Incredible in Spanish: don’t say increíble, use these 9 alternatives!

CARLA
¡Hola, hola! No te imaginas lo increíble que estuvo el viaje a Galicia.
(Hello, hello! You can’t imagine how amazing the trip to Galicia was.)

MAURA
¿Sí? ¿La pasaron increíble?
(Yeah? Did you have a wonderful time?)

CARLA
Increíble es poco. Todo estuvo perfecto. Ahora te muestro fotos.
(Wonderful is an understatement. Everything was perfect. I will show you some pictures in a bit.)

This dialogue works perfectly okay, but noticed we kept repeating increíble (incredible in Spanish)? There’s so much more we could’ve said! So, though you could get away with just saying increíble for everything, we are here to help you expand your ability to express yourself in Spanish!

The word incredible in Spanish is “increíble.” Native Spanish speakers use “increíble” in similar contexts as it’s used in English: to express something that is hard to believe, amazing, or extraordinary. This can range from reacting to surprising news, describing an impressive event, or highlighting the quality of something exceptional.

Yo soy Maura de Spring Spanish, and let’s now look at 9 ways to substitute this little word so you can show off your personality in Spanish, just as much as you do in your native language!

Ready? ¡Empecemos!

1. When increíble means “amazing”

Let’s rewind that first dialogue and spice it up a bit with some alternatives that also mean “amazing”, shall we?

CARLA
¡Hola, hola! No te imaginas lo fabuloso que estuvo el viaje a Galicia.
(Hello, hello! You can’t imagine how fabulous the trip to Galicia was.)

MAURA
¿Sí? ¿La pasaron de maravilla?
(Yeah? Did you have a wonderful time?)

CARLA
De maravilla es poco. Todo estuvo perfecto. Ahora te muestro fotos. Fuimos a unos lugares impresionantes.
(Wonderful is an understatement. Everything was perfect. I will show you some pictures in a bit. We went to some impressive places.)

Alright so, why do you need to go over this lesson when you could just look for synonyms to this word?

The reality is increíble, when it means “amazing”, is actually slang.

Most translators and dictionaries will only cover increíble when it means imposible (impossible) and even then, most of the alternatives they give are rarely used by natives.

Back to the dialogue. Here are the words that I used:

• Fabuloso (Fabulous)
• De maravilla (Wonderful)
• Impresionante (Impressive)

Guys, before we continue, just a heads up, at the end of this lesson we’ll be covering an alternative chunk that might be… well… a curse word? A bad word? A vulgar expression?! Not really. Just my favorite chunk for when increíble means “hard to believe”.

The best news about fabuloso (fabulous), de maravilla (wonderful) and impresionante (impressive), is that these words transcend cultures. Meaning, though some nationalities will use some more than others, this is more of an individual personality type of choice. I never say fabuloso, for example, but many people in my family do and I do say impresionante quite a lot!

Por cierto (By the way), a funny derivative of this one is impresionanti. It is not the correct word but Paulisima will explain the story behind this hilarious variation in this video.

Let’s go over a few more examples so you see them in action:

• El nuevo apartamento de mi mejor amiga es fabuloso, tiene de todo y encima una vista al mar como de película. (My best friend’s new apartment is fabulous, it has everything and on top of that, it has a movie-like view of the sea.)
• La comida de su mamá es una maravilla, si te invitan a comer allá, ¡no dudes en ir! (His mom’s food is wonderful, if you are invited to eat there, don’t hesitate to go!)

Maravilla and de maravilla (wonderful) are exactly the same. The only thing is that we use de maravilla mostly to talk about how something went, not how something is.

• La interpretación de Elizabeth Moss en “The Handmaid’s Tale” es impresionante. Nunca me cansaré de decirlo. (Elizabeth Moss’ performance in “The Handmaid’s Tale” is breathtaking. I’ll never get tired of saying so.)

Apart from these, there are two more options I’d like to go over. That is the very emphatic: indescriptible (indescribable) and extraordinario (extraordinary). Take into account that all of these expressions are intrinsically a bit exaggerated and passionate but in such a natural, common way that most people would use them one way or another.

• En mi cumpleaños me comí un cheesecake con hierbas chinas indescriptible. ¡Tenemos que volver a ese sitio para que lo pruebes! (On my birthday I had an indescribable cheesecake with Chinese herbs. We have to go back to that place for you to try it!)
• “Midnight Children” es un libro extraordinario. Me dejo queriendo leer todo lo que ha escrito Rushdie. (Midnight Children is an extraordinary book. It left me wanting to read everything Rushdie has written.)

Now, do let me know in the comments which of these alternatives resonates with you the most!

2. When increíble means “Impossible”

Now, sometimes, what we actually mean with increíble is what it actually means: not credible. Check out the following example.  

