Spaniards, and particularly Andalusians, have a real flair for slang. Spanish slang is colorful and often humorous. By American standards, it can also seem pretty vulgar. But don’t worry; most of the time, swearing in Spain isn’t interpreted as being anywhere near as offensive as swearing in English. With that said, many of these are still vulgar expressions and should be used only among friends; not with professors, etc.

Ways to Say “Cool”

In Spanish there are lots of ways to say cool.

Guay – This is the basic word for “cool.” You can say guay as a simple exclamation as in “Cool!” You can also use it to say that something is cool. To do so, always use the verb estar. So, if you want to say “That T-shirt is cool.” you’d say Esa camiseta está guay.

Molar – This is actually a verb that means “to be cool.” So, it can be used in any situation where you want to say something is cool. Using the previous example, you could say Esa camiseta mola which would mean “That T-shirt is cool.” You can also use it as an exclamation: ¡Mola!

¡Cojonudo! – [See below]

¡Alucinante! – [See below]

Cojones and Huevos

The words cojones and huevos are both slang terms for testicles. They also happen to be used in many figurative expressions. Here are a few of the most common ways Spaniards use cojones and huevos.

¡Cojones! – When used to express surprise, its meaning is similar to “holy crap!”

¡Cojones! – When used with an angry tone, it means “damn it!”

¡Qué cojones! – What the hell!

¡Los huevos! – “Damn it!”

¡Sí, los huevos! – “Um, I don’t think so!”

No hay cojones (de…) – “It’s impossible (to…)”

¡Manda huevos! – “This is bullshit!”

Tiene huevos. – “Unbelievable!”

Tiene un par de huevos/cojones. – “He’s got balls.”

Tiene tres pares de cojones. – “He’s got some serious balls.”

¿Quién cojones hizo esto? – “Who the hell did this?”

Vale un huevo. – “It’s very expensive.”

Me importa tres huevos. – “I don’t give a shit.”

Me toca los huevos. – “He/she/that/it really bugs me.”

Se toca/rasca los huevos. – “He’s a total bum.”

Se está tocando/rascando los huevos. – “He’s being lazy.”

¡Tócate los huevos! – Holy crap! That’s unbelievable!

Acojonante – Freaky

Me estoy acojonando. – “I’m freaking out.”

Estoy acojonado. – “I’m freaked out.”

Me estoy descojonando (de risa). – When used in a happy tone, it means “I’m laughing my ass off.”

Es un descojone. – “He’s/It’s hilarious.”

¡Cojonudo! – “Awesome!”

Me salió de cojones. – “It went really well (for me).”

Hace un frio de cojones. – “It’s so damn cold.”

Estoy hasta los huevos. – “I’ve had it (up to here).”

Por cojones tuvimos que hacerlo. -This one implies that someone “made us do something against our will.”

Lo haré por cojones. – “I’ll do it no matter what it takes.”

…con un/tres par(es) de huevos. – This expression is used to indicate that something is huge. Has hecho una hamburguesa con un par de huevos. – “That’s one heck of a huge hamburger you made!”

Ser un huevón – “To be lazy.”

Hace lo que le sale de los huevos. – “He does whatever the hell he feels like.”

Va pisando huevos. – “He’s going really slow.”

Tiene los huevos cuadrados. – “He sits on his ass all day and does nothing.”

Cortarle a alguien los huevos. – “To be a dead man.” For example, Si no vuelves en cinco minutos, te corto los huevos could be translated as “If you’re not back in five minutes, you’re a dead man.”

Echarle cojones. – “Put some ‘back’ into it.” This expression is used when extra effort is needed to accomplish something.

Cagarse

When used literally, cagarse means “to have to poop”. In Spain, this verb is used in used in a number of expressions. Often, it’s used to express that something is fantastic. Other times it’s used to express frustration. It can also be used in a very offensive way.

Cagarse. – To have to poop.

Te cagas. Or Cágate. – “You’re not gonna believe this.”

Está que te cagas. – “This food is fantastic!”

Hace unos dibujos que te cagas. – “He’s draws some really amazing pictures.”

Me cago en la mar. – “Damn it.”

Es más tonto que cagar boca arriba. – “He’s stupider than pooping upside down.”

Una cagada – “a screwup” as in “a big mistake.”

La he cagado. – “I screwed up.” or “I blew it.”

Leche

Leave it to the Spaniards to take a seemingly bland word like “milk” and create dozens of colorful expressions from it.

¡La leche! – “Holy crap!”

