“Quedarse” doesn’t express the same thing nor is it conjugated the same as the “quedar” version.

Let’s see what happens and how these two very similar but different verbs behave.

Spring Spanish teacher Maura will tell you everything you have to know about quedar vs quedarse:

1. What does “quedar” do?

Let’s separate the meaning of “quedar” into 5 categories.

Here’s the first one:

Agreements

“Quedar” is used to arrange appointments, meetings, times, and locations. For example:

• “Quedamos en vernos en la plaza más tarde.” (We agreed to meet at the square later.)
• “¿Te parece si quedamos a las 5 pm entonces?” (Do you think we should meet at 5 pm then?)
• “Mauricio quedó en que me llamaba hoy, pero no me ha llamado aún.” (Mauricio said he’d call me today, but he hasn’t called me yet.)

That link in the description takes you to our free Essential Spanish Chunking kit so you can download it.

Cheat Sheet with 54 essential Spanish Chunks you’ll hear and use yourself in ANY Spanish conversation (and example sentences). Taken from our YouTube Teacher’s most popular videos!

2 Bonus Cheat Sheets with Travel Chunks and Dating/Relationship Chunks

A Spanish Chunking Tutorial showing you the 1 technique that’ll help you make 100% of the Spanish from our videos roll off the tongue in just 5 minutes a day (you’re probably only using 50% of our lessons’ potential right now…)

Yes! Send me my FREE Spanish Chunking Kit

Now let’s see what else “quedar” does.

When something is missing

It indicates what’s left over or what’s missing.

In other words, “what’s left”. Example:

• “Ya recogí la cocina. ¿Qué queda por hacer?” (I’ve picked up the kitchen. What’s left to do?)
• “No quedó nada de torta después de la fiesta.” (There was no cake left after the party.)
• “¿Cuánto tiempo queda para llegar?” (How much time is left to get there?)

When something fits

How something fits or looks on someone. Especially with clothes. That is, “how something fits”. Like:

• “Esta camisa ya no me queda.” (This shirt doesn’t fit me anymore.)
• “A mí me gusta cómo te queda el color azul.” (I like the way the color blue looks on you.)
• “¿Esto me queda bien o me queda raro?” (Does this look good on me or does it look weird?)

Don’t let “quedarle algo a alguien” confuse you.

Here we don’t have to use the reflexive pronouns used with “quedarse”. But we do have to use another type of pronoun: direct object pronouns.

That is:

• me queda,
• te queda,
• le queda,
• nos queda,
• les queda.

Look good or bad to someone

To look good or bad to someone.

It’s about fulfilling your responsibility and/or commitment. In other words, “look good or bad to someone”.

For example:

• “Yo no confío en él, siempre nos queda mal.” (I don’t trust him, he always lets us down.)
• “Es muy importante quedar bien con la gente del trabajo.” (It’s very important to make a good impression with people at work.)
• “Si llegamos tarde, vamos a quedar mal, apúrate.” (If we are late, we will look bad, hurry up.)

When you’re talking about results

Results. This is about how projects, competitions, etc., turn out or end up.

Examples:

• “Me encanta como te quedó este dibujo.” (I love how this drawing turned out for you.)
• “¿Cómo quedó el partido? ¿Quién ganó?” (How did the match end? Who won?)
• “El proyecto quedó tan bien que lo seleccionaron para el festival.” (The project turned out so well that it was selected for the festival.)

2. What does “quedarse” do?

“Quedarse” is a bit shorter. We can summarize it in 3 categories.

First category:

Staying in a place

For example:

• “Anoche nos quedamos en un hotel precioso.” (Last night we stayed in a beautiful hotel.)
• “¿Te quieres quedar aquí hoy? Es tarde.” (Do you want to stay here today? It’s late.)
• “Cuando vengan a visitarnos, se quedan con nosotros.” (When they come to visit us, they stay with us.)

Stay with us until the end to practice all this a bit in a dialogue with Carla.

Keeping something

Examples:

• “Tú te quedaste con mi libro de Rushdie, ¿verdad?” (You kept my Rushdie book, right?)
• “¿Me puedo quedar con tu chaqueta?” (Can I keep your jacket?)
• “Prefiero quedarme con los buenos recuerdos.” (I’d rather keep the good memories.)

Remaining in an emotional or physical reaction

“Remain in a physical or emotional state”.

Like:

• “Me quedé dormida a mitad de la película.” (I fell asleep halfway through the movie.)
• “Nos quedamos locos con la noticia.” (We went crazy with the news)
• “Yo me disculpé y me despedí, pero ella se quedó molesta.” (I apologized and said goodbye, but she remained upset.)

3. Comparison of quedar vs quedarse in Spanish

The main comparison is the use of the reflexive pronoun used by “quedarse“.

So let’s first look at the conjugations of both. It’s the same, but we add the pronoun to “quedarse“.

The only time this can be confusing is when we use “quedar” to talk about clothes, colors, appearance.

Because we will need a direct object pronoun, that is:

• me,
• te,
• nos, etc.

And these can be confused with the reflexive pronouns used by “quedarse”.

For example:

• “Ese corte de cabello te queda muy bien.” (That haircut looks great on you.)

To avoid confusion, take a look at the direct object pronouns that accompany “quedar” so you can see that it’s not the same as the reflexive pronouns used by “quedarse”. Look at the examples with “quedar” when it uses direct object pronouns:

4. Practice quedar vs. quedarse in Spanish

We’ll give you options in the dialogue and you complete.

Let’s see:

Doctor Spanish ordering!

Learn all the Spanish you need to communicate with doctors, and get healthy soon! 

1. The phone call to reach Doctor Spanish

The most important thing in this lesson are the categories. Inside each, we’ll cover examples within the most common contexts.

Let’s start with a typical phone call:

ACTOR 1
Hola, buenas tardes. Necesito hacer una cita para revisión.
(Hello, good afternoon. I need to make an appointment for a checkup.)

ACTOR 2
Buenas tardes. Dígame su nombre, por favor.
(Good afternoon. Tell me your name, please.)

ACTOR 1
Claudia Torani. Soy turista y no hablo español fluidamente. Agradecería si pudiese hablarme despacio. 
(Claudia Torani. I am a tourist and do not speak Spanish fluently. I would appreciate it if you could speak slowly.)

ACTOR 2
Seguro. Dígame el motivo de su llamada.
(Sure. Tell me the reason for your call.)

ACTOR 1
Me he estado sintiendo mal del estómago por varios días.
(I have been feeling sick from my stomach for several days.)

ACTOR 2
Entendido. Le haré una cita con la Doctora Gutierrez. ¿Tiene seguro médico?
(Got it. I will make an appointment for you with Dr. Gutierrez. Do you have medical insurance?)

ACTOR 1
Sí. 
(Yes.)

ACTOR 2
Genial. La cita más cercana que tenemos es para mañana a las dos de la tarde.
(Great. The closest appointment we have is for tomorrow at 2 in the afternoon.)

ACTOR 1
Perfecto. ¡Muchas gracias!
(Perfect. Thank you very much!)

2. Explain symptoms in Spanish

One of the most relevant variations of the phone call would be your symptoms. So, let’s go over a few other typical health issues. For things that hurt, use: me duele (it hurts). After that, you can add any body part that hurts. Maria Fernanda made a great video about body parts that can help you out with that. You can watch it here. 

Other typical ailments could be:

Remember, you can add any body part after the chunk. You could also need to say there are abnormal things you can’t do. For that use: no puedo (I can’t). Then add the verb. For example:

Another thing that could happen that I want to go through with you is if your answer to: ¿Tienes seguro médico? (Do you have medical insurance?). In this case, you should ask:

• ¿Cuánto cuesta la consulta? (How much does the consultation cost?)
• ¿Cómo puedo pagar? (How can I pay?)

To which they could answer an amount of money, so check your numbers. Things like:

• Cincuenta dólares o cuatrocientos pesos. (50 dollars or 400 pesos.)

Or

• Con efectivo o tarjeta. (With cash or card.)

Lastly, make sure to confirm details at the end by saying something like: Le repito la información para que me confirme. (I will repeat the information for you to confirm.) Doctora Gutierrez, mañana a las dos de la tarde. (Dr. Gutierrez, tomorrow at 2 in the afternoon.)

Also, read until the end if you want to make sure you won’t mistake instructions given by your doctor, and end up undressing yourself when you don’t have to!

3. At the doctor’s reception

As soon as you walk through the door and find the receptionist, this is what could happen:

ACTOR 1
Hola. Tengo cita con la Doctora Gutierrez a las dos.
(Hi. I have an appointment with Dr. Gutierrez at 2.)

ACTOR 2
Muy bien. Su nombre, identificación y la documentación del seguro, por favor.
(Very good. Your name, ID, and insurance documentation, please.)

ACTOR 1
Claudia Torani. Aquí tiene. 
(Claudia Torani. Here you go.)

ACTOR 2
Tome asiento, por favor. Le llamarán para ser atendida.
(Have a seat, please. You will be called to be attended.)

Maybe this is a bigger place, and they tell you to go somewhere else. In this case, you could hear things like:

Once you’re done with the doctor, which we’ll go over in a second, you may have to talk to the receptionist again. Probably to pay, in case you don’t have insurance and the like:

ACTOR 2
¿Todo listo?
(All set?)

ACTOR 1
Si, gracias. Quería pagar, por favor.
(Yes, thank you. I would like to pay, please.)

ACTOR 2
Por supuesto. ¿Efectivo o tarjeta?
(Of course. Cash or card?)

ACTOR 1
Tarjeta. También, la doctora me dijo que hiciera una cita para un examen de sangre.
(Card. Also, the doctor told me to make an appointment for a blood test.)

ACTOR 2
Muy bien. Tiene que estar en ayunas, así que sería para mañana. ¿A las siete de la mañana le viene bien? 
(All right. You have to be fasting, so it would be for tomorrow. Seven in the morning works for you?)

ACTOR 1
Sí. ¿Se hace aquí mismo?
(Yes. Is it done right here?)

ACTOR 2
Sí, en la planta de abajo. Aquí tiene la orden que deberá presentar.
(Yes, downstairs. Here is the form you will need to submit.)

These doctor’s procedures are generally standardized in Latin America. Sobre todo si vas a un centro privado, que es lo más habitual para nosotros. (Especially if you go to a private center, which is the most common for us.) So, just make sure to say all the typical things you’d guess they need to know. That way you’ll be able to avoid part of the questioning, which is always a good idea if you don’t feel super comfortable with the language. 

Down below, you can find the link to our free Essential Spanish Chunking kit, with chunks far more common but just as important as this one. 

Cheat Sheet with 54 essential Spanish Chunks you’ll hear and use yourself in ANY Spanish conversation (and example sentences). Taken from our YouTube Teacher’s most popular videos!

2 Bonus Cheat Sheets with Travel Chunks and Dating/Relationship Chunks

A Spanish Chunking Tutorial showing you the 1 technique that’ll help you make 100% of the Spanish from our videos roll off the tongue in just 5 minutes a day (you’re probably only using 50% of our lessons’ potential right now…)

Yes! Send me my FREE Spanish Chunking Kit

4. How to talk with the doctor in Spanish

Now, during your visit with the doctor, you’ll have to repeat the symptoms you talked about during your phone call, adding as much detail as you can. Además, el médico te hará preguntas específicas sobre el contexto de tus síntomas. (Also, the doctor will ask specific questions regarding the context of your symptoms.) Let’s use a COVID scenario as an example, and go through a typical conversation:

ACTOR 1
Buenos días. Tome asiento, por favor. Dígame, ¿qué le sucede?
(Good morning. Have a seat, please. Tell me, what’s wrong?)

ACTOR 2
Buenos días, doctora. Llevo una semana de vacaciones aquí y hace dos días empecé a sentir malestar general y he tenido un poco de fiebre.
(Good morning, doctor. I have been on vacation here for a week and two days ago I started to feel general discomfort and have had a slight fever.)

ACTOR 1
Entiendo. ¿Ha estado en contacto con algún caso positivo de covid?
(I see. Have you been in contact with any covid positive cases?)

ACTOR 2
No que yo sepa.
(Not that I know of.)

ACTOR 1
¿Sufre de alguna condición especial o toma algún medicamento?
(Do you suffer from any special condition or take any medication?)

ACTOR 1
No.
(No.)

ACTOR 1
Dígame, ¿qué más siente?
(Tell me, what else do you feel?)

ACTOR 2
Presión en el pecho y mucha molestia en la garganta.
(Chest pressure and a lot of discomfort in the throat.)

ACTOR 1
Bien. Le dejo una orden para que pida cita en recepción para hacerse el test de antígenos. Mientras esperamos resultados, le daré un récipe para que compre acetaminofén en la farmacia. 
(Good. I’ll leave an order for you to make an appointment at the front desk for an antigen test. While we wait for the results, I will give you a prescription to buy acetaminophen at the pharmacy.)

ACTOR 2
¿Cómo debo tomarlo?
(How should I take it?)

ACTOR 1
Cada ocho horas. Preferiblemente con el estómago lleno. 
(Every 8 hours. Preferably on a full stomach.)

Again, there are many more symptoms and instructions that can be involved in this. First, let’s add a couple of particular situations you should definitely warn your doctor about if it applies to you. Things like:

Also, your doctor could give you certain instructions to check you up. Among them, could be:

Now, I’ll leave a few questions for you to test what you learned today. Also, leave a nauseated emoji in the comments if you’ve ever been sick in a foreign country! This way, I’ll also know that you have stuck with me to the end. 

Before I test you on today’s topic, though, I hope this was useful, and I really hope you don’t need it, but I’m glad we did this in case you ever do. If you are already feeling sick in a foreign country and that’s why you’re here, my heart goes out to you. Stay strong and positive and all will be over soon!

Time for that quiz! What phrase would you use to say something hurts in Spanish?

•  Me arde
• Me duele

What’s the expression for fasting they’ll use to instruct you?

• No puede comer
• Tiene que estar en ayunas

How do you say you’ve been feeling general discomfort in Spanish?

• Me siento mal
• Tengo malestar general

let’s listen to a real conversation first, than explore this question!

ALEX
Maura, hace unos días unos amigos me pidieron tips sobre cómo empezar oraciones en español.
(Maura, a few days ago some friends asked me for tips on how to start sentences in Spanish.)

MAURA
¿Y qué les dijiste?
(And what did you tell them?)

ALEX
¡Ese es el problema! No supe qué decirles.
(That’s the problem! I didn’t know what to tell them.)

Alex’s inquiry is a very interesting one.

I’m Maura, from Spring Spanish. And in this lesson I’ll help Alex and you discover how most Spanish sentences begin so you’ll always have a jumpstart. ¡Empecemos!

1. Start sentences with the pronoun

Let’s quickly check the pronouns I’m talking about:

MAURA
Empezar con los pronombres da paso a las oraciones más básicas del idioma. Y por básicas quiero decir esenciales, fundamentales.
(Starting with pronouns gives way to the most basic sentences of the language. And by basic I mean essential, fundamental.)

ALEX
¡Es verdad! Con esos pronombres puedes empezar muchas ideas.
(It’s true! With those pronouns you can start many ideas.)

MAURA
Sí, especialmente ideas simples y concretas que no tengan mucho contexto.
(Yes, especially simple and concrete ideas that do not have much context.)

ALEX
Como por ejemplo: Yo estudio español todos los días.
(Like for example: I study Spanish every day.)

MAURA
¡Exacto! Datos descriptivos y básicos.
(Exactly! Descriptive and basic data.)

This essential information that pronouns help with are things like descriptions, facts or data:

• Ella es muy inteligente y agradable. (She is very intelligent and nice.)
• Yo soy de Venezuela. (I am from Venezuela.)
• Eso es bastante fácil. (That’s very easy.)

By the way, at the end of the lesson we’ll be checking very extra official, insider tips to start sentences with filler words. Grammar books won’t tell you this, but my daily use of Spanish will!

Right now, here are other instances in which starting with a pronoun would also happen naturally:

• Él me dijo que prefería ir en carro. (He told me he preferred to go by car.)
• Ustedes siempre se portan bien conmigo. (You guys are always good to me.)
• Eso ha estado ahí desde ayer. (That’s been there since yesterday.)

In all of these examples using pronouns would be natural. I say this because it is also very natural for Spanish to omit pronouns. How to know when to use them or omit them is matter of familiarity.

Other words that seem to act like these pronouns and therefore are super common sentence starters as well, are words like:

Aquí (Here):

Hay (There is/are):

2. Start sentences with verbs conjugated for “I” and “We”

To catch these patterns your best bet is to expose yourself and listen to as much Spanish as possible. ¡Claro que con mucha atención! (Of course with a lot of attention!)

Because we know this, we do offer you the possibility to become a member of our Spring Spanish Inner Circle. Among other things like flashcards and lessons, you’ll get access to a Spanish-speaking community of teachers and students to practice with.

MAURA
Otro tip es empezar con verbos. Sobre todo conjugados con “yo” y “nosotras”. O “nosotros” en masculino y para grupos mezclados, claro.
(Another tip is to start with verbs. Especially conjugated with “I” and “we”. Or “we” in masculine and for mixed groups, of course.)

ALEX
Recuerdo que me dijiste eso cuando empecé a estudiar verbos.
(I remember you telling me that when I started studying verbs.)

MAURA
Claro, es que la idea es la misma. Uno tiene más jurisdicción y necesidad de hablar sobre uno o sobre nosotras.
(Of course, the idea is the same. One has more jurisdiction and need to talk about oneself or about us.)

ALEX
Bueno, porque “nosotras” igual incluye “yo”.
(Well, because “we” also includes “I”.)

MAURA
Exactamente. Por tanto, estas conjugaciones son las más importantes. Se usan más y empiezan más oraciones.
(Exactly. Therefore, these conjugations are the most important. They are used more and start more sentences.)

I swear by the idea that if you focus on the conjugation only for “Yo” (I) and “Nosotros/Nosotras” (we) and only for a few verbs, you can get a huge percentage of the language with the least amount of effort possible.

Here are examples with the verbs I would advise:

Tener / Tener que (Have to/Have to have to):

Querer (Want to):

Have you heard the latest one before? We might say this very dramatic chunk to express surprise for the smallest of things.

Necesitas (Need):

Estar (Be):

3. Start sentences with question words

MAURA
Por supuesto hacer preguntas es gran parte de la comunicación. Y las preguntas tienen sus propias maneras de comenzar oraciones.
(Of course asking questions is a big part of communication. And questions have their own ways of starting sentences.)

ALEX
Cualquier partícula de pregunta puede empezar una oración, ¿no?
(Any question particle can start a sentence, right?)

MAURA
¡Claro! “Dónde”, “cuánto”, “por qué” y similares son perfectos principios de oraciones.
(Of course! “Where,” “how much,” “why,” and the like are perfect sentence starters.)

ALEX
Incluso podría ser un “no” si estoy haciendo una pregunta negativa. Como: ¿No quisieras cocinar en lugar de pedir comida?
(It could even be a “no” if I’m asking a negative question. Like: Wouldn’t you want to cook instead of ordering food?)

MAURA
¡Sí! Empezar con “no” es todo un “pro tip”.
(Yes! Starting with “no” is a pro tip.)

Here are examples of sentences that hold on their own and start with question words:

• ¿A qué hora es que nos tenemos que ir? (What time do we have to leave?)
• ¿Qué íbamos a comer? (What were we going to eat?)
• ¿Dónde es la reunión al fin? (Where is the meeting at last?)
• ¿Cuánto te costaron esos zapatos? (How much did those shoes cost you?)

And, this is so common, I have even more examples for you. I have literally said all of these things today alone:

• ¿Cuándo nos vemos? (When will I see you?)
• ¿Por qué estás haciendo tanto ruido? (Why are you making so much noise?)
• ¿Cómo es que se hacían las lentejas? (How did you make the lentils?)
• ¿No que llegabas el viernes? ¿Qué haces aquí? (Weren’t you coming on Friday? What are you doing here?)

4. Start sentences with filler words

MAURA
Lo otro que se me ocurre es empezar oraciones con muletillas.
(The other thing that comes to mind is to start sentences with filler words.)

ALEX
¿Muletillas? ¿Qué es eso?
(Filler words? What is that?)

MAURA
Palabritas de relleno. Que no significan mucho, la verdad, pero sí ayudan bastante a dar paso a oraciones. ¿No me has escuchado decir “entonces”, “bueno” y cosas así todo el tiempo?
(Filler words. Which don’t mean much, really, but they do help a lot to make way for sentences. Haven’t you heard me say “so”, “well” and things like that all the time?.)

ALEX
¡Claro! Y yo también las uso, pero no me había dado cuenta de que sirven un montón para comenzar ideas.
(Of course! And I use them too, but I didn’t realize that they work very well to start ideas.)

Here’s what I don’t think everybody will tell you but that I’ve checked in my own life. You can almost always start sentences with these filler words:

5. How to form sentences in Spanish: Practice!

For this little exercise I want you to start these sentences. Take into account that for the first two you have many possibilities:

1. Start with a filler word:

__________ pero tampoco es la gran cosa. ( ________ but it’s no big deal either.)

In this example, it could be anything like:

2. Start with a verb:

___________ que no te íbamos a ver de nuevo. (________ that we weren’t going to see you again.)

Answers could be:

3. Start with a pronoun:

3. __________ no soy la indicada para ese trabajo. (_______ not the right person for that job.)

Here your only option is:

Since choosing pronouns are a good way to start sentences but it’s a little tricky to know when to use them, I would strongly advise you follow me to my other lesson on when to use pronouns in Spanish.

¡Gracias por estar aquí y nos vemos allá! (Thank you for being here and we’ll see each other there!)

And guess what? You’ll enjoy it even more if you know all the beach Spanish words and chunks to, say, get the best chair and umbrella, order food and drinks, join in on a beach volleyball game, or anything else you do at the beach!

¡Vamos a la playa! (Let’s go to the beach!)

1. Beach Spanish words: bathing suits and sunscreen

So, in order to get to the beach and thoroughly enjoy everything it has to offer, you’d need to get the right gear.

• Un traje de baño (A bathing suit). This would be the most general term. Depending on the country, it might vary a bit, though.

Judging by their style, we would call them:

Then we have:

There are probably a lot more words for this, but “sandalias” will never let you down. In general, take into account that I’m Venezuelan and clothing tends to vary a little bit from country to country, though not enough to make it impossible to understand.

Just in case, know that it is very common to have separate towels for the beach.

To recap:

Two more things before we continue: one, being at the beach is one of those things that can make you seriously hungry and thirsty, so stick till the end if you want to learn how to order cocktails and food.

Dos, por favor, por favor, por favor, no uses medias en la playa a menos que realmente lo necesites. (Two, please, please, please, do not wear socks to the beach unless you really need to.)

2. Beach Spanish words: how to find your place on the beach

As soon as you get to the beach, the first thing you need to figure out is, how do I protect myself from this intense sun, so I don’t die after this?

Here’s what you could say to the person in charge of the renting.

• Quisiéramos un toldo con dos sillas de extensión, por favor. (We would like a canopy with two extension chairs, please.)

Adjust the amount as necessary.

• Una silla extra, por favor. (An extra chair, please.)

If there are two types of chairs available, usually “silla” (chair) would be the regular one and “silla de extensión o tumbona” (extension chair or deckchair) the one you can use to lay down.

Little advice, take cash to the beach. It can become a whole thing very quickly.

• ¿Podemos pedirte comida y bebidas a ti? (Can we order food and drinks from you?)

Some kiosks will be in charge of both the beach canopy and food and drinks, some won’t.

Como esta configuración cambia de una playa a otra, siempre me propongo preguntar esto en cuanto llego a la playa para saber dónde conseguir mi sustento cuando lo quiera. (Since this configuration changes from beach to beach, I always make it a thing to ask this as soon as I get to the beach, so I know where to get my sustenance when I want it.)

Maybe you run into a beach volleyball game and you want to join. For this, use:

Now, onto the main thing, the water which we could call:

We tend to just use “mar” for everything but, granted, we have less experience with oceanic beaches. So, just know that for this scenario there’s a slight, almost non-important difference between these two words. You could also just call it:

• El agua (The water)

Inside the water, we have:

A lot of things can happen in the water, so we have chunks like:

La resaca, which can also mean “hangover” to some of us, is definitely the most dangerous thing at the beach, because you can’t see it.

If you’re not familiar, you might not even feel it or know that, that pull underneath the surface can be a super strong, treacherous thing. It might pull you in a way more than it’s comfortable and make getting out dangerously hard. So, keep an ear out for this chunk and stay safe!

And, of course, the rest of the elements like:

The sun is such a protagonist, it determines the whole experience. When it’s too hot, we say things like:

3. Beach Spanish words for eating at the beach: kiosks, food, and drinks

Anytime we’re at the beach, we just have to get a beachy cocktail, right?! So, you can say things like:

• Yo quiero un coctel. (I want a cocktail.)

More specifically:

• Yo quiero una piña colada o un daiquirí. (I want a piña colada or a daiquiri.)

For food, obviously the most common, which you can probably find at any beach, is seafood. Things like:

A little side note, when it comes to talking about fish in Spanish, we have two words:

Don’t worry, I’m actually doing pretty good right now, but that’s definitely not always the case, and I do happen to be the type of person who likes to be real when answering “¿cómo estás?” (How are you?)

No tan bien Spanish: here are 6 alternatives you can use!

I’m Maura, from Spring Spanish, and here’s your first alternative!

1. Adjectives instead of no tan bien Spanish

ACTOR 1
Y, ¿cómo estás? ¿Qué tal todo?
(And, how are you? How’s everything?)

ACTOR 2
Malísimo.
(Very bad.)


ACTOR 2
Terrible.
(Terrible.)

ACTOR 2
Horrible.
(Horrible.)

So, malísimo, terrible y horrible (very bad, terrible, and horrible) are just adjectives, but very good adjectives to describe how you feel, especially if you feel particularly bad. On their own, these little words are powerful and more than enough to be a full answer.

“Malísimo” is actually the superlativo (superlative), meaning the “exaggeration” of “mal”, which you could also use if you don’t want to be as emphatic.

Terrible and horrible are pretty strong as they are. Also, quite easy to remember if you speak English because they are rather similar to the word in Spanish. Sin embargo, hay que trabajar en el sonido R para usarlos. (However, you do have to work on that R sound to use them.) But please don’t worry about that. When I was a little girl, I couldn’t make this sound and my mom had to get a speech therapist to help me out with it. And I’m a native. So, don’t sweat it!

And, if you stick around till the end, you can get one more alternative that would definitely impress natives if you use it because it is 100% insider slang!

2. Más o menos (more or less)

ACTOR 1
Y, ¿cómo estás? ¿Qué tal todo?
(And, how are you? How’s everything?)

ACTOR 2
Más o menos.
(More or less.)

ACTOR 1
¿Por qué? ¿Pasó algo malo?
(Why? Did something bad happen?)

ACTOR 2
Malo es poco.
(Bad is little.)

Más o menos (more or less) can work for many things. It can also be an answer to: ¿Te gusta? (Do you like it?) or ¿Entiendes? (Do you understand?). As well as anything that asks about the intensity of something like: ¿Está caliente? (Is it hot?) or ¿Está picante? (Is it spicy?)

In general, whatever the question, if your answer is “más o menos”, you’re staying in the middle. Specifically, if you’re answering this to ¿Cómo estás? (How are you?), it does incline more to the negative side. Meaning, if you weren’t doing at least a little bit bad, you wouldn’t say this.

Remember to check that link in the description to access our free Essential Spanish Chunking kit! Decir que es útil, es poco. (To say it’s useful, is little.)

Cheat Sheet with 54 essential Spanish Chunks you’ll hear and use yourself in ANY Spanish conversation (and example sentences). Taken from our YouTube Teacher’s most popular videos!

2 Bonus Cheat Sheets with Travel Chunks and Dating/Relationship Chunks

A Spanish Chunking Tutorial showing you the 1 technique that’ll help you make 100% of the Spanish from our videos roll off the tongue in just 5 minutes a day (you’re probably only using 50% of our lessons’ potential right now…)

Yes! Send me my FREE Spanish Chunking Kit

3. Regular (regular)

ACTOR 1
Y, ¿cómo estás? ¿Qué tal todo?
(And, how are you? How’s everything?)

ACTOR 2
Regular.
(Regular.)

ACTOR 1
¿Por qué? ¿Pasó algo malo?
(Why? Did something bad happen?)

Ok, so, this “regular” (regular) might be a Venezuelan thing. I’m not quite sure if they use it in other regions as much as we do, para ser honesta (to be honest). That being said, it’s almost its last definition in the dictionary, but you can certainly find it to be defined as: “no tan bien”.  

It’s quite similar to “más o menos”, in the sense that though it might seem you’re not doing that bad when you say this, it actually means you are feeling at least a little bad.

Y como siempre esperamos que los demás estén bien (And since we always expect others to be ok), it is enough to come out as a declaration of being somewhat bad.

4. Ahí, ahí (there, there)

Time for some slang:

ACTOR 1
Y, ¿cómo estás? ¿Qué tal todo?
(And, how are you? How’s everything?)

ACTOR 2
Ahí, ahí.
(There, there.)

Cuidado con la traducción de esta porque puede ser confusa. (Careful with the translation for this one because it might be confusing.) Also, pay attention to the intention with which you say it because it will make a difference. Ahí, ahí (There, there) is quite light. It’ll never make someone think you’re doing horrible (horrible), but that’s when the intonation comes into play.

You can say: ahí, ahí (there, there) in an even lighter tone and make it seem as if nothing too good or too bad is happening. Or you can keep it heavier as I did in the role play: ahí, ahí (there, there) and signal something a little annoying might be happening.

This is slang and I’m Venezuelan so…Dudo que alguien más lo use además de nosotros. (I doubt anyone else uses this besides us.) Nonetheless, I would never hesitate to use this when answering ¿Cómo estás? (How are you?). I trust the right context and the right intonation will take care of the comprehension part, no matter where the other Spanish speaker is from.  

Now that you have a few more options to specify how you feel, let’s review them together:

If you’re doing very, very bad, you can use the following on their own:

• Horrible (Horrible)
• Terrible (Terrible)
• Malísimo (Very bad)

If you’re at least a little bit bad, you can use:

• Mas o menos (more or less)

Which you can also use to be actually neutral about the intensity of many things. And:

• Regular (regular)

Which might only be a Venezuelan thing.

If you’re fine, but something annoying is happening, you can use:

• Ahí, ahí (there, there)

Remember, tone plays a bigger role on this one than the others.

Now you know what to answer if you don’t feel well. But what if you do feel well? You could say “estoy bien” (I’m fine)…

Today, we’ll look at alternatives to saying of course in Spanish (“por supuesto”). Not because there’s anything wrong with that, but because this idea has many nuances and, therefore, many options to convey exactly what you mean.

I’m Spring Spanish teacher, Maura. Are you ready? ¡Claro! (Of course!)

1. Of course in Spanish alternatives: Claro (Of course)

So, claro is the simplest way to say por supuesto. It’s short, clear, and easy to remember. Take into account that claro also means something that is, clear or light. For example, you could say:

• El cielo está claro. (The sky is clear.)
• Necesito un jean azul claro. (I need jeans that are light blue.)

The situations in which you’d say claro with this meaning are so specific that you really do not need to worry about any type of confusion.

Another thing you could do with claro is add the word está (is) right after. This claro está (it is clear) is a much more formal expression you’ll most likely find in writing. Things like:

ACTOR 1

Now, stick with me all the way until the end of this video for a younger, maybe cooler, definitely trendier alternative to all of this!

2. Of course in Spanish alternatives: Desde luego & seguro (Certainly & sure)

This type of pseudo formal environments suit well with desde luego (certainly). It isn’t really a chunk I hear daily. Nonetheless, it isn’t weird or super formal, and you can certainly use it if it fits your personality to be a bit more proper when speaking regardless of the context.

Seguro (sure), on the other hand, is quite versatile. I use this very often. Especially when I want to reassure the person listening. But it can easily be used by anyone in everyday situations, like someone saying:

•  
  ¿Me puedes pasar la sal?: ¡Seguro! (Can you pass me the salt?: Sure!)
• ¿Quieres pedir una pizza?: ¡Seguro! (Do you want to order a pizza?: Sure!)

Just as sure, that link in the description gives you access to chunks just as common and that will pump your Spanish game just as much!

3. Of course in Spanish alternatives: Definitivamente, Evidentemente, Efectivamente, Naturalmente (Definitely, Evidently, Effectively, Naturally)

All of these words ending in “mente” can easily work as synonyms for por supuesto. In a scale from 1 to 4, where 4 is the fanciest, this is how that scale would look:

1. Definitivamente (Definitely)
2. Evidentemente (Evidently)
3. Efectivamente (Effectively)
4. Naturalmente (Naturally)

There’s little difference between these words. The most noticeable differenace would be that, though they can call work as affirmations, as a form of “yes”, naturalmente and evidentemente would sound a bit more conceited if what you mean is to answer “yes” to a question.

4. Of course in Spanish alternatives: Obvio (Obviously)

Here’s that option that all millennials and the following use most of the time instead of everything else. (Berlitz has a post about how different age groups speak.) It is 100% not a formal reply, and you kind of need to be careful with your tone, so it can play to your benefit. Let’s go through a couple of situations where I would answer obvio (obviously), so you can get a sense for it.

Obvio and obviamente, are the same thing, but with just a little variation, you can also add to your vocabulary.

5. Of course in Spanish AND a lot more with FREE Spanish training

You can learn a lot more about chunking on Spring Languages. If you liked this article, check out our 30-day Spanish challenge and practice speaking this beautiful language!

Register now for the FREE Spanish Beginner Course!

Congratulations! You just made an order in Spanish in a restaurant… like a true textbook! Don’t worry, everybody understood you. 

But wouldn’t it be nicer to actually say the things native Spanish speakers would say in a restaurant? To be a true Latino insider? 

I’m Spring Spanish teacher, Maura, and I will now teach you Spanish chunks that will make you sound like a true Latino in the restaurant.

1. Reservaciones (Reservations)

So, you might have seen in the textbooks that we say things like: Por favor, quisiera hacer una reserva — o reservación — para cinco personas. (I would like to make a reservation for 5 people, please.) 

But, do you know what to say when you actually get to the restaurant? Here are a couple of options you could use to let them know you have made a reservation:

• Tengo una reserva o una reservación a nombre de… (I have a reservation under the name of…) then you say the name.  
• Mesa para cinco a nombre de… (Table for 5 under the name of…) You could start like this, just saying “table for 5” and then add the name. Or:
• Maura, mesa para cinco (Maura, table for 5): You could start with the name and just leave it there or add the number of people as well. 

I, personally, tend to do this and just say the name because usually the hosts are busy, the place is loud, you shouldn’t get too close because of Covid, and ultimately, they just need to know the name.

2. Estamos esperando o pensando (We are waiting or thinking) 

Next stage. You are already sitting at the table. The waiter comes to ask if you’d like to start ordering something, but you are not ready. 

If this is because you’re still waiting for someone, you can say:

ACTOR 1
Estamos esperando, para variar.
(We’re waiting, for a change.)

If you’re still going through the menu:

ACTOR 1
Estamos pensando, gracias. 
(We’re thinking, thanks.)

And that’s it! You can add a gracias (thank you) if you want to be polite, which you should. But that’s all. It’s a very typical scenario both for waiters and customers, so no further explanation needed. 

Si dices: “Estamos esperando, para variar”, se entenderá inmediatamente que no es una variación en lo absoluto tener que esperar por esa persona sino, mas bien, un hábito. (If you say: “We are waiting, for a change”, it will be immediately understood that it is not a variation at all to have to wait for that person but, rather, a habit.)

Of course, that means you’re sarcastically complaining a bit. So that you don’t have to complain about missing out on this inside knowledge, why don’t you check the link in the description and download our free Essential Spanish Chunking kit?

¡Contiene los chunks más utilizados por los nativos del español! (It contains the chunks most frequently used by native Spanish speakers!)

Cheat Sheet with 54 essential Spanish Chunks you’ll hear and use yourself in ANY Spanish conversation (and example sentences). Taken from our YouTube Teacher’s most popular videos!

2 Bonus Cheat Sheets with Travel Chunks and Dating/Relationship Chunks

A Spanish Chunking Tutorial showing you the 1 technique that’ll help you make 100% of the Spanish from our videos roll off the tongue in just 5 minutes a day (you’re probably only using 50% of our lessons’ potential right now…)

Yes! Send me my FREE Spanish Chunking Kit

Cheat Sheet with 54 essential Spanish Chunks you’ll hear and use yourself in ANY Spanish conversation (and example sentences). Taken from our YouTube Teacher’s most popular videos!

2 Bonus Cheat Sheets with Travel Chunks and Dating/Relationship Chunks

A Spanish Chunking Tutorial showing you the 1 technique that’ll help you make 100% of the Spanish from our videos roll off the tongue in just 5 minutes a day (you’re probably only using 50% of our lessons’ potential right now…)

Yes! Send me my FREE Spanish Chunking Kit

3. ¿Tú qué prefieres? (What do you prefer?)

Being friendly and close with the waiter or waitress is very normal. So, instead of using a more formal: ¿Usted qué me recomienda? (What do you recommend?), you can try saying: 

ACTOR 1
¿Tú qué prefieres?
(What do you prefer?)

Another one could be: 

ACTOR 1
¿A ti qué te gusta más? 
(What do you like the most?)

4. ¿Eso con qué viene? (What does that come with?)

I’m not even sure what textbooks would tell you to say, but just saying this referring to a dish you’re discussing with the waiter or just pointing at it on the menu will suffice. 

ACTOR 1
¿Eso con qué viene?
(What does that come with?)

ACTOR 2
Ensalada o papas.
(Salad or potatoes.)

It’s usually salad or potatoes because, let’s face it, that’s a commonality in America. America means the continent, by the way. 

Also, if you want to ask for something extra, not on the menu, like a portion of French fries on the side, this is what you’d say:

ACTOR 1
Genial, la ensalada y una ración de papas fritas aparte, por fa.
(Great, salad, and a portion of French fries on the side, please.)

You can change papas fritas (French fries) for anything else, just make sure to say una ración aparte (a portion on the side).

5. Aperitivos (Appetizers)

If there’s anything that can help you break free from the shackles of textbook Spanish, is accepting the fact that Spanish is a super rich, yummy language that has multiple flavors. 

This tends to mean we have many different words for the same thing. Appetizer is one of them. You can use it, and it will be perfectly understood, but almost nobody calls them that.

Aquí estan algunas de las alternativas y sus países según mi investigación: (Here are some of the alternatives and their countries according to my research:)

• Pasapalo: Venezuela
• Pasabocas: Colombia
• Picoteo: Chile
• Boquitas: El Salvador

And, for Mexico, we’re going to ask Paulisima. 

