If you’ve taken a Spanish class you might have learned that there are different dialects in different parts of the Spanish speaking world. Argentine Spanish is no different. Not only do they speak very differently than their Spanish counterparts, but they have a colorful slang vocabulary that makes their dialect stand out from the crowd. Maybