Moving to Spain is a great adventure, and to get the most out of it you’ll want to get at least a rudimentary understanding of the language. Most people take a few lessons either before they get there or once they’ve arrived to help them get to grips with the basics.
Once you’ve got a few key phrases under your belt, you’ll be able to interact with shopkeepers, neighbours and officials on an elemental level and have the basis for further study, but does it really teach you how Spanish people actually speak in Spain?
Live there a while and you’ll find that people in everyday life don’t conform to how those language text books would have you believe.
Below we’ve listed a few words and phrases to help you decode what you hear, and perhaps even learn to use them like a true Spaniard.
Digame (diga-mi) . When Spanish people answer the phone they don’t say ‘hello’ or even ‘yes’, instead they boldly say digame . This literally means ‘tell me’ and although it might sound a bit abrupt, well, it’s just what people say when they answer the phone.
Iqualmente . This is an easy one, it means ‘the same to you’. It can be positive or negative; if someone exclaims ‘ ¡feliz año nuevo! ‘ (Happy New Year) you can respond with ‘ igualmente ’. Equally, if another motorist wishes to express criticism of your driving skills and proposes you do something obscene to yourself you can also respond with ‘ igualmente ’. It’s a useful word that goes both ways.
Buenos . We are told that Spaniards delineate the day into times where either buenos dias (good morning/day), buenos tarde (good afternoon) or buenos noche (good night) is the temporally relevant salutation. In actual fact, many people just skip the second word and use the unichronologically appropriate buenos . It saves time and effort.
Hasta . Along the same lines, you’ll hear the slangy term ‘ hasta (luego/pronto/manana/la vista )’ (see you later/soon/tomorrow/I’ll be back) used all the time. This is also shortened to just hasta meaning ‘see-ya’.
Adios . Everyone, of course, knows that adios means goodbye. But did you know that it can also mean ‘hello’? If out walking in the country, say, and you cross paths with someone you recognise it is not uncommon to hear them say ‘goodbye’ as you pass. This might seem odd at first but if you think about it, every friendly encounter should feature a ‘hello’ and a ‘goodbye’. Spaniards, by and large, simply skip the first bit and get straight onto the adios part. Efficiency is the name of the game.
Nada . Meaning literally ‘nothing’, nada is simply the short form of saying de nada meaning ‘it’s nothing’ i.e. ‘You’re welcome.’
Pon me (pon-mi) . British people are notoriously polite – something most Spaniards find bizarre. When we order drinks we say por favor a lot – so much so that Spaniards sometimes call English people ‘ por favors ’. But if you want to sound like a local when ordering a drink or snack simply say pon me X, with X being your order. Pon me means literally ‘put me’ i.e. put X in front of me. It’s direct and to the point. You can also say ‘ dame ’ (pronounced da-mi, meaning ‘give me’). And don’t say please.
¡Que fuerte! Bart Simpson might say ¡ay caramba ! but Spaniards are more likely to say ¡que fuerte! The phrase translates as ‘what strength!’ but it’s meaning, basically, is ‘wow!’
Pues. Pues, pues, pues …. Well, well, well. You hear pues all the time but foreigners rarely say it. It means ‘well’ but it’s the Spanish filler word equivalent of ‘er’ or ‘um’. Use it before words, in the middle of sentences and whenever you feel the urge and you’ll be sounding like a local in no time.
Okay. This is a word that you’ll never hear in Spanish. Most people assume that everyone in the world says ‘okay’ … but not in Spain where you’ll get funny looks if you use it. Instead of saying okay, say ‘ claro’ (it’s clear).
We hope you get to put some of the above phrases and words into use as you settle into your life in Spain, although we should point out that it’s probably a good idea to also learn how to speak Spanish the ‘proper’ way otherwise you might have people thinking you’re a local and speaking back to you at 100mph, which can be embarrassing if you don’t know what they’re talking about!
