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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Words and phrases you need to know to be a true Madrileño

If you're learning Spanish, one of most challenging things about learning a new language is the accents and street slang, which changes depending on which city you're in.

Published: 31 May 2019 16:57 CEST
Words and phrases you need to know to be a true Madrileño
Photo: Kasto/Depositphotos

The capital of Spain is no different! Madrid has lots of words and phrases that are just used there, as well as some that may be used elsewhere but are common to hear on the streets of Madrid. Knowing the meaning of this words and when to use them will make you sound just like a native, so here we give you some words and phrases to test out:

 

Chupa – leather jacket

 

  • Se ha comprado una chupa preciosa.

        He's bought a beautiful leather jacket.

 

Piba/pibe – girl or boy

 

  • Esta piba es muy rara.

        This girl is very strange.

 

Sobar – sleep

 

  • Me voy a sobar, estoy agotado.

        I'm going to sleep, I'm knackered.

 

Esfumarse – disappear or run away

 

  • Juan no hace más que esfumarse cada vez que le vemos.

       Juan keeps ghosting on us whenever we see him.

 

 

En zero coma – very fast

 

  • Salimos de viaje en 0 coma.

       We'll be en route in no time.

 

A pachas – go halves

 

  • Fuimos a cenar y pagamos la cuenta a pachas.

We went to have dinner and split the bill.

 

Mazo – a lot

 

Tengo mazo de tiempo libre últimamente.

I have had  a lot of free time lately.

 

Estar al loro – to be aware

 

Estoy al loro de todo lo que pasa en esta ciudad.

I'm aware of everything that happens in this city.

 

Keli – house

 

¿Quedamos todos en mi keli?

Shall we all meet in my house?

 

Pirado – crazy

 

Los que ponen su vida en peligro sin motivo están totalmente pirados.

Those that put their own life's in danger without reason are totally crazy.

 

Chachi – good or great

 

El Parque Warner es super chachi.

The Warner Park is really good.

 

Pipa – fool or silly person

 

Jorge es un pipa , nadie le toma en serio.

Jorge is a fool, no one takes him seriously.

 

Jeta – face

Tenía una jeta de asustado impresionante.

He had such a scared face.

 

Check out our other word of the day posts

This word of the day has been contributed by LAE Madrid, the leading Spanish academy in Madrid. Accredited by the Insitituto Cervantes, it offers Spanish courses for all levels and also has Spanish classes for kids and families.

OPINION: The Lonely Planet is wrong, Madrid isn't Europe's second best destination

 

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SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY

Spanish Expression of the Day: A ver

Most conversations in Spain are likely to include ‘a ver’ at some point. So what meanings does this handy expression have?

Published: 12 June 2024 12:11 CEST
Spanish Expression of the Day: A ver

A ver, literally meaning ‘to see’, serves two main purposes in Spanish. 

Firstly, it can express expectation or interest in knowing or seeing something, like ‘let’s see’ in English. 

So you might say ¿a ver? in an interrogative manner in anticipation while opening a letter or birthday present, before looking through some binoculars or as you peer over a wall to see what’s happening.

Secondly, a ver can also be used to get the attention of another person before saying something to them, asking them a question or giving them an order, such as saying ‘right then’, ‘now’, ‘I mean’, ‘the thing is’ or ‘OK’ in English.

It’s an extremely common interjection in Spanish, spliced into conversation as often as es que, o sea or en plan when Spaniards try to express themselves.

A ver used in the two above senses goes at the start of the sentence, and in the case of a ver as in ‘let’s see’ it can stand on its own without having to add any extra information.

A ver isn’t colloquial but you usually only encounter its use in spoken Spanish and not written down.

That may explain why many Spaniards wrongly assume that a ver is written haber, the infinitive ‘to have’ form in Spanish. They’re pronounced exactly the same, so it’s somewhat understandable.

A ver can also be used in different Spanish sentence constructions, as in vamos a ver la película, ‘we’re going to see the film’ or a ver si hay suerte, ‘let’s see if we get lucky’ or ‘let’s hope we get lucky’.

All in all, adding a ver to your spoken Spanish is likely to make you sound more native, and getting its usage right isn’t too difficult overall.

Examples:

– ¡Mira! Esta noche hay luna llena.

– ¿A ver?

– Look! There’s a full moon tonight!

– Let’s see?

¡A ver si España gana la Eurocopa!

¡Let’s hope Spain wins the Euro!

¡A ver! ¡Basta ya de tonterías!

Right! Enough of this nonsense!

¡A ver, niños! ¿Cuántas patas tiene una araña?

Now, children! How many legs does a spider have?

A ver, es una persona muy complicada.

The thing is, he’s a very complicated person.

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