphasis on it, and that would translate into the English loved (as well( fucking.
¿Qué es ese puto ruido? –“What is that fucking noise?
5-Flipa,
ok….I left for the hardest to explain for last I think..
We use the verb “flipar” when we are surprise or something caught us by surprise.
No tengo ni idea de que está pasando, estoy flipando –“I have no idea what is going on…I am freaking out”.
Sometimes is used as a way to say we do not believe something as it is so surprising,
!Flipa de lo que me he enterado!- “listen and freak out about what I have Heard” (sort of)
HOMEWORK
Practice to use these words in your next informal writting, just to get used to them and feel how they fit into the sentences, if you want to share with us in the comment, I will more than happy to have a look.
And if you have any question regarding this, use, meaning, etc…pregúntame! Ask me, I am here to help you
Ahora….Now….I would love to hear from you leave a comment below and tell me if you knew these words before, if you think they are Handy, and feel free to post any other Slang you know, you might help people in their journey.
And if you know someone who could learn from this post please spread the wordJ
Gracias for reading , have a great day
5 Responses to “5 Spanish slang you need to know”
Kris Mauldin
I lived in Spain 20 years ago while studying abroad from 96 to 97. I see the slang has not changed. The only one I didn’t recognize was #5. It’s good to know I could still survive a Castillian conversation full of slang if over there today.
blancadt
I am happy you recognized the words Kris, you might be ready to give Spain another try 🙂 Where did you study?
Cristina
Yo tambièn vivì en Espana a lo largo de dos meses por motivos de estudio en el 1992 y yo tambièn reconocì las primeras cuatro palabras ….de todos modo me doy cuenta que si no lo hablas lo pierdes. …. gracias porque nos permites de entrenar con el ya conocido y aprender algo nuevo☺
blancadt
¿Dónde viviste Cristina?Tienes razón si no practicas el idiomas se acaba olvidando, y ¡es una pena!Por eso estoy contenta si mi blog te ayuda a recordar/aprender cosas 🙂
Muchas gracias por el comentario, lo agradezco mucho.
rosalind m. martin
thanks
my friend referred to a video que le mandaba as.. “Menudo arte!”
Arrgh … no idea whether le gustO o no