CARLA
¿Te puedes imaginar que la temperatura del agua estaba cerca de los diez grados y aún así estuvimos nadando todo el día?
(Can you imagine that the water temperature was close to ten degrees and we were still swimming all day?)

MAURA
¡No! Imposible. Se volvieron locos.
(No! Impossible. You went crazy.)

CARLA
Bueno es que, parece mentira, pero fuera del agua hacía un calor intenso, así que una cosa compensaba la otra.
(Well, it seems like a lie, but out of the water it was intensely hot, so one thing compensated for the other.)

MAURA
¿Qué? No me lo creo, ¡qué locura de clima!
(What? I don’t believe it, what crazy weather!)

When substituying increíble with one of the following:

• Imposible (Impossible)
• Parece mentira (Seems like a lie)
• No me lo creo (I don’t believe it)

Make sure you’re not talking about something awesome, you’re talking about something hard to believe. Even if it’s hard to believe because it is so awesome.

Let’s check out some more examples:

• Esa montaña es imposible. Yo no creo que podamos subirla sin entrenar antes. (That mountain is impossible. I don’t think we can climb it without training first.)
• Parece mentira, pero después de todo el estrés y el apuro, al final dio tiempo de sobra para hacer la maleta. (It’s hard to believe (Lit.: Seems like a lie), but after all the stress and rush, we had more than enough time to pack.)
• No me lo creo, ¡Alejandra salió de la cirugía hace tres horas y ya le dieron de alta! (I don’t believe it, Alejandra came out of surgery 3 hours ago and has already been discharged!)

The idea here is that whomever we’re talking about either did something increíble or felt an emotion very intensely. It could be anger, fear, excitement, happiness, you name it.

Therefore, I could say something like:

• Cuando llegamos al Airbnb y vimos que estábamos a dos minutos de la playa, ¡nos volvimos locos! Pensábamos que estábamos mucho más lejos. (When we arrived at the Airbnb and saw that we were 2 minutes away from the beach, we went crazy! We thought we were much farther away.)

Remember to check the link in the description, si no lo has hecho aún (if you haven’t already), to access our free Essential Spanish Chunking kit with many more useful and important chunks like 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

3. A Spanish word for cursing: a chunk to substitute increíble

So, here’s that chunk that I said was my favorite. Since it does include a curse word, proceed with caution. I use this all the time among friends and family when saying imposible (impossible) or no me lo creo (I don’t believe it) just falls short; which tends to happen pretty often since life does enjoy playing games.

CARLA
¡Me tienes que estar jodiendo!
(You have got to be “kidding” me!)

MAURA
¿Qué pasó
(What happened?)

CARLA
Estoy desde ayer pendiente de que no se me olvidara tu regalo del viaje, me puse una alarma, lo puse en la puerta para verlo al salir ¡y aún así no me lo traje!
(Since yesterday I’ve been making sure I didn’t forget your gift from the trip, I set an alarm, I put it by the door to see it on my way out and I still didn’t bring it!)

This chunk, me tienes que estar jodiendo, might be the younger Venezuelan version. I’m really not sure if other Latin Americans say this exactly. I do know, however, that they will have their own version and that it might, too, include some curse words. For example, here in Spain they say: estás de coña (you’re “kidding”), with the exact same meaning. Also, it uses very generic words so everybody will understand you if you so decide to use it.

Other situations I’d use this for, include:

• When you come back from the supermarket with a bunch of stuff except what you went to the supermarket for in the first place: me tienes que estar jodiendo. (You have got to be kidding me.)
• When you’ve been telling the people that live with you to stay away from your last piece of cake and, still, someone eats it: me tienes que estar jodiendo. (You have got to be kidding me.)
• When you’re finally on your way to the beach for three days and the weather forecast says “rain” for the entirety of the trip: me tienes que estar jodiendo. (You have got to be kidding me.)

4. Review of alternatives to incredible in Spanish

What can you say, instead of increíble, when it means “amazing”?

• Fabuloso (Fabulous)
• De maravilla (Wonderful)
• Impresionante (Impressive)
• Indescriptible (Indescribable)
• Extraordinario (Extraordinary)

Now, what can you say when it means “impossible”?

• Imposible (Impossible)
• Parece mentira (Seems like a lie)
• No me lo creo (I don’t believe it)

And, if your age, personality, and context allows, what’s that curse word chunk you can use instead?

• Me tienes que estar jodiendo. (You’ve got to be kidding me.)

If having alternatives for increíble has improved your relationship with Spanish and your ability to feel free within the language, how about continuing this lesson with me and learning how to substitute the opposite feeling? Learn what you can say instead of no tan bien (not so well) when someone asks you how you’re doing!