Es la leche. – When spoken in a tone of admiration, this expression means “He’s the shit.” However, if spoken in a tone of disapproval it means “He’s got some nerve!”

…tres leches – “hardly anything”

Echar leches – “To go really fast” or sometimes “to go too fast”

Tener mala leche – “To be a mean person.”

Estar de mala leche – “To be in a bad mood.”

Pegar and Pegarse

Pegar means “to hit” or to “stick” (as in glue). So, theoretically, pegarse should mean “to hit yourself” or “to stick yourself”. Well, the very notion of hitting oneself is obviously pretty absurd, which makes for some rather humorous Spanish expressions.

Pegarse una ducha – “To take a shower”

Pegarse una hostia – I really don’t know how to translate this one but it basically means to hit your body or some part of your body against something really hard (e.g. your head).

No he pegado ojo en toda la noche. – “I wasn’t able to sleep at all last night.” This expression is used when you try to sleep but can’t or don’t sleep very well or toss and turn through much of the night.

No te pega. – “It doesn’t suit you.” This expression is used when you want to tell someone that something doesn’t match their person or character. It can be said of appearance (such as a haircut or clothes) or of actions and activities (such as using slang or a certain job). No te pega esa camiseta. No te pega ese trabajo.

Culo

I’m sure you know that culo means “butt”. And, of course, the Spanish wouldn’t dare let a word like that go without having a bunch of colorful expressions.

El culo (de una bebida) – “The backwash” – You know what I’m talking about. When you’ve got a drink, the last little bit in the bottle, can or glass is usually kind of disgusting, perhaps because of the dregs or perhaps really because of backwash. Who knows. Anyway, that last sip is called el culo.

Vas de culo. – Like a lot of Spanish slang, it’s tough to translate this one. I’ll try to explain it with an example. Let’s say Maria  “That’s not gonna happen.”

A tomar por culo. – This is similar to the American expression where something goes “down the toilet” or “down the drain.” In other words, something gets ruined or fails or basically falls apart. Often this expression is preceded by ¡Hala! which is just sort of an exclamation like “Tada!” but in a negative sense. Here’s an example. ¡Mierda! Se me ha caído el plato. ¡Hala! A tomar por culo el bocadillo. “Crap! I just dropped my plate. Well, there goes my sub (as in submarine sandwich).”

Está a tomar por culo. – “It’s in the middle of nowhere” or “It’s in the boondocks” or “It’s in the boonies” or simply “It’s really far away.”

Tener un culo de mal asiento. – “To have ants in one’s pants.”

Que se meta algo por el culo. – “He can shove something up his ass.” Obviously, you have to substitute an actual thing for the word algo. For example, Que se meta el trabajo por el culo.

Que le den por culo. – “Up his ass.”

Bueno

This word is tricky. By itself it’s harmless. But use it with the wrong verb or in the wrong context and you could find yourself saying something rather embarrassing.

Bueno means “good”. So, la comida está buena means “the food tastes good.”

When bueno is preceded by the verb ser, it means that something is always good. Of course, food doesn’t always taste good. But broccoli is always good for you. So, el brócoli es bueno means “broccoli is good for you.”

So far we haven’t seen anything too exciting. But what happens if we start talking about people.

When used with ser, bueno indicates “goodness”. So, David es bueno means that Dave is a good guy. However, if we switch to the verb estar and say David está bueno, we’re saying that Dave is sexy.

Rollo

The literal translation of Rollo is, yes, “roll” as in a roll of toilet paper, for example. Rollo and the verb enrollar(se) are often used figuratively. I suspect most of the slang usages come from the idea of something unraveling in a steady flow or something going on forever without any end in sight.

Buen rollo – This implies good times, good energy or good feelings. So, …de buen rollito

Mal rollo – This phrase can have several meanings depending on the context and the inflection. It can express that a situation is unpleasant or unfortunate. It can express a sense of ominous fear (as one might experience walking through a dark alley). It can also express an unpleasant tension between people.

¡Qué rollo! – “This sucks,” “this is lame,” “this is boring,” etc. If it really sucks, you can say “¡Qué rollazo!”

Ser enrollado – To be cool, as in “a person who’s friendly, easy going and easy to get along with.”

Enrollarse – This is one of the fun ones. In one sense, it can mean “to go into a monologue” or “to rant” as in “Don’t get him started ’cause he’ll never shut up and we’ll have to listen to him rant for hours.” The other use of enrollarse is when two people participate in some kind of physical/sexual act. Generally, it is understood that the two people had not been together physically before. It could be anything from kissing to sex. A possible translation might be “they hooked up.”