¡Gracias, nena! We are many more, so just keep an ear out for how the natives say it wherever you are. 

6. La carne (The meat)

This works exactly the same. We do not have just one way to refer to how meat is cooked, and that’s the most important thing I’m teaching you in this section. 

Certain commonalities can be found, though. For instance:

Blue rare, rare and medium rare: A esto suelen corresponderles colores en español. (This usually corresponds to colors in Spanish.) Como azul, rojo o rosado. (Like blue, red, or pink.) 

Medium, medium well, well done: En español también solemos usar “término medio”, para el medio. (In Spanish, we also use “medium finish”, for medium cooked.) Luego varía entre las palabras tres cuartos, hecho, bien hecho o bien cocido. (It then varies between the words three-quarters, done, well done, or well cooked.)

Bottom line, either ask around before or talk to the waiter.

Es más que común no saber con exactitud debido a la cantidad de variaciones que tenemos para ello, así que ni te preocupes. (It’s more than common not to know exactly because of how many variations we have for it, so don’t even worry about it.)

7. Preferencias (Preferences)

There are a few things that are quite common to have either preferences or requirements about. Like allergies, being vegetarian or vegan. Also, when to bring certain things.In this section, we’ll go over them.

Alergias (Allergies). Digamos que tengo alergia a las nueces. (Let’s say I am allergic to nuts.) Podría decir: (I could say:)

ACTOR 1
¿Esto tiene nueces? Porque soy alérgica.
(Does this have nuts in it? Because I am allergic.)

Or

ACTOR 1
Soy alérgica a las nueces, así que no puede llevar nada en lo absoluto.
(I’m allergic to nuts, so there can’t be any in it at all.)

Tener y llevar (Have and carry) are the verbs you’d use in Spanish to refer to what the food contains. Also, don’t hesitate to be emphatic about it. 

Comida vegana o vegetariana (Vegetarian or vegan food): This isn’t as part of the mainstream as it would be in North America, so don’t trust the word itself. Fully explain what that means. Like this:

ACTOR 1
Soy vegana, así que no como nada que provenga de animales. Ni huevo, ni leche, ni mantequilla. 
(I’m vegan, so I don’t eat anything that comes from animals. No eggs, no milk, no butter.)

Cuando traer algo (When to bring something): It is quite common to ask to bring the drinks with the food, meaning, the main dish, and for that you can say:

ACTOR 1
Quisiéramos una botella de vino tinto, pero porfa tráelo con la comida.
(We would like a bottle of red wine, but please bring it with the meal.)

8. Sobre la comida (About the food)

Everything’s about the food, right? Let’s go over some of the most common situations you could run into.

¿Me traes un poco de…? (Could I have some…?): This is what you could use any time you need a little bit more of anything. Make sure to use a question tone. Like this:

ACTOR 1
Me traes un poco de sal, ¿porfa? Y hielo, y servilletas, y limón. 
(Could I have some salt, please?. Andi ice, and napkins, and lime.)

¡Está buenísimo! (It’s so good!): Sometimes the food is amazing, and we love been emphatic about things like that, so you can use está buenísimo (it’s so good) as well as: 

ACTOR 1
Está increíble. Está delicioso. Está de muerte. Está excelente.
(It’s incredible. It’s delicious. It’s to die for. It’s excellent.)

¿Quieres probar? (Would you like a taste?): If the food is really good, we will definitely share amongst everyone on the table. Es muy normal pasarse los platos o meter el tenedor en el plato de la otra persona. (It’s very normal to pass the plates or get your fork into someone else’s plate.) Let me know in the comments if this is common for you as well. If it’s super good, you could even say: 

ACTOR 1
Tienes que probar esto.
(You have to try this.) 

As you can see, I’m not asking. I’m straight telling them. 

Estoy full (I’m full): Again, if the food was incredible, chances are you are super full. Here are three more choices to refer to this:

ACTOR 1
No puedo más. Estoy que reviento. Me muero.
(I can’t anymore. I’m about to explode. I could die.) 

¿Me lo pones para llevar? (Could I have it to go?): This is what you would say if you’re que revientas (about to explode) but there’s still food on the table. Just, again, make sure to say this with a question tone. 

ACTOR 1
¿Me lo pones para llevar, porfis?
(Could you make it to go, please?) 

9. Pagar (Paying)

Ok, let’s look at two different scenarios here that probably aren’t covered in the textbooks. 

Splitting the bill: You would just need to say: vamos a dividir la cuenta (we’re going to split the bill) to let them know. Use: cóbrame (charge me) to say how much to charge your card with. And cuanto falta o queda (how much is left?) to ask how much else needs to be paid. 

ACTOR 1
Vamos a dividir la cuenta. ¿Cuánto queda? Vale, porfa cóbrame los veinte.
(We’re going to split the bill. How much is left? Ok, please charge me the 20.) 

Leaving the tip: sometimes it gets tricky because you don’t have cash, and you’re not sure how it works, so I always make it a thing to directly ask: ¿Te puedo dejar propina con la tarjeta? (Can I leave you a tip with the card?). Similarmente puedes decir: (Similarly, you could say:)

ACTOR 1
¿Te puedo dejar propina por acá?
(Can I tip you here?) 

Summary on how to order in Spanish with chunks

Let’s review real quick, in case your brain is messing with you, and you got a bit hungry. 

Things you could say at the door:

The first things you could say at the table:

¿Tenemos una sola forma de decir aperitivos o para hablar de la carne? (Do we have only one way to say appetizers or to talk about meat?)

• No, así que mejor preguntar. (No, so better to ask.)

Preferences:

About the food:

Paying:

Before you throw your arms up in despair: we’re going to make this easy for you, by teaching you 14 chunks with ojalá: word combinations that always stay the same and are used by natives exactly like that.

This way, you won’t even have to think about grammar when using these ojalá chunks. 

I’m Spring Spanish teacher Maura, and here is your first chunk with ojalá:

1. Origin and use

All right, as a little side note, you might be interested to know that the origin of this word is actually Arabic.

¿No te encanta cómo las lenguas se han influenciado mutuamente durante toda la historia? (Don’t you love how languages have been influencing each other for all history?)

“In sha’a Allah” was the original word. I’m sorry if I’m butchering it. Lamentablemente, sólo conozco algunas palabras en árabe. (Sadly, I only know a few words in Arabic.) Its meaning was something along the lines of “god willing”.

However, it’s been used for so long that it holds no religious vibe anymore. I don’t consider myself a religious person, and I use ojalá all the time. Like this:

ACTOR 1
Ay, ¡ojalá que si puedas venir!
(Oh, I hope that you can come!)

(Pause)

ACTOR 1
Sí, o sea, ojalá que tengan el pasaje a buen precio y así puedas venir.
(Yeah, I mean, I hope that they have the ticket at a good price, so you can come.)

The two verbs that follow it, puedas and tengan, are in the subjunctive mood. Honestly, it makes total sense that this is how it works. Mariana has a video about this where she fully explains this mood. 

Essentially, the subjunctive is precisely the mood in Spanish which talks about: 

• hypothetical situations
• doubts  
• wishes

It fits perfectly with ojalá, which is mainly used to express wishes. At the same time, it can imply doubt in the present and future. In the past, it refers to an entirely hypothetical situation, since the reality already happened. 

Also, you can omit the que (that) every time. So, I could’ve said:

• Ay, ¡ojalá que sí puedas venir! (Oh, I hope that you can come!)
• Si, o sea, ojalá tengan el pasaje a buen precio y así puedas venir. (Yeah, I mean, I hope that they have the ticket at a good price, so you can come.)

Si sonar como un nativo te resulta atractivo, otra cosa que puedes hacer es consultar el enlace en la descripción. (If sounding like an insider is attractive for you, another thing you can do is to check the link in the description.)

In there, you’ll find out more about subscribing and becoming a member of our Inner Circle. As a member, you’ll get tons of benefits like access to our speaking rooms, flashcards, and audios for our lessons, just to name a few. 

Cheat Sheet with 54 essential Spanish Chunks you’ll hear and use yourself in ANY Spanish conversation (and example sentences). Taken from our YouTube Teacher’s most popular videos!

2 Bonus Cheat Sheets with Travel Chunks and Dating/Relationship Chunks

A Spanish Chunking Tutorial showing you the 1 technique that’ll help you make 100% of the Spanish from our videos roll off the tongue in just 5 minutes a day (you’re probably only using 50% of our lessons’ potential right now…)

Yes! Send me my FREE Spanish Chunking Kit

2. Ojalá present 

Depending on what tense of the subjunctive follows the word ojalá, the time of action of the wish will vary.

Con ello, la probabilidad de que el deseo se haga realidad (With it, the probability of the wish of becoming a reality.) In this section, we’ll focus on the present, but keep in mind that the present is also used to refer to the future!

Don’t worry about tenses, though, just learn the following chunks knowing that they have a present or future meaning, and it’s actually possible for the wish to come true.

ACTOR 1
Ojalá avise antes de llegar.
(I hope he gives notice before he arrives.)

ACTOR 2
Sí, ojalá estés lista también. 
(Yes, I hope you are ready too.)

ACTOR 1
Jaja, sí. Ojalá salgamos a tiempo para el concierto.
(Haha, yes. Hopefully we leave in time for the concert.)

ACTOR 2
¡Y ojalá no empiecen a tocar antes! 
(And I hope they don’t start playing earlier!)

We don’t usually use ojalá as repeatedly as in this role play, but it works to make my case with this lesson. Notice how the conjugation will tell you who they’re talking about. 

• Ojalá avise antes de llegar.  (I hope he gives notice before he arrives.)

This could be talking about one person, regardless of gender, or a thing. The context will let you know. 

