10 Ways to Say No Problem in Spanish + Chunks from Latin America
We’re pretty sure that you’ve said or heard “No problemo” more than once and well… that’s wrong!
In this article, Spring Spanish teacher Cory I will not only teach you the correct way to say it, but you will also discover 10 other ways to say no problem in Spanish that’ll make you sound super natural, including some “peculiar” ones from Latin America.
Click on any of these chunks, and read more about the details!
| Spanish | Literal translation | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| No hay problema | There is no problem | General |
| No pasa nada | Nothing happens | Casual, reassurance |
| No te preocupes | Don’t worry | Reassurance, friendly |
| No importa | It doesn’t matter | Downplaying |
| No te apures | Do not hurry | Encouraging calmness |
| Despreocúpate | Don’t worry | Fancy, reassurance |
| No hay bronca | There’s no problem | Mexican slang |
| Fresco nomás | Only fresh | Ecuadorian expression |
| No hay quilombo | There’s no problem | Argentinian expression |
| Pura vida | All is good | Costa Rican expression |
1. Learning Spanish? No hay problema! (There is no problem)
If we had a dollar for every time we’ve heard No problemo, we would be rich! But it’s definitely understandable why it is easier for English speakers to go with “No problemo”: it follows the same rule in English (No problem).
But which is actually the correct way of saying it?
No hay problema (no problem) or, literally translated, that would be “there is no problem”. So, this would be the right way of translating no problem in Spanish.
But in all honesty, it does get the job done and it makes you sound soooo… boring!
Most natives don’t say this, or at least don’t say it all the time. We like to mix things up. Just like you don’t say “no problem” all the time in English (you also say “no worries” or “all good”), we have many cool alternatives too.
There are several alternatives to No hay problema… and we are going to start with:
Let’s check a few more examples!
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| No hay problema con el plan. | There is no problem with the plan. |
| Si necesitas ayuda, no hay problema. | If you need help, there is no problem. |
| No hay problema en esperar un poco. | There is no problem in waiting a bit. |
2. A phrase when nothing happens: No pasa nada (Nothing happens)
Literally, “Nothing happens”… Of course, it depends on the context we are talking about, but normally you would say it if you want to express you are fine, and there’s no problem with you or something you are doing:
- ¿Seguro que te da tiempo para pasar por mí? (Are you sure you have time to pick me up?)
- Sí, de verdad, no pasa nada. (Yes, really, there’s no problem)
In real-life situations:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Tranquilo, no pasa nada. | Calm down, nothing happens. |
| Si llegas tarde, no pasa nada. | If you’re late, nothing happens. |
| No te preocupes, no pasa nada. | Don’t worry, nothing happens. |
3. No problem, no worries: No te preocupes (Don’t worry!)
This translates as “Do not worry” and it is probably the expression people in Mexico use the most, as it also means “No hay problema”. So, if you ever come to Mexico or if you have Mexican friends, you can start telling them ¡No te preocupes!
- Sí, me ha gustado mucho. ¡No te preocupes! (Yes, I liked it a lot. Don’t worry!)
CHUNK ALERT!
“No te preocupes” is a perfect example of what we call a “chunk”: a fixed word combination that native speakers use, that never changes and that you should just learn by heart so it rolls off your tongue while using it.
“Preocupes” is actually a subjuntivo, but you don’t need to know the rule behind the use of subjuntivo here: I just used it and now you KNOW “no te preocupes” is correct.
And now, examples!
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| No te preocupes por el examen. | Don’t worry about the exam. |
| No te preocupes, todo estará bien. | Don’t worry, everything will be fine. |
| No te preocupes por mí. | Don’t worry about me. |
The good news: you can learn to speak Spanish up to a really high level just by learning chunks like this! The method to do so is called Conversation Based Chunking, and it’s how we teach students in our Academy. If you’d like to start using it yourself, register for the free Spanish training we have on our website.
✔️ 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…)
4. Does it matter? No importa (It doesn’t matter)
Also a very common phrase here in Mexico, it literally means “it doesn’t matter” and you can use it when you want to downplay something:
- Sí que duele, pero no importa. (Yes, it hurts, but it doesn’t matter.)
In Spanish conversations, you could say:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| No importa lo que digan. | It doesn’t matter what they say. |
| No importa si llueve. | It doesn’t matter if it rains. |
| No importa el tiempo que tome. | It doesn’t matter how long it takes. |
5. No need to rush: No te apures (Do not hurry)
Literally, “Do not hurry”.
