Informal Spanish phrases will help you sound like a native speaker—or at least a culturally aware, advanced-level speaker.
In this post, you’ll learn 25 informal phrases and expressions commonly used in Spain.
You can use them in casual settings for greetings, small talk, reactions to dramatic stories and more.
For more general Spanish used in various countries, check out our post on Spanish slang or common Spanish phrases.
Contents
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Tío and tía mean “uncle” and “aunt,” but in Spain they’re commonly used to address a person in a friendly or casual way, similar to how you might use “dude” or “guys” in English.
¡Hola, tío! ¿Qué tal todo?
(Hi, dude! How’s everything going?)
2. Vale
(Okay)
You just can’t have a list of the things they say in Spain without this word. Vale is used all the time in Spain and can have different meanings depending on the context.
It’s often used as an affirmation or agreement, similar to saying “okay,” “fine,” or “got it” in English. It can also be used to express understanding or acknowledgment.
Vamos al cine esta noche.
(Let’s go to the movies tonight.)
Vale, suena bien.
(Okay, sounds good.)
3. Estar en la luna
(To be absent-minded/spaced out)
Estar en la luna is an idiomatic expression that literally translates to “to be on the moon” in English. It’s used to describe someone who’s absent-minded, daydreaming or not paying attention to what’s happening around them.
Hoy en clase, María estaba en la luna y no escuchó nada de lo que dijo el profesor.
(Today in class, María was daydreaming and didn’t hear anything the teacher said.)
4. Dar la lata
(To be a pain/annoying)
Dar la lata is a Spanish idiom that means “to be a nuisance” or “to bother someone.” You can use it when someone’s being persistent or annoying by asking too many questions, making requests or demanding attention.
Mi hermanito siempre me da la lata cuando quiere jugar conmigo.
(My little brother always bothers me when he wants to play with me.)
5. Ser un chaval
(To be gullible/naive)
Chaval is a Spanish word for “kid,” so this phrase literally means “to be a kid.” While chaval can be used to casually address someone who’s younger than you, calling an older person a chaval means they’re naive, gullible or inexperienced.
¿Le diste el dinero? ¡Eres un chaval!
(You gave him the money? You’re so naive!)
When you’re out of money and haven’t got two pennies to rub together, you can use this expression, which literally means “To be at two candles” (i.e., You only have two candles left).
No puedo ir al cine. Estoy a dos velas.
(I can’t go to the movie theater. I’m broke.)
7. Estar chungo
(To feel sick/to be in bad shape)
This is a very common informal expression. The inanimate can also be chungo, so, for example, when el televisor está chungo
(“the TV is on the fritz”) it needs to be repaired or replaced.
Hoy no puedo ir al trabajo, estoy chungo.
(I can’t go to work today, I’m not feeling well.)
The word rollo (roll, reel) is extremely popular in the above phrase in Spain, but rollo can mean many different things depending on the context.
For example: tener un rollo
(have a romance), buen rollo
(good vibes) and es otro rollo
(that’s a different matter).
No me gusta la clase de matemáticas. Es un rollo.
(I don’t like math class. It’s boring.)
9. Un lío
(A mess/an affair)
Lío is another very common word whose meaning changes depending on the context. It can refer to a messy or difficult situation. Tener un lío
means to have an affair.
La mudanza fue un lío total.
(The move was a complete mess.)
10. ¡Qué morro!
(What nerve!/How annoying!)
This is an exclamation used to express surprise or annoyance, similar to saying “What nerve!” It’s often used when complaining about some inconvenience.
La maestra nos obliga a escribir un ensayo de 10 páginas.
(The teacher is making us write a 10-page essay.)
¡Qué morro!
(What nerve!/How annoying!)
Una hostia is a communion wafer, but the word is used everywhere in Spain outside of the context of church.
You can also shorten it to ¡Hosti!
(kind of like “Damn!”) and use it to express surprise, anger, shock or amazement.
Mira todas las celebridades en esta fiesta. ¡Esto es la hostia!
(Look at all the celebrities at this party. This is amazing!)
Chulo is a common way to say “cool” in Spain, and you can use this phrase to react in many situations. Just be careful, as using it for a person means they’re arrogant.
If you’re a thirteen-year-old, super-preppy Spanish girl at the mall or want to get some giggles from your friends, you might say chuli
instead.
¿Tomaste estas fotos? ¡Qué chulo!
(Did you take these photos? How cool!)
13. ¡Mola!
(That’s awesome!)
Molar is a nice, regular -ar verb, and an informal way of complimenting or expressing enthusiasm about something.
Esta camisa mola,
for example, means “This shirt is fantastic.” You can also say Mola un montón
which means “It’s really cool” or “I like it a lot.”
¡Conseguí el trabajo que quería!
(I got the job I wanted!)
¡Mola!
(That’s awesome!)
14. Flipar
(To love/be in awe/get carried away)
Flipar is a popular verb that can express various feelings and reactions depending on the context. It can express love or admiration for something as in the first example below.