• Si, ojalá estés lista también.  (Yes, I hope you are ready too.)

Estés (You are)  is a clear indication that you are talking directly to someone. Meaning, a tú (you).

• Jaja, sí. Ojalá salgamos a tiempo para el concierto. (Haha, yes. Hopefully we leave in time for the concert.)

Anytime you see a “mos” at the end of a verb, know for sure that it talks about nosotros/as (we).

• ¡Y ojalá no empiecen a tocar antes! (And I hope they don’t start playing earlier!)

Similarly, anytime you see an “N” at the end of a verb, know it talks about ustedes (you) or  ellos/ellas (they). 

3. Ojalá past

This time, we’ll use a type of past after ojalá, and the meaning will remain in the present but with little or no possibility of happening. 

ACTOR 1
Ojalá nos ganáramos la lotería.
(I wish we would win the lottery.)

ACTOR 2
Jaja, ojalá fueses más realista. 
(Haha, I wish you were more realistic.)

ACTOR 1
Vale, puedo ser más realista, ojalá lloviera dinero.
(Okay, I can be more realistic, I wish it would rain money.)

ACTOR 2
Jaja, ¡Qué tonta! Ojalá te donaran un cerebro.
(Haha, how silly! I wish they would donate a brain to you.)

So, as you can see, all of this is quite unlikely. Es casi como soñar despierto, o tontear como lo hacemos aquí. (It’s almost like daydreaming, or fooling around like we are here.) Once more, you have all the possible conjugations for this tense.

• Ojalá nos ganáramos la lotería. (I wish we would win the lottery.)

Talking about us.

• Ojalá fueses más realista. (I wish you were more realistic.)

Talking about you.

• Vale, puedo ser más realista, ojalá lloviera dinero. (Okay, I can be more realistic, I wish it would rain money.)

Talking about an “it”.

• ¡Qué tonta! Ojalá te donaran un cerebro.  (How silly! I wish they would donate a brain to you.)

Talking about they.

4. Ojalá past perfect

This last tense necessarily needs the verb haber (to have) in Spanish. Piensa en ello como lo que hace que este tiempo sea “el pasado del pasado”. (Think of it as the thing that makes this tense “the past of the past”.) So much so, that here there is no possibility at all that the thing you’re wishing for would happen. Actually, the reality is quite the opposite.

ACTOR 1
Ojalá hubiéramos conseguido entradas.
(I wish we could have gotten tickets.)

ACTOR 2
Sí, ojalá hubieras buscado antes. 
(Yes, I wish you had looked earlier.)

ACTOR 1
Pff, ojalá yo hubiera organizado las cosas desde el principio, y así esto no habría pasado.
(Pff, I wish I had organized things from the beginning, and so this wouldn’t have happened.)

ACTOR 2
Bueno sí, ojalá te hubieran dejado cuadrarlo a ti. 
(Well, yes, I wish they would have let you be the one to arrange it.)

All of these follow the same patterns as the previous examples, but do notice that: “Ojalá yo hubiera organizado las cosas.” (“I wish I had organized things.”), not only works for he, she or it, but also works for I, as I’ve used it here.

I did clarify using by adding the word yo (I), but it’s not like I had to do it.

5. Songs with ojalá in Spanish

As promised, here are those songs that use ojalá all over the place.

• Juan Luis Guerra: Ojalá que llueva café.
• Silvio Rodriguez: Ojalá
• Maná: Ojalá pudiera borrarte.

Let me know in the comments which one’s your favorite. I have to say that, for me, “Ojalá que llueva café” hits right in the center of my Latin American soul.

Now, for a bit of practice, what about finishing this sentence with things you would want to be that are actually possible:

• Ojalá fuese… (I wish I was…)

And this one with something quite impossible:

• Ojalá hubiese sido…(I wish I had been…)

I’d love to know the things you’d like to be!

Did you just understand that? If not, don’t worry, we’ll go over it at the end. This is how Spanish native speakers communicate online, and as you have seen, it does not resemble spoken Spanish at all.

It’s ok to be a bit lost, but you won’t be after checking this lesson!

Because I, Spring Spanish teacher Maura, will show you the most important social media Spanish words and chunks that will let you communicate online just like a Spanish speaker! 

1. Amo y brutal (I love it and brutal)

So, this video is going to be interesting. El español de las redes sociales puede ser bastante divertido y complejo, ya que involucra a muchas culturas diferentes. (Spanish on social media can be pretty fun and complex, since there are many different cultures involved.) But, we got this. 

Let’s start super positive with these two expressions of appreciation that your translator probably won’t get.

Amo (I love it). It is quite common to see it spelled like this: amooooo (I loveeeee it) instead of just one “o” because, well, people like to be emphatic while declaring how much they like something on social media. That’s what this means. 

You use it to say you love something without any need to add anything else. Ten en cuenta que no es la palabra “amor”, es la conjugación del verbo “amor” con el pronombre “yo”. (Notice that it is not the word “love”, it is the conjugation of the verb “love” with the pronoun “I”.) 

Brutal (brutal) is dangerous for English speakers because it means exactly the opposite of what it means in English. An accurate translation would actually be: asombroso, maravilloso o increíble. (amazing, wonderful or incredible.) 

So, you could see something like: 

ACTOR 1
¡Amoooo! No puedo con esta foto, ¡está brutal!
(Love it! I can’t handle this photo, it’s incredible!) 

Remember that at Spring Spanish, we love chunks. For this reason, we have left you a link to download for free our Essential Spanish Chunking kit, with the chunks that will give you more naturality and freedom when speaking with native speakers.

Cheat Sheet with 54 essential Spanish Chunks you’ll hear and use yourself in ANY Spanish conversation (and example sentences). Taken from our YouTube Teacher’s most popular videos!

2 Bonus Cheat Sheets with Travel Chunks and Dating/Relationship Chunks

A Spanish Chunking Tutorial showing you the 1 technique that’ll help you make 100% of the Spanish from our videos roll off the tongue in just 5 minutes a day (you’re probably only using 50% of our lessons’ potential right now…)

Yes! Send me my FREE Spanish Chunking Kit

2. Baia, baia; La cuerpa y Mami (Wow; That body and Hottie)

This is getting very funny very quickly. También seguimos con la nota súper positiva. (We’re also staying on the super positive note.) 

All of these are used on the same type of content. Keeping it real, it tends to be a very hot photo of a very hot person. Do you see where I’m going with this?

Let’s break them down, shall we? Baia, baia (wow) correct spelling and pronunciation is vaya (wow). This word expresses surprise, either positive or negative. But, if you spell it like baia (wow) the whole thing changes. 

Baia, baia (wow) has a Caribbean vibe and the tone gets 100% positive. Esencialmente, estás llamando a alguien atractivo sólo con decir esto. (Essentially, you’re calling someone attractive just by saying this.)  

La cuerpa (that body) also sometimes pronounced la cuelpa (that bod) with an L is… I don’t know if this is mostly a Venezuelan thing, it could be, but every Latin American understands what it means. Again, you’re very directly telling someone they have an amazing body. No sé si es porque estamos en traje de baño muy a menudo, pero esto es súper común. (I don’t know if it’s because we’re in our bathing suits so often, but this is super common.) 

Lastly, mami (hottie), also known as mamasita (hottie). Again, mainly a Caribbean thing but used by everyone that wants to and can pull it off, because we definitely all understand it. 

Pulling it off is the big thing here. You have to be really cool to come across nice and not pervy. I can sometimes do this, but I’m nowhere near fully owning it. I have a friend, though, who is the queen of mami (hottie). She has this on every post.

If you realized all of these seem to live in the feminine world, you’re right. América Latina no escapa a la sobreexualización del cuerpo femenino, pero ese es un gran tema que no estamos cubriendo hoy, así que sigamos. (Latin America doesn’t escape the oversexualization of women’s body, but that is a big topic we’re not covering today so, let’s move on.) 

3. Onomatopeyas (Onomatopeias)

Ok, let’s talk about sound now. More accurately, onomatopoeias. None of these are words, and that’s why I’m not translating them. I’ll walk you through them, though. 

• Fiu, fiu (whistle): this is supposed to be this sound that I can barely do. It needs no further explanation, right?
• Jajaja (laugh): is how we spell hahaha. Not much to it.
• Pfff (air sound): is that sound, pfff. You can express a lot of things with this, but they all mean that whatever the thing is, it’s over the top. Puede ser una foto de un lugar increíble, puede ser algo realmente estúpido, puede ser algo súper inteligente. (It could be a photo of an amazing place, it could be something really stupid, it could be something super smart.) But whatever it is, it is a lot of it.
• Ay (interjection): Not to be confused with the verb hay (there is) or the adverb ahí (there) is mostly used in this tone: ay to express “oops”. And in this tone ay to express “awww”. You could also read it as ayñ because it helps to make it sound sweeter. 

Let’s find some random posts on social media and react to them together, ok? 

Add what you say on the posts.

4. Eres: dura, crack o grande (You’re: incredible)

Now, these are used with anyone and for any reason as long as what they want is for the other person to know they are the bomb! 

Eres una dura o un duro (You are incredible) actually translates to “you are hard”. Espero no tener que explicar porqué esto sería muy confuso para los angloparlantes porque no lo voy a hacer. (I hope I don’t have to explain why this would be very confusing for English speakers because I’m not going to.) 

Still, the point is, as mentioned, it means you are incredible. It tends to require a skill so, mostly, you’ll see this on posts where someone is showing off an accomplishment. Also, the articles un o una (a) go in front of it. Here’s an example:

Eres una o un crack (You are incredible): “You are a crack”. Again, this sounds so bad in English, and means something so good in Spanish, I can’t help myself. O sea, también podría traducirlo como “genio” en español. (I mean, I could also translate this one as “genius” in Spanish.) Therefore, it does mean you are incredible regarding intelligence. Also, skills, but the main one would be being smart.

