Top 10 Funniest SPANGLISH PHRASES (Have You Heard These Before?) đ€Ł
Today youâre getting a crash course in the mezcla maravillosa de (wonderful mix of) English and Spanish thatâs mainly spoken by the millions and millions of Latinos living in the United States⊠and that you might also know from popular reguetĂłn songs.
In short, if you donât know any Spanglish, youâre running behind, brĂłder. Time to fix that! In this article, Iâll teach you 10 funny Spanglish phrases and words youâll inevitably hear in Spanish-speaking communities in the US, and that you can use yourself to impress your Latino friends!
Spanglish Phrases
1. TĂłmalo con teikirisi
Used when suggesting someone to calm down or what you probably figured: to take it easy. The Spanish sentence would be: TĂłmalo con calma (Take it easy).
For example:
PERSON 1
With this course, voy a aprender español en two weeks.
(With this course Iâm going to learn Spanish in two weeks.)
PERSON 2
ÂżEn dos semanas? TĂłmalo con teikirisi.
(In two weeks? Take it easy!)
2. Vamos a janguear
âJanguearâ comes from âhanging outâ, so you can use this one when inviting your friends to go out or in Spanish, vamos a salir (letâs hang out).
PERSON 1
Estoy aburridĂsimo, bro. Ya es el weekend y no tengo nada que hacer.
(Iâm so bored, dude. Itâs the weekend already and I have nothing to do.)
PERSON 2
Bueno, pero letâs fix that. ÂĄVamos a janguear! Iâll pick you up a las 8!
(Well, but letâs fix that. Letâs hang out! Iâll pick you up at 8!)
3. ÂżEstĂĄs ready?
Pretty obvious combination… The Spanish expression would be ÂżEstĂĄs listo?
PERSON 1
Mira, Iâm almost leaving. ÂżEstĂĄs ready?
(Look, Iâm almost leaving. Are you ready?)
PERSON 2
Sure, bro. Me estoy terminando de vestir.
(Sure, bro! Iâm almost done getting dressed.)
4. Cambiar el look
The English word âlookâ as in âappearanceâ has become very popular in different languages, so it almost has its own meaning in Spanish.
So, when you say ÂżTe cambiaste el look? to your Latino friend who used to be blonde and now is a brunette, the Spanish equivalent would be ÂżCambiaste de apariencia? (Did you change your look?)
PERSON 1
Sup, bro?!
(Whatâs up, bro?)
PERSON 2
Sup, bro?! Nos vam… ÂĄEpa! ÂżTe cambiaste el look?
(Are we⊠Wait! Did you change your look?)
5. Mandar un inbox
Another mixture thanks to the internetâŠ. The Spanish sentence would be âmandar un mensaje al buzĂłn de entradaâ (to send a message to an inbox), but I guess âinboxâ is much shorter.
PERSON 1
Estuve llamando a Mariana to see if she wanted to come, pero no me respondiĂł.
(I called Mariana to see if she wanted to come, but she didnât pick up.)
PERSON 2
Bueno, le voy a mandar un inbox a ver si se anima.
(Alright, Iâll send her an inbox to see if she wants to come.)
By the way, if you donât only want to work on your Spanglish, but also 100% Spanish, why donât you grab our Essential Spanish Chunking Kit? It contains a cheat sheet with the most important Spanish chunks we teach in our videos and that youâll need in every Spanish conversation!
Chequea el link and⊠whoops! (Another Spanglish phrase right there.) The Spanish phrase would be revisa el vĂnculo, but let that one slide, okay?
Common Spanglish Words
So, Spanglish is not only about mixing words in both Spanish and English, itâs also âSpanishizingâ words in English and vice versa.
Since this is a process bound to culture and to how people talk on the streets, no hay reglas (there are no rules). The results are both very interesting and often hilarious! Wait until you get to number 3, youâre gonna break de la risa (of laughing), bro.
1. Aseguranza
This mutant word comes from the English word âinsuranceâ and the Spanish word âseguroâ. Iâve heard a lot of Latino friends from the United States use this one often when talking about el seguro de su auto (their car insurance).
ÂżEjemplo?
- Tengo que pagar la aseguranza de mi casa (I have to pay my house insurance)
2. El lonche
Thereâs something about how this word sounds that just makes it funny, but thereâs nothing funny about nutrition kids!
It means almuerzo and it comes from the English word âlunchâ.
- Traje un sĂĄndwich de queso para el lonche. (I brought a cheese sandwich for lunch.)
3. BrĂłder
And yes, Spanglish is a thing in Latin America too, so much so that we use the word âbrotherâ to refer to friends, but we give it a Spanish touch and it sounds like BrĂłder.
Remember I told you were going to laugh? Well, check this out: Iâve even heard brodercito (little brother) as a way to refer to really close friends… AND BRODERCITA (lit., little female brother) TO REFER TO FEMALE FRIENDS! Can you believe that?
4. Guglear
As the internet became a worldwide necessity, a lot of words in English became part of Spanish language as well. And instead of saying Buscar en google (search using Google), we started saying googlear (to google), since it was easier, as in: Tengo que googlearlo (I have to google that).
Fun tip: Argentinians and Uruguayans went even further, and you can hear stuff like guatsapeĂĄ (from usar WhatsApp / WhatsAppear, which means using WhatApp) or feisbuqueĂĄ (from usar Facebook / Facebookear, which means using Facebook).
5. Aplicar
This one is hard to explain, since aplicar is actually a word in Spanish that means to âapply somethingâ, such as paint, or to adhere a substance to another:
- Aplicar una crema en la cara (To apply a cream on your face)
- Aplicar un tratamiento (To apply a treatment)
The thing is that âapplyâ is also a verb used in English as a synonym of âto enroll or apply to a job or a positionâ, so in Spanish we started saying stuff like voy a aplicar a un trabajo (Iâm going to apply for a job) or aplicar a la visa (to apply for a visa).
The Spanish word youâre looking for is postularse, but that might change in the near future due to how frequently this (aplicar) is used.
So, yeah, Spanglish can be a lot of fun around friends and family, and it can be interesting to discover what other combinations of Spanish and English words are out there. Just remember that using Spanglish is different from making mistakes as a Spanish learner!
So, I suggest you read my piece about 9 most common mistakes Spanish learners make, so you can identify them and correct them yourself.