The Ultimate Latin American Spanish Vocabulary List: 50+ Phrases for Getting Around

If you’re going on among those traditional trips of Latin America, you require the linguistic tools to make buddies quick, flirt and have a good time.

The great news: you do not require to be entirely fluent in Spanish.

In this post, you’ll get the supreme Latin American Spanish vocabulary list so you can chat with residents, navigate the nation and fit in.

Plus, some grammatical differences with European Spanish.

Contents

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• Vos
  — Replaces tú as the casual “you” in Argentina, Uruguay, parts of Bolivia and Paraguay (It’s likewise utilized in locations like Chile however is thought about subpar there)
• Con vos
  — With you (utilized rather of contigo)
• Para vos
  — For you (utilized rather of para ti)
• Pronunciation of Y and LL— Argentinians move their tongue up a bit and voice these letters so that they seem like the middle consonant in “enjoyment”
• Che
  — Dude (it can likewise be utilized for focus)
• Macana
  — Nonsense, lies
• Chango
  — Young person

It’s essential to keep in mind that vos has its own conjugations. Here’s a thorough guide to them:

Check out these posts for more information Argentinian Spanish:

• Cuate
  — Friend
• Chupar
  — To consume (alcohol)
• Chaqui
  — Hangover
• Tombo
  — Police
• Opa
  — Idiot
• Imilla
  — Girl, girl (might come off as impolite, utilize with care)
• Llocalla
  /Yocalla
  — Boy, boy (might come off as impolite, utilize with care)

Learn more Bolivian Spanish here:

• Mixing of R and L— Feel totally free to invert these consonants, as lots of Caribbeans do. Some state, for instance, puelta rather of puerta (door).
• Disappearing S’s — As in lots of other parts (especially seaside parts) of Latin America, the S’s for a lot of speakers are changed by aspirated H’s.
• Una fría
  — Beer (casual) (actually it suggests “a cold one”)
• Tumba eso
  — Forget about it/ Let the subject drop
• Te pasaste de maquillaje
  — You’ve gone too far (actually, “you’ve overused your makeup”)
• ¿Qué bolá?
  — What’s up?
• Acere
  — Friendly
• Jamar
  — To consume

Learn some more Caribbean Spanish vocabulary with these guides:

• Drop your S’s, and often D’s— At the end of words, these consonants generally vanish in Central American pronunciation. The S’s can end up being simply a puff of air, pronounced like H’s.
• Chero
  — Friend
• Chepe
  — Nickname for the city of San José
• ¡Pura vida!
  — Cheers!, Hello!, Doing fantastic! (Costa Rican)
• Mae
  — Dude, Man (it’s now often utilized for females too)
• Jalar
  — To go (casual)
• Ir jalando
  — To start
• ¡Upe!
  — What you yell outside somebody’s gate to get their attention if they do not have a doorbell

Here are more guides to Central American Spanish:

• ¿Qué onda?
  — How are you?
• ¿Qué onda, microonda?
  — A childish and extremely tacky variation that actually suggests: “What wave, microwave?”
• Huevón
  — Guy/ Dude (some Chileans place it into the majority of their sentences as an useless interjection)
• The– ái and– í endings— In the casual second-person kinds of the verbs you’ll typically hear (however not see composed, other than potentially in text and so on) various endings than what you were taught in school

Verbs ending in– ar will typically get– ái endings, as in bailar (to dance) →Bailái
( you dance).

Verbs ending in – er and -ir will get an– í ending, similar to poder (to be able to) → Podí
( you can).

Notice how, despite the fact that it’s casual speech, it follows a basic guideline of Spanish. Considering that these endings take the tension on the last syllable, the spelling modifications that typically “corrupt” specific stressed out vowels do not take place here (it’s not puedí).

Check out this guide for more information Chilean Spanish:

• Chido
  — Cool
• Lana
  — Money
• Wey
  / Güey
  — Dude/ Guy (utilized in greetings and as an useless interjection)
• Chela
  — Beer
• Chones
  — Underwear
• Fuchi
  — Yuck
• Carnal
  — Friend, bro
• Compa
  — Friend
• Pedo
  — Problem, thing (as an adjective, it suggests “intoxicated”)
• ¿Qué pedo?
  — What’s up?

You can discover loads more Mexican Spanish vocabulary in this guide:

• Pe
  — Well, then (reduced variation of “ pues“)
• Pitrimitri
  — Awesome
• Pata
  — Friend, person

Master more Peruvian slang words here:

• Ta
  — Yes, OKAY (reduced variation of “ está“)
• Adobado
  — Drunk

Check out this post for more Uruguayan expressions:

Download:
This post is readily available as a portable and practical PDF that you.
can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)