One of my favorite things about learning a language is to learn slang (jerga), aka colloquial Spanish. Along with dichos (sayings) y modismos (idioms). And it's always useful to have those GO-TO phrases (frases útiles) to say in conversation.
So here are a few of my favorites...
Dichos:
Un día a la vez. (One day at a time.)
Más vale tarde que nunca. (Better late than never.)
Dicho y hecho. (No sooner said than done.)
Del dicho al hecho hay mucho trecho. (Easier said than done.)
Aquellos son ricos, que tienen amigos. (Those who have friends are rich.)
El tiempo da buen consejo. (Time will tell.)
Poco a poco se anda lejos. (One step at a time.)
GO-TO phrases >> frases útiles:
Que tengas un buen día. (Have a nice/good/great day.)
-- Que tengas un buen fin de semana. (weekend)
-- Que tengas una buena semana. (week)
Que Dios te bendiga. (God bless you.)
Nos vemos. (See you.) / Nos vemos mañana. (See you tomorrow.)
¿Qué tal? Es bueno verte de nuevo. (What's up? It's good to see you again.)
¿Qué pasa contigo? (What's up with you?)
Lo que sea. / Me da igual. (Whatever.) - used to express indifference
Cuando quieras. (Whenever you like/want.)
salga lo que salga; venga lo que venga; pase lo que pase (come what may)
No me importa. (I don't care. (not interested, not concerned); I don't mind. (not bothered))
Dame un momento. (Give me a moment.)
¡No me digas! (You don't say!; No way!; Are you kidding me!)
Modismos:
tomar el pelo (to pull someone's leg; to poke fun at) --> literally: to grab someone's hair
-- Deja de tomarme el pelo y dime si el vestido me queda bien o no de verdad. (Stop teasing me and tell me if the dress really looks good on me or not.)
andar con rodeos (beat around the bush) --> literally: to walk the long way around
-- No tengo tiempo para escucharte andar con rodeos. (I don't have time to listen to you beat around the bush.)
irse por las ramas (beat around the bush) --> literally: to leave for the branches
-- Bueno, al menos no se va por las ramas. (Well, at least he doesn't beat around the bush.)
estar listo (to be ready; to be finished)
-- ¿Estás listo/a? (Are you ready?) -- listo/a (adjective) matches noun
-- ¿Están listos/as? (Are you guys ready?)
dar una mano ( to lend a hand; to give a hand)
-- ¿Me puedes dar una mano? (Can you give me a hand?)
ser pan comido (to be a piece of cake) --> literally: to be eaten bread
-- El examen fue pan comido. (The exam was a piece of cake.)
comer como un pajarito (to eat like a bird)
estar en la luna (to be miles away; to have one's head in the clouds) --> literally: to be on the moon
llover a cántaros (raining cats and dogs; to pour) --> literally: to rain pitchers/jugfuls
-- Estuvo lloviendo a cántaros todo el fin de semana. (It was raining cats and dogs all weekend.)
salir por el pan (to be free; available) --> literally: to leave for the bread
hablar por los codos (to talk up a storm; to be a chatterbox) --> literally: to talk through one's elbows
tirar la casa por la ventana (to spare no expense; to go to town; to go all out) --> literally: to throw the house out the window
Slang:
estar listo (to have another thing coming; to make a big mistake)
-- Si te crees que te voy a ordenar yo el cuarto, estás listo. (If you think I'm going to tidy up your bedroom, you have another thing coming.)
estar listo (to be done for; to be in trouble)
-- Si todos los días va a hacer este calor, estamos listos. (If it's going to be this hot everyday, we're done for.)
pura vida (awesome; great; all good; cool) *Costa Rica*
mae (dude; bro; girl/chick) *Costa Rica*
tuanis (awesome; cool) *Central America*
-- Qué tuanis tu carro, mae. (Your car is awesome, dude.)
chévere ((1) ADJECTIVE: great; fantastic; awesome; (2) INTERJECTION: great; cool; that's fantastic/awesome) *Latin America*
qué padre (how cool/nice; that's great/awesome) *Mexico*
qué guay (how cool; that's awesome) *Spain*
qué guay, tío (how cool, dude/mate) *Spain*
tío (pal; dude; mate) *Spain*
hombre (INTERJECTION: come on; are you kidding me; you bet)
-- ¿Te gusta el café? - ¡Hombre! ¡Moriría sin él! (Do you like coffee? - Are you kidding me? I'd die without it!)
güey (dude; man; guy; idiot) *Mexico*
-- Ese güey es bien escandaloso. (That dude is so loud.)
mami >>
(1) mommy (relative)
(2) gorgeous (used to address an attractive woman) *Latin America*
(3) sweetheart (used to address a young girl) *Latin America*
-- ¿Qué pasó, mami? (What happened, sweetheart?)
papi >>
(1) daddy; pop (relative)
(2) baby; sweetheart (term of endearment used to address a man) *Latin America*
(3) dude; mate (used to address a male friend) *Latin America*
(4) hunk (attractive man) *Bolivia, Caribbean, Mexico, Paraguay*
Take time to enjoy these things as you go along. Language and culture go hand-in-hand. Meet people, habla (talk), travel, work, live... love life. ¡Que Dios te bendiga!
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