Sunday, December 12, 2010

Field Notes for Spanish Learners: Castellano Phrasebook

Castellano is the name for the Spanish spoken in Argentina and Uruguay, where people say things like "vos tenés" instead of "tú tienes." I overheard these phrases constantly in conversational Spanish, so I put them on flashcards and made a deliberate point of trying to artificially insert them into conversations whenever I remembered. As a result, I probably sounded like a Valley Girl, but also got a lot of compliments on my Spanish.

Dale (tranquilo)
Go (right) ahead
Come on


Ya está (pronounced “yastá”)
That's it
All done


Ahí está
There it is
Exactly
That's it


Ahí va (pronounced "ay va")
Now you've got it
There you go
Exactly


Bueno
Okay!

Buenísimo
Awesome
Sweet
Really cool


Bárbaro

Great

(Uruguay)
OK 

Bien
Good!


Pah!
Woah!
Wow!
Geez!


En serio?
Seriously?

Viste?
Ya know?
You see?
See?


Ah, mirá/mirá vos
Oh, huh!
Huh, look at that
Oh, that's interesting


Tipo, ponele, o sea, digo
Like (tipo is slightly classier than ponele)
I mean (o sea, digo)


Este
Uh
Um


Raro
Weird

Rico
Good (describing the taste of food)
Delicious


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