Corta el rollo. – If someone is going on and on about something, it would be used to interject “Get to the point already” or a more curt “Shut up already.” If you think that someone is lying or avoiding giving you a straight answer, it would mean “Cut the crap.”

Me han cortado el rollo. – “They just ruined my night.”

More Spanish Slang and Expressions

tío – “man” as in “Hey, man, how’s it goin’?” You’re gonna here this slang word all the time.

colega – “dude”

¡Colega de la vega! – Bitchin’, dude!

¡Coño! – “Holy crap!”

¡Qué coño! – “What the hell!” This expression can be adapted to pretty much any type of question: quién, cómo, dónde. I’ve never heard it used with cuándo or por qué and it would sound kind of strange to do so.

¡Joder! – “Jesus (Christ)!”

¡Jolín! or ¡Jolines! – “Jeez!”

cateto – “hick”

¿A que no…? – We use this phrase much like we use “You didn’t do something, did you?” or “I bet you didn’t (or forgot to) do something” in English. For example, ¿A que no ha sido tan mal? could be translated as “That wasn’t so bad now, was it?”

¿A que…? – This one is just the reverse of the previous expression. It’s like saying, “You did something, didn’t you?”

La madre que lo parió. – This one’s tough to translate into an equivalent English expression. And the meaning is greatly dependent on the tone and context. It can be used to express disbelief as in “I can’t believe he won the lottery!” But it can also be used in an extremely offensive way that would essentially translate to the ever so colorful “Yo’ momma!”

¡Anda! – This exclamation is use sort of like “Wow” or “Hey, look at that!” It expresses pleasant surprise.

¡Anda ya! – “Come on already. Who are you trying to fool.”

¡Toma! – “Take that!”

Estoy que me subo por las paredes. – “I’m going out of my mind.”

Tener malas pulgas – “To be in a bad mood.”

A propósito… – “By the way…”

A otra cosa, mariposa. – “OK. This is going nowhere. Let’s change the subject.”

A la vuelta de la esquina – “Just around the corner.” Just as in English, this expression can be used to indicate that something is physically near or temporally near. E.g. “Christmas is just around the corner.”

Ser un pesado – A pesado is a person who continually talks about the same (annoying or boring) topic. The person may either refuse to change the subject or regularly return conversations back to the same topic. Often, a pesado may repeat himself over and over again saying the same thing with or without rephrasing.

Se ahoga en un vaso de agua. – “He sweats the small stuff.” This expression is used to describe a person who gets stressed out at the slightest problem. It literally translates to “He drowns in a glass of water.”

Ser un aguafiestas – “To be a party pooper or a buzz-kill”

Ser un falso – “To be two-faced”

La de la vergüenza – This expression refers to the last bit of shared food. For example, say you’re sharing a pizza with friends. The last slice of pizza would be “el de la vergüenza.”

Al pan pan y al vino vino. – “Call it like/what it is.” or perhaps “Don’t sugar coat it.”

¡Anímate! – “Cheer up.”

Ánimo. – “Hang in there.”

No me extraña. – “It doesn’t surprise me.”

De verdad – “Really”

Hablando del Rey de Roma… – “Speak of the Devil…” The full phrase is Hablando del Rey de Roma y por la puerta se asoma, but just as in English, it’s most common to hear just the first half of the phrase.

Pagar en efectivo – “To pay cash.”

Tener cuidado – “To be careful.”

Un timo – “A rip off”

Tener mucha cara – “To have some nerve”

Tener un/mucho morro – “To have some nerve”

¡Qué lío! – “What a mess!” or “This is so confusing!”

¿Me estás tomando el pelo? – “Are you pulling my leg?”

No hay de qué. – “Don’t mention it.” This is probably the second most common way to  “you’re welcome.”

Estoy de broma. – “I’m kidding.”

Estoy de coña. – “I’m kidding.”

¡Has picado! – “Gotcha!” or “Fooled ya!”

Me pica. – “It itches.” You can specify what itches by adding the body part at the end. For example, Me pica la pierna would be “My leg itches.”

Picarse – “To get competitive.” I can’t think of a good translation for this one. So, let’s look at an example. Sara and Lisa both play volleyball. Sara sees Lisa practicing extra hours and becoming better at volleyball than Sara. Sara and Lisa both started playing at the same age. Sara can’t stand feeling like she’s an inferior volleyball player to Lisa. So, Sara starts practicing

¡Qué aproveches! – “Enjoy (your meal).”

Ligar (con alguien) – “To hook up (with someone).”

¿Me estás tirando los tejos? – “Are you flirting with me?”

