¡Hola amigos! 

How’s that spanish going so far? I hope you’re doing bien bien. Today, I want to introduce you a few phrases that will help you get that mexican slang going and your inner mexican self fired up!  Read carefully and do not hesitate to try them out whenever you have a chance.

“Buena onda           

 Easygoing -kind of cool- person or situation. 

Ex.

  • “¡Qué buena onda tu amiga!, ¡Hoy me voy de viaje, qué buena onda!”
  • “Your friend is cool / easygoing! , I’m going on a trip today, how cool!”

“Da el gatazo”

If your spanish is not bad you might have noticed that gatazo comes from the word gato which means cat. In this case, we’re not talking about hitting a cat, do not worry! 

It referes to something that looks like new or that seems expensive or very fine. 

Ex.

  • “No es nuevo, pero da el gatazo
  • “It’s not brand new but it looks so!”

 “Chacharear”

A few years ago, a cháchara was an antique ornament that was not worth much. Chácharas used to be sold at street markets. As the years went on, the meaning of this word broadened and nowadays, it is commonly used as a verb -chacharear- implying “to buy/look for trinkets” 

Ex.

  • “No quiero algo en especial, solo estoy chachareando
  • “I don’t want anything in particular. I’m just looking through these trinkets” 

 “Padrísimo 

Again, your basic spanish should allow you to remark that this word comes from “padre” = father. 

Padrísimo is widely used to express that something is great, awesome, or fantastic. Why? we haven’t got a clue! 

Ex.

  • “Tu smartphone está padrísimo
  • “Your smarthphone is awesome”

“Es la neta 

Neta: the absolute truth.

The phrase means that something is “the truth” or “true” if used without the article “la”. However, this phrase can also imply that something is outstandingly cool or . 

Ex.

  • “El nuevo álbum de ColdPlay es la neta! No estoy bromeando, es la neta”
  • “Coldplay’s new album is really, really cool. I’m not even kidding, it’s awesome”

“Qué gacho 

It is not the nicest thing you can tell. It refers to something terrible or someone that’smean or not showing their greatest self. It is often used as a phrase to persuade, like in the following case:

Ex.

  • “No seas gacho, préstame dinero”
  • “Come on, don’t be mean and lend me some money!”

”No hagas Pancho 

A really colloquial way to tell someone to calm down when they’re being overly dramatic, exasperated or violent. 

Ex.

  • No hagas Pancho, ya nos van a servir de cenar.”
  • “Hey, calm down. Dinner is about to be served”

 

So there you go guys! Start using them and you’ll sound like a Mexican in no time.

Write you soon,

Fermín & GA Montserrat

 

 

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