Teasing In Spanish: How To Flirt In Spanish (Friends And Significant Others)

Actor 1
¿Ya viste la de Oppenheimer?
(Have you watched Oppenheimer yet?)

Actor 2
No, pero tengo muchas ganas de verla. Me encanta cómo actúa Cillian Murphy.
(No, but I really want to go watch it. I love Cillian Murphy’s acting.)

Actor 1
Ajá, sí, cómo actúa.
(Mhm, yeah, his acting.)

Actor 2
En serio. Me gusta cómo actúa.
(Really. I like his acting.)

Actor 1
A Peque le gusta Cillian. A Peque le gusta Cillian.
(Peque likes Cillian. Peque likes Cillian.)

In this video you’re learning everything you need to know to start teasing in Spanish.

I’m Paulísima, your Spanish teacher at Spring Spanish.

¿Estás listo? (Are you ready?)

1. ”Molestar” no es lo que tal vez estás pensando (“Molestar” is not what you might think)

Something important, the word in Spanish that we use to say “tease” or “teasing” is “molestar”. This can be very confusing.

Often times, we Spanish speakers, when speaking English, make the mistake of saying that someone is “molesting us” when we just mean “is teasing us”. That’s a false friend and you can find more of those in this video.

So, the most common word to say “tease” is molestar, but there are other ways which we shall we later on. Molestar can be translated as bothe “tease” and “bother”.

2. Molestar cuando a alguien le gusta alguien (Teasing in Spanish when they like someone else)

Like at the very beginning, teasing out friends about them liking someone is very common. You can do something that children do, like:

Actor 1
A Pau le gusta Alex.
(Pau likes Alex.)

Or simply make this sound: Uuu.

Whenever your friend mentions the person, you’re teasing them about just say: Uuu.

Actor 1
Vamos al cine mañana a ver Oppenheimer.
(Let’s go to the movies tomorrow to watch Oppenheimer.)

Actor 2
Ok, vamos. ¿Quiénes vamos? ¿Solo nosotras?
(Ok, let’s go. Who’s going? Just the two of us?)

Actor 1
No, también va Alex.
(No, also Alex is going.)

Actor 2
¿Alex? Uuu.
(Alex? Uuu.)

Actor 1
Ay, ¡no empieces!
(Oh, don’t start!)

3. Siempre caigo en esta broma (I always fall for this joke)

In Mexico, most people are “bromistas”.

That means that we have a great sense of humor and that we enjoy making jokes and making fun of each other. When I was little, a very common joke we used to make among my siblings was this:

Actor 1
¿Qué tienes ahí?
(What do you have there?)

Actor 2
¿Dónde?
(Looks down)

Actor 1
¡Ahí!
(There!)

(He gives him a little tap on the nose.)

Actor 1
¡Ay, no te enojes! ¡Es broma!
(Oh, don’t get mad! It’s a joke!)

Chunk alert: No te enojes. (Don’t get mad.) Double chunk alert: Es broma. (It’s a joke.)

4. ¿Cómo fue? ¿Cómo, cómo? (How was that? How, how?)

Learn a way to tease someone, but in a cute way.

For example, if you are with someone that you like and you want to emphasize something that you find adorable.

Actor 1
Sneezes

Actor 2
¿Cómo fue?
(How was it?) (Repeats the “cute way” she sneezed)

Actor 1
Estornuda de nuevo
Sneezes again

Actor 2
¿Cómo, cómo?
(How, how?)

Actor 1
Estornuda de nuevo

Actor 2
¿Cómo, cómo?
(How, how?)

Actor 1
No te burles de mí.
(Don’t make fun of me.)

Actor 2
No me estoy burlando de ti. Me parece muy lindo cómo estornudas, es todo, pero no me estoy burlando de ti. Te lo juro.
(I’m not making fun of you. I find it very cute how you sneeze, that’s all, but I’m not making fun of you. I swear.)

Actor 1
Bueno, ok. A mí no me gusta llevarme pesado con nadie.
(Well, ok. I don’t like to have a “teasing relationship” with anybody.)

Did you catch all the useful phrases to address teasing?

• No me estoy burlando de ti. (I’m not making fun of you.)
• A mí no me gusta llevarme pesado con nadie. (I don’t like to have a “teasing relationship” with anybody.)

Do you have a “teasing relationship” with anyone? When you were a kid, did you have a “teasing relationship” with your siblings?

5. Llevarse pesado (To heavily tease one another)

So “llevarse pesado” means “to heavily tease one another” But there are other ways to say this. You can simply say : “Levarse”, and the expression, more common in the North of Mexico: “echar carrilla” (tease one another).

Actor 1
¿Hola, me llamo Pau, y tú?
(Hello, my name is Pau, and you?)

Actor 2
Macarena.

Actor 1
Como la canción… me imagino que siempre te molestan con eso.
(Like the song… I imagine that people always tease you with that.)

Actor 2
Sí, un poco, pero no me molesta. Además, todos lo hacen con buena intención. No creo que lo digan por “llevarse”.
(Yes, a little, but it doesn’t bother me. Also, everybody does it with a good intention. I don’t think they say it just to “play rough”.)

Actor 1
Claro. Aunque hay mucha gente muy llevada.
(Of course. But there a lot of people who are “too much”.

Actor 2
Pues sí, pero el que se lleva se aguanta.
(Well yeah, but “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”)

Actor 1
Exactamente. El que se lleva se aguanta. A mí me gusta echar carrilla, pero solo con la gente que también le gusta.
(Exactly. “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. I like to tease, but only with people who also like to tease.)

6. Ser “chingaquedito” (To be “chingaquedito”)

In Mexico we have this lovely word: “chingaquedito” made up of “chingar”, which in this context means “tease” and “quedito”, meaning “softly”. Do you know anyone “chingaquedito”? What we mean is someone that always gives backhanded comments.

Actor 1
¿Y el novio?
(And the boyfriend?)

Actor 2
No tengo novio, tía.
(I don’t have a boyfriend, aunt)

Actor 1
¿Y el muchachito afeminado que me presentaste el otro día? ¿Ariel?
(What about that effeminate young boy you introduced me to the other day? Ariel?)

Actor 2
Ariel, es mujer, tía. Es mi mejor amiga.
(Ariel is a woman, aunt. She is my best friend.)

Actor 1
Ah, es que ahora no se sabe. Oye, qué bonita te ves.
(Oh, it’s just that now we can’t now. Hey, look how pretty you look.)

Actor 2
Gracias, tía.
(Thank you, aunt.)

Actor 1
Sí, mira que bien te ves con ese peinado. Así es como tú te ves bien, bien peinadita. No como con esas greñas horribles que luego te dejas.
(Yes, look how good you look with that hairstyle. That is what looks good on you, neat hair. Not like when you leave your hair unkept.)

Actor 2
Gracias, tía.
(Thank you, aunt.)

Do you know anyone like this? ¿Alguien “chingaquedito”? (Someone who “backhanded insults you”?)

How to learn phrases for teasing in Spanish

Now, the best way to learn all of these Spanish phrases for teasing in Spanish is Conversation Based Chunking. Use this method know to learn all of this in context.

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