Ser una lapa – “To be a snuggle bug”

Voy a reventar. – “I’m stuffed.” This is a fun one because it literally means “I’m going to burst.” And it’s what every Spaniard says when they’re full.

Regular – “not very well.” This word is used in a variety of contexts. For example, me salió regular el examen means “I didn’t do so well on the test.” La sopa está regular means “the soup isn’t that great.” Me siento regular means “I’m not feeling very well.”

Normal. – “Of course.” Or “Naturally.” For example, Darren says ¡Uf! Voy a reventar. And David responds with Normal. ¡Te has comida dos pizzas!

Ni idea. – This is a shortened version of No tengo ni idea which means “I have no idea.”

Tranqui, tronco. – “Chill, dude.”

¿Y eso? – “What’s up with that?”

¿Me estás mareando? – “Are you jerking me around?” or “Are you giving me the runaround?”

¡Ojo! – This could be translated as “notice” or “attention” or “this is important” or something along those lines.

Lo que se come se cría. – This expression translates as “You are what you eat.” But ¡Ojo! The Spaniards use this one a little differently. It’s usually got a touch of sarcasm often with innuendos related to the male sexual organ.

Le quedan dos telediarios. – “He’s on his last leg.”

Has dado en el clavo. – “You hit the nail on the head.”

Dios los cría y ellos se juntan. – “Birds of a feather flock together.”

Consultarlo con la almohada – “To sleep on it.”

De noche todos los gatos son pardos. – This expression literally means “At night, every cat is brown.” It’s used to express that when you don’t have the ability to see things clearly (whether that “seeing” is physical or metaphorical) everything looks pretty much the same. You might use this expression if, say, you’ve never been to Spain and you don’t really know much about it. So, before actually visiting the different regions of Spain (e.g. Granada, Madrid, Barcelona, etc.) it might seem, from the outside, like they’re all pretty much the same. It’s only when you get to Spain (or when you find this website ) that you can see things as they really are and realize that Granada kicks ass!

Tener buena pinta – This one can have several meanings depending on the context. If you’re talking about a situation or a project, it means that it “looks promising”. If you’re talking about food, it means that the food “looks tasty”. If

¡Qué pinta tiene! – This expression can mean one of two things. If you’re talking about food, it means that “the food looks amazing”. In this context it can be preceded by ¡Joder! However, when describing a person, it is a derogatory criticism of the way a person looks. So, it would kind of be like saying “Oh, my God, Sara. Do you see what that woman is wearing? That is the ugliest skirt I have ever seen.” For example.

No me gusta la pinta que tiene ese tío. – “I don’t like the looks of that guy. He looks suspicious.”

¿Yo qué pinto aquí? – “What the heck am I doing here?” It implies that a person doesn’t belong or fit in.

No pinto nada aquí. – “This ain’t my scene.” In other words, “I don’t belong here” or “I don’t fit in here.”

Está en el quinto pino. – “It’s in the middle of nowhere” or “It’s in the boondocks” or “It’s in the boonies” or simply “It’s really far away.”

¡Y un cuerno! – “Um, I don’t think so!”

Flipar – “To freak” (in a good way). As in “Dude, you’re gonna freak when you see the car I just bought.” Tío, vas a flipar cuando veas el coche que me he comprado.

!Flipante! – “Amazing!”

¡Qué flipe! – “Amazing!”

Está flipado con su coche nuevo. – “He loves his new car.”

¡Alucinante! – “Incredible!”

Alucino. – “I can’t believe it.”

Me saca de quicio. – “He drives me nuts (in a bad way).”

Estoy desquiciad@. – “I’m going nuts.”

…que no (me) veas. – Whew. This one is really tough to translate. It’s used to express that something is extreme. For example, “Hace un calor que no me veas.” might be translated as “It’s extremely hot outside.” “Corre que no veas.” could be translated as “He’s extremely fast.”

…lo más grande. – This one also expresses that something is extreme. However, it’s use is limited to things like pain and suffering. Duele lo más grande.

…a saco. – This expression means that something is at its maximum capacity.

Me chiflan los Coco Puffs. – Chiflar a alguien literally means to make someone insane. Figuratively it means “to really love something.” I don’t think they sell Coco Puffs in Spain (they might but I’ve never seen them) but if they did, the commercial’s slogan of “I’m cuckoo for Coco Puffs” would be translated as Me chiflan los Coco Puffs.

Escurrir el bulto – “To get out of something” as in “She’s trying to get out of doing the dishes.” Intenta escurrir el bulto.