You are incredible: though grande means big in English, this has nothing to do with physical size whatsoever. It’s about being amazing overall. It’s the broadest of the three because we use this one for things outside skills as well. Generosity and kindness are often related. Humor is another possibility.

5. Ta, sa, pa, to’ (Is, that, for or to, everything) 

These are not abbreviations per se. After this, we’ll check some actual abbreviations. These ones are not meant to represent a full word, they are meant to be read exactly as they are written. 

La razón es que cuando se leen así, transmiten una vibra y un tono muy diferentes. (The reason being that when you read them like this, they do convey a different vibe and tone.) Usually a more relaxed, playful one.

• Ta = Esta (Is): this is supposed to be esta (is) but if you just write ta, it’ll sound with more flow, if you know what I mean. Instead of reading something like: está bonito (it’s pretty) you could run into ta bonito (is pretty), and it’ll tell you that the person is trying to be chill about it.

• Sa = Esa (That): this one stands for esa (that). Remember mami (hottie)? Let’s look at those examples once more. See? With sa in front of the message, sa mami (that hottie), it’s emphasized, and the vibe continues to be even more Caribbean cool.

• Pa = Para (For or to): nothing to do with papá (father). This is para (for or to) when written like this. Or it could be para el (to the) when spelled pal.  Again, street talk, or social media talk. I actually do this when I talk, and I’m a bit tired and/or acting a little goofy. Like: vamos pal cine (let’s go to the cinema) instead of para el cine (to the cinema) when I’m, say, trying to convince my friends to take me.

• To’ = Todo (Everything): the full word is todo (everything) but to’ is definitely more humorous and lighter. It’s a decision to do this, though. Meaning, it won’t sound unhumorous or heavy if you don’t. There’s a hilarious song in Spain called “En el chino hay de to’ ” (There’s everything at the supply store) which talks about a type of store that sells pretty much everything. The humor in the song has got a lot to do with the fact that it says to’ instead of todo (everything) .

Otra forma de ver estas palabras sería como “lengua de pueblo” pero sin ninguna connotación peyorativa en lo absoluto. (Another way to look at these words would be like “country talk”, but with no pejorative connotation at all.) 

6. Uds, tb, tqm, bb, pls, q (You, also, I love you very much, baby, please, what)

Ok, these are actual abbreviations. Here you are supposed to read the full word, we just don’t always write it. For more about abbreviations, you can check my video about “How to shorten Spanish words like a pro”. Coming back to these though, acronyms would be another way to see it, but there’s nothing official about this. Es decir, los diccionarios no los incluyen todavía. (Meaning, dictionaries don’t include these just yet.) 

• Uds (You): ok, I lied. One of these is official. Uds (You) stands for ustedes (you all) even in dictionaries, but this is the only one.

• Tb (Also): full word would be también (also) .

• Tqm (I love you very much): this is te quiero mucho (I love you very much) so it’s not exactly love. Cory has a video you can watch where, amongst other things, she explains this better. Tqm is also a bit outdated in most countries. It was huge when I was a teenager, and you can still see it, though. If you change the “T” for any other letter that stands for other pronouns, like “L”, it would change to lqm = los quiero mucho (I love you all very much).

• Bb (Baby): full word bebé (baby). We use this exactly as in English, it’s a pet name. 

• Pls (Please): as you may have seen in some of our other videos, we borrow from English quite often. “Please” is so much part of that, we even use this little acronym. Sí que lo tenemos en español, por supuesto, y estoy segura de que lo sabes. (We do have this in Spanish, of course, and I’m sure you know it.) Let me know in the comments what the translation of “please” would be in Spanish.

• Q (What): full word que (what). I remember this starting with my generation and text messages. Our parents and teachers were going crazy because we were butchering the language. We do have more options, as Paulisima explains in her video “Stop saying que”. Pero, ¿adivina qué? He oído a lingüistas decir que no sólo no estábamos asesinando al idioma, sino que decir más con menos es una señal de evolución. (But, guess what? I’ve heard linguists say it’s not just that we weren’t killing the language, but saying more with less is a sign of evolution.)

Let’s see how a full sentence looks like with all of them at once:

¡Bb! Uds saben que tb lqm así q pls cuídense un montón. Let me know in the comments how you’d translate this to “real” Spanish, so you can practice for the little quiz we’ll have at the end. 

7. Mash y gashias (More and thank you) 

This “sh” sound is added in Spanish to some words to sound like baby talk. In this case: gracias (thank you) becomes gashias and más (more) becomes mash. 

It resembles the cuteness of babies learning to talk, and so it’s used to be super, duper cute every now and then. Esto lo veo un montón en las redes sociales de mis amigos mexicanos. (I see this a lot on the social media of my Mexican friends.)

Like here.

8. Todes (Everyone) 

Ok, so not too different from the original word todos (everyone) and not used by everyone. I wanted to show you this word as an example of how this language representation thing is more complex in Spanish sometimes. Tenemos una diferencia de género binaria para casi todo. (We have a binary gender difference for almost everything.)

So, politically todes (everyone) is used with a neutral “e” instead of a femenine “a” or a masculine “o” to make an inclusion statement. Te animo a que lo veas como tal. (I encourage you to read it as such.) Nobody knows if and how the language will change.

Personalmente no lo hago a menudo, pero en definitiva lo que quiere decir “quiero ser inclusivo” y eso es ante todo algo amable. (I personally don’t do this often, but it definitely means “I want to be inclusive”, and that is first and foremost a nice thing to do.)

9. Terminología de redes sociales (Social media terminology)

This is the last section for this lesson. Right after, I will quiz you by showing you some posts with comments you’ll have to “translate”. So make sure to stick around! 

But first, let’s talk about that terminology. Words that describe actions or features in social media platforms. In some cases, we use the same word as in English. In other cases, we use the exact translation to Spanish. Like “follow” or “download” would be seguir y descargar en español (follow and download in Spanish). 

But, in other cases, the translation won’t help you. Either because it’s an entirely different word in Spanish or because we have more ways to refer to it, and those cases are what this section is about.

Take these English words for example. We have a very “non dictionary” way to translate them to Spanish:

• Wall: You know? As in Facebook wall. Nosotros decimos muro (We say “muro”), no pared (not wall) which is what “wall” would translate to.

• Post: Postear, publicar o subir. (Post.) Postear en, publicar en Instagram. Subir al Instagram, por ejemplo. (Post in, publish or upload. Publish on Instagram. Upload to Instagram, for example.)

• Tag: Etiquetar, taggear o mencionar. (Tag.) Generalmente, usamos etiquetar y taggear para contenido en el que apareces y mencionar para comentarios. (Generally, we use tag for content in which you appear and mention for comments.) 

• Like: Darle like o darle me gusta. (Like.) Por si acaso, pronunciamos “like” tal cual como en inglés. (Just in case, we pronounce “like” just as in English.)

• Direct message: Por privado o al privado. (Direct message) Suelen estar acompañados de verbos como escríbeme o háblame al privado. (They are usually accompanied by verbs such as write or talk to me by direct message.)

• Meme: Meme (Meme) Pronunciamos meme en español, no en inglés. (We pronounce meme in Spanish, not in English). Nos encantan los memes, por cierto, como a todos. Puedes mirar el video de Juan sobre memes en español si quieres saber exactamente cuanto. (We love memes, by the way, as we all do. You can watch Juan’s video about memes in Spanish if you want to know just how much.)

• Emoji: Emoyi, emoticón, emoticono, caritas. (Emoji) Yo siempre digo ”emoyi”, pero las demás también existen. (I always say “emoyi” but the other ones also exist.)

• Text: Textear, escribir o  enviar mensaje. (Text) Aunque es posible que escuches “textear”, es mucho menos común que escribir o enviar mensaje. (Although you may hear “texting”, it is much less common than writing or sending a message.)

Quiz for social media Spanish

Ok, here’s that quiz. I’ll show you four different hypothetical situations. Then, I’ll leave a comment on each using what we’ve learned, so you can decipher what it is I’m trying to say. Leave your answers in the comments, and I’ll make sure to check them!

• Situation 1: Remember the first phrase? Now you know what to do with it! ¡Ayñ! ¡Sa mamiii! Eres una dura, bb. Escríbeme al privado, pls. 

• Situation 2: ¡¡Pfff!! ¡¡Amooo!! ¡¡Q crack!!

• Situation 3: ¡Ayyy, uds todes lo son to’! ¡Gashias!

• Situation 4: This is something I could say to my assistant, if I had one, but I don’t. Pls, postea la foto de la playa en el muro de Facebook a ver si le dan like. Ponle un emoyi de ola y taggea a mi hermana. 

I will show you 11 amazing ways and chunks to steer clear from that awkwardness and end conversations with a native speaker pleasantly. 

You don’t want your conversations to end as awkwardly as in this example: 

ACTOR 1
¡Genial! Entonces, ¿está todo listo para la presentación?
(Great! So, everything is ready for the presentation?)

ACTOR 2
Sí, todo listo. 
(Yes, everything is ready.)

ACTOR 1
Bien. ¿Algo más?
(Good. Anything else?)

ACTOR 2
No.
(No.)

ACTOR 1
Vale. 
(Ok.)

ACTOR 2
Vale.
(Ok.)

ACTOR 1
Hasta luego, entonces.
(See you later, then.)

ACTOR 2
Si. Adiós. 
(Yes. Goodbye.)

I’m Spring Spanish teacher Maura and here is your first option to end a conversation in Spanish!

1. Bye (Bye)

So, this needs no introduction, right? At the same time, you might be thinking: wasn’t I trying to learn Spanish? What’s this English word doing here? Well, saying “bye” in Spanish is almost entirely accepted, basically everywhere in Latin America. So feel free to rely on your English with this one. 