We use this to indicate that something is not a problem… you don’t even need to rush it, take it easy.
- Lo siento, se me olvidó llamarte ayer. (I’m sorry, I forgot to call you yesterday.)
- No te apures, me dormí temprano. (No problem, I slept early)
PS: Did you notice? No te apures is another chunk! Again a subjuntivo, but you can just learn the whole thing by heart!
After another chunking lesson, here’s a table with examples:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| No te apures, hay tiempo de sobra. | Do not hurry, there’s plenty of time. |
| No te apures por terminar. | Do not hurry to finish. |
| No te apures, la reunión aún no empieza. | Do not hurry, the meeting hasn’t started yet. |
6. Free from a problem: Despreocúpate (Don’t worry)
The literal translation for despreocúpate is “don’t worry”, but we would think of it more as being free from a problem or a worry. This is probably the least used way to say no problem, but you might as well know it, as it will make you sound really fancy:
- Mañana lloverá, así que despreocúpate. (Tomorrow will be raining, so there’s no problem.)
Now, let’s go over Latin American slang expressions…
But before that, let’s check some full Spanish sentences:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Despreocúpate, todo está bajo control. | Don’t worry, everything is under control. |
| Despreocúpate por los detalles. | Don’t worry about the details. |
| Despreocúpate, yo me encargo. | Don’t worry, I’ll handle it. |
7. A Mexican Spanish phrase: No hay bronca (There’s no problem)
Bronca in Mexico means a strong or violent argument between two or more people and it also refers to a severe reprimand and disapproval, that is, “a problem”:
- No hay bronca, yo los ayudo a mudarse el fin de semana. (There’s no problem. I’ll help you move homes this weekend.)
This Mexican Spanish phrase could look like this in real scenarios:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| No hay bronca si llegas tarde. | There’s no problem if you’re late. |
| No hay bronca con el pago. | There’s no problem with the payment. |
| No hay bronca, yo te ayudo. | There’s no problem, I’ll help you. |
8. A different way to say it in Ecuador: Fresco nomás (Literally: Only fresh)
This Ecuadorian expression means “only fresh” and it’s used to say that something has no issues or problems:
- ¿Hubo algún problema en el festival? (Was there a problem at the festival?)
- No, ¡todo estuvo fresco nomás! (No, there was no problem!)
An Ecuadorian to use this phrase:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Fresco nomás, no hay prisa. | Only fresh, there is no hurry. |
| Fresco nomás, todo está bien. | Only fresh, everything is fine. |
| Fresco nomás, tómate tu tiempo. | Only fresh, take your time. |
9. Know how to say it in Argentina: No hay quilombo (Literally: mess, brawl)
This is one of our favorite expressions, and it’s used in Argentina. There’s no way to translate this word, since Argentinians use it to express many different things.
La Real Academia Española (The Royal Spanish Academy) defines it as a mess, hubbub, brawl or disorder, but in reality, it is used to express much more.
In this case, “no problem”:
- ¿Puedes ayudarme con esta? (Can you help me with this?)
- Sí, no hay quilombo. (Yes, there’s no problem.)
In Argentina, you could say:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| No hay quilombo con los horarios. | There’s no problem with the schedule. |
| No hay quilombo si cambias de planes. | There’s no problem if you change plans. |
| No hay quilombo, estamos bien. | There’s no problem, we are fine. |
10. In Costa Rica like a local: Pura vida (All is good)
And last but not least, pura vida means “pure life”, and Costa Ricans know how to enjoy it.
This expression is normally used when saying “all is good” or “Life goes without a problem”:
- ¿Todo bien? (Everything alright?)
- ¡Pura vida! (No problem at all!)
And last but not least, in Costa Rica, you could say:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Pura vida, amigo. | All is good, my friend. |
| Aquí todo es pura vida. | Here everything is all good. |
| Pura vida, no hay de qué preocuparse. | All is good, nothing to worry about. |
No problem in Spanish and much more with FREE Spanish training
¡Muy bien! How many of these expressions did you know before? Which was your favorite?
As we mentioned before, all the expressions you learned are examples of chunks, that is, fixed Spanish word combinations that never change and that you can learn by heart to have fluent Spanish sentences roll off the tongue.
If you want to discover the method we use in our Spring Spanish Academy to have you speaking Spanish super rápido (super fast), sign up for our free Spanish training! You will also get some free Spanish sample materials.
✔️ 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…)