It can also be used to express awe, shock or disbelief, in both positive and negative ways. And it can be used to tell someone not to get ahead of themselves.
Me flipa la música rap.
(I’m crazy about rap music.)
!No te flipes! Solo han salido una vez.
(Don’t get carried away! They’ve only gone out once.)
On a high? Things are really rolling? In Spain, you say it’s a subidón, the magnified version of subida
(increase, rise, incline).
Voy a salir con la chica de mis sueños este finde. ¡Es un subidón!
(I’m going out with the girl of my dreams this Friday. What a rush!)
16. Ni fu ni fa
(It makes no difference)
Ni fu ni fa is a common informal Spanish phrase used to express indifference or a lack of strong feelings about a particular situation or topic. It’s similar to saying “neither here nor there” or “it doesn’t matter to me.”
¿Quieres almorzar pizza o hamburguesas?
(Do you want to have pizza or hamburgers for lunch?)
Ni fu ni fa, lo que tú prefieras está bien.
(It doesn’t matter to me, whatever you prefer is fine.)
This phrase is used when someone gets distracted, forgets something, says something ridiculous or acts crazy.
Olla means pan and se me ha ido literally means “it went away on/escaped from me,” so it basically means you’ve lost the pan.
Instead of la olla, Spaniards also say la pinza
(the clothespin), la perola
(the saucepan) or la castaña
(chestnut). The last one sometimes expresses a bit more insanity and/or anger.
¡Se me fue la pinza y perdí el bus!
(I got distracted and missed the bus!)
A Juan se le ha ido la castaña desde que empezó su nuevo trabajo.
(Juan’s gone crazy since he started his new job.)
Estar de mala leche is an informal phrase commonly used in Spain. It literally translates to “to be of bad milk” but figuratively means “to be in a bad mood” or “to be angry.” It’s used to describe someone who’s irritable, upset or easily provoked.
Hoy está de mala leche, mejor no le hables.
(He’s in a bad mood today, better not talk to him).
19. Botellón
(Alcohol-infused street party)
A lot of municipalities have been cracking down on these, but you certainly can’t say they’ve disappeared from Spanish culture.
Young people often don’t have the money to drink in bars and so they tend to congregate in certain known or pre-arranged plazas with cans or liter bottles of beer. Kind of like drunken, very social flash mobs.
Estoy a dos velas. Vamos al botellón en lugar de los bares esta noche.
(I’m broke. Let’s go to the street party instead of the bars tonight.)
20. Estar pedo
(To be completely drunk)
A pedo is literally a fart. Isn’t that sweet? This phrase can be compared to the similarly crude English expression “to be piss drunk.”
Sergio estaba pedo anoche. Ni siquiera pudo ir a trabajar esta mañana.
(Sergio was wasted last night. He couldn’t even go to work this morning.)
21. Estar ciego
(To be blind drunk)
Ciego means blind, so the expression is very similar to ours in English.
Lo echaron del club porque estaba ciego.
(They kicked him out of the club because he was blind drunk.)
This colloquial phrase is used to describe someone who’s currently unemployed or out of work.
Juan está de paro desde hace tres meses.
(Juan has been unemployed for three months.)
23. Ser mono
(To be cute)
Mono actually means “monkey,” but ser mono is a phrase used informally in Spain to describe something or someone as “cute” or “adorable.” It’s commonly used when referring to cute animals, babies or even something aesthetically pleasing.
¡Mira ese gatito, es tan mono!
(Look at that kitten, it’s so cute!)
24. Adeu
(Goodbye)
Even those who don’t speak Catalan (the language of Barcelona and surrounding areas) always use a couple of Catalan words in their Spanish in the Catalonia region of Spain.
The absolute most common is adeu, which, since it sounds like adiós, you may have guessed means goodbye.
¡Nos vemos mañana en la fiesta!
(See you tomorrow at the party!)
Vale. ¡Adeu!
(Okay. Bye!)
¡Oní! is a Spanish exclamation used in the Andalusia region of Spain. It’s an interjection expressing surprise, amazement or astonishment, similar to saying “Wow!” or “Oh my!” in English.
¡Oní! ¡Qué truco tan asombroso!
(Wow! What an amazing trick!)
How to Continue to Learn Informal Spanish
This post can serve as a good starting point as you continue to develop your knowledge of Spanish as it’s actually spoken in Spain.
Another way you can develop your knowledge of informal Spanish is through message boards. A popular one in Spain is Menéame, which functions a bit like Reddit.
You can also learn casual speech with immersive Spanish programs. For example, since FluentU teaches Spanish through authentic videos, it’ll allow you to hear natural, informal speaking.
Podcasts made for native speakers are another great way to listen to informal Spanish. Here’s a list of podcasts you can use to find more of these words and phrases.
With these informal Spanish phrases, you can enjoy feeling like a true blue Spaniard the next time you go out for tapas with your new friends!
Download:
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you
can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)