Este es el tipo de cosa que solo notarás una vez empieces a hablar con nativos, o que puedes practicar con nosotros convirtiéndote en miembro de nuestro Inner Circle. Como miembro, podrás chatear con tutores, otros alumnos y ser parte de las salas de chat que organizamos regularmente. (This is the kind of thing that you will only notice once you start talking to native speakers, or that you can practice with us by becoming a member of our Inner Circle. As a member, you will be able to chat with tutors, other students, and be part of the chat rooms we organize on a regular basis.)

Precisely so you can notice things, like you can use “bye” without any problem to say goodbye. Check the link in the description to try it out!

Cheat Sheet with 54 essential Spanish Chunks you’ll hear and use yourself in ANY Spanish conversation (and example sentences). Taken from our YouTube Teacher’s most popular videos!

2 Bonus Cheat Sheets with Travel Chunks and Dating/Relationship Chunks

A Spanish Chunking Tutorial showing you the 1 technique that’ll help you make 100% of the Spanish from our videos roll off the tongue in just 5 minutes a day (you’re probably only using 50% of our lessons’ potential right now…)

Yes! Send me my FREE Spanish Chunking Kit

I do it all the time with my family:

ACTOR 1
Ok. ¡Buenísimo! Bye, mami.
(Ok. Great! Bye, mommy.)

She said “bye mi amor” (my love)

2. Chao, chau, chaito o adiós (Bye or goodbye)

Chao (bye) is another one that came from another language. If you know which one, let me know in the video’s comments!

We, Spanish speakers, have used it so much and for so long that it’s officially part of our language now, with its own spelling and everything.

It has many unofficial variations as chau or chaito (bye) but they all mean the same as adiós (goodbye). The only difference might be that adiós (goodbye) has a better chance at being more formal and sounding a little bit more serious.

Personally, I love using adiós (goodbye) when I want to be sarcastic or show disdain. And chao (bye) – and any of its variations – when I want to be sweeter. For example:

ACTOR 1
Vale, vale. Lo que tú digas. Adiós.
(Ok, ok. Whatever you say. Goodbye.)

Or

ACTOR 1
Qué bueno verte. ¡No te pierdas! Chaito.
(So nice to see you! Don’t be a stranger! Bye.)

Bottom line, no traduzcas chunks (don’t translate chunks). Of course, you can learn them with us by accessing the link in the description to get our) free Essential Spanish Chunking kit. 

Cheat Sheet with 54 essential Spanish Chunks you’ll hear and use yourself in ANY Spanish conversation (and example sentences). Taken from our YouTube Teacher’s most popular videos!

2 Bonus Cheat Sheets with Travel Chunks and Dating/Relationship Chunks

A Spanish Chunking Tutorial showing you the 1 technique that’ll help you make 100% of the Spanish from our videos roll off the tongue in just 5 minutes a day (you’re probably only using 50% of our lessons’ potential right now…)

Yes! Send me my FREE Spanish Chunking Kit

It’s right there and it’s for you. Go get it! 

3. Buenas noches, descansa. (Good night, get some rest.)

These two are only used at night, for obvious reasons. Unlike what you’d say during the day like buenos días o buenas tardes (good morning or good afternoon) this one does work as a way to say goodbye. These are some of the situations in which you could use them:

The idea is that this is the final goodbye for the day and everyone is going home or to bed. Also, it doesn’t always have to be nighttime, and you can use them both together. 

My friends and I said, ¡buenas noches, descansen! (good night, get some rest!) to each other the other day when saying goodbye after a party.

We were at the subway station, and it was 6 in the morning, but we were all going home straight to bed). ¡Eso es lo importante! (That’s the important part!).  

Watch until the end to learn the best chunks to signal the conversation is coming to an end. You need to learn the “bridge” that leads you to saying chau (bye.)

4. Hasta… (Until…) 

With hasta (until) there are several alternatives that can make for very practical options you can use with almost anyone in almost any context, whether formal or informal. These are the options we’ll go through:

The only difference has got to do with time. If you say hasta pronto (until soon) it might mean you expect to see the other person, well, soon. No es tan rígido, así que no te preocupes en ser demasiado preciso o precisa sobre esto. (It’s not as rigid, so don’t worry about being too precise about this.) Just make sure it’s someone you could actually see again and not a stranger on the streets, for instance. 

Hasta luego (until later) is broader, since you can use it whether you expect to see them again or not at all. Hasta mañana (until tomorrow) is the narrowest of the three, in terms of usage, since you do need to be seeing the other person the next day. So:

• At a store or to a total stranger: hasta luego (see you later)
• Someone at work or in the same class as you: hasta mañana (see you tomorrow).
• A friend, a neighbor, or a place you intend to go back to: hasta pronto (see you soon).

Remember that “hasta luego” and “hasta pronto” are not as rigid. The important thing is to not use see you tomorrow with someone you’re not seeing tomorrow!

5. Gracias y que tengas un buen día o que estés bien (Thank you and have a good day or be well)

This is the most formal so far. You could use this on an email, over the phone, or face to face. Typically, you would need a context in which it makes sense to say gracias (thank you).

After that, you can say “Have a good day” or “Be well”. Not both!

Typical scenarios could be after an interview or to end a phone call you made to ask for information about something. 

I tend to end emails like this, and then I sign with my name. But don’t think that means it’s a written goodbye necessarily. You can say it verbally with full naturality.

To make it even more formal, make sure to use the right conjugation of the verbs – tengas and estés (have and be). For more about that, you can check Paulísima’s Tú vs. Usted video. 

6. How to end a conversation in Spanish with Besos (Kisses)

On the contrary, this is definitely the most informal. Actually, what this requires is a relationship which is close and very friendly, since you could even use this with a romantic partner.

Así que, cualquier cosa aparte de eso tendría que ser una amistad o un familiar. (So, anything apart from that would have to be a friend or a family member.) You can also end YouTube videos like this.

Meaning, I could totally say this to you guys. Like this: ¡besos! (kisses!)

But we’re not done yet. 

7. Nos vemos, hablamos, estamos en contacto. (See you, talk later, stay in touch.)

From here on, you could use most of these right before the ones we’ve seen so far to signal that the conversation has come to a necessary end. Though, the last option is by far the “crème de la crème” of signals. 

With these though, the 3 alternatives: 

are so good at saying adiós (bye) that you could even use them for that. 

Otherwise, they work well at signaling.

Meaning, you could have a conversation ending to look like this: vale, hablamos. (Ok, talk later.) And just end there.

Or, it could be more like: vale, estamos en contacto. ¡Bye! (Ok, stay in touch. Bye!).

8. Te llamo o te escribo luego (I’ll call you or I’ll write you later)

Usually, this is mostly to be used over the phone or by text. It’s not that you can’t use it face to face, but it’s less common that it’ll make sense to do so. Probably, some of the other alternatives would work better anyways. Of course, you should mean it.

O sea, no digas que vas a escribir o llamar luego si no planeas hacerlo. (Meaning, don’t say you’ll write or call later if you don’t plan to do so.) Some people do, of course, but it’s just bad manners. 

Just as the ones above, you could end the conversation with this or add a little something extra afterwards.

Like: No puedo hablar ahora. ¡Te llamo luego! (I can’t talk now. I’ll call you later!)

Or, no puedo hablar ahora. Te escribo luego. ¡Besos! (I can’t talk now. I’ll call you later. Kisses!)

9. Que bueno verte, cuídate. (So nice to see you, take care.)

The most typical situation for que bueno verte (nice to see you) would be the same as in English: you ran into someone in the street. Adding cuídate (take care) will help you to fully end the conversation, while still leaving room to use any of the first alternatives that actually mean chao (bye). 

At the same time, it’ll make you sound super natural since these two chunks tend to go together in native speech. You can leave them together or space them out a step.  

ACTOR 1
¡Qué bueno verte! 
(So nice to see you!)

ACTOR 2
Igual a ti
(You too!)

ACTOR 1
¡Cuídate!
(Take care!)

ACTOR 2
¡Tu también!
(You too!)

10. Me tengo que ir o te dejo porque… (I have to go or I have to leave because…)

Now, this is a good one if you’re ok with being more direct. You could use it virtually with anyone and in any circumstance as long as you add the correct excuse after porque (because). Also, add one of the first options after, like hasta luego (see you later), for example. 

The excuse can be real or completely made up, it’s all about the kindness of you making it up in the first place.) 

Just make sure that it holds. Over the phone it’s easier, but be more careful if you’re excusing yourself face to face, so that this doesn’t happen to you:

ACTOR 1
Me tengo que ir porque ya me vinieron a buscar.
(I have to go because they came to pick me up.)

ACTOR 2
Seguro. ¡Cuídate! Que estés bien.
(Sure. Take care! Be well.)

Ten minutes later:

ACTOR 1
Maura, ¿no te ibas?
(Maura, weren’t you leaving?)

ACTOR 2
Ah, si, es que… 
(Oh, yeah, it’s just that…)

11. Bueno, nada, en fin, es así. (Well, nevertheless, anyways, it is what it is.)

This is what I promised you before. These four little chunks are my go-to every time I need to signal that the conversation needs to end. Unlike the other ones, these do not end conversations whatsoever, and they definitely need you to say something afterwards. 

They are tiny, subtle, and super useful. You can use combinations of them or all of them separately if the person is not able to get the hint the first time.

ACTOR 1
Si. En fin…
(Yes. Anyways…)

Es así…
(It is what it is…)

Bueno… nada…
(Well… nevertheless…)

¡Vale, adiós!
(Ok, goodbye!)

Now, quick review. We have mainly 8 which definitely end conversations:

Your most formal one:

• Gracias y que tengas un buen día o que estés bien. (Thank you and have a good day, or be well.)

Your most informal one:

• Besos (Kisses)

And then, the ones you can use right before the conversation ends:

The best ones to signal, which definitely need a goodbye afterwards:

• Bueno, nada, en fin, es así. (Well, nevertheless, anyways, it is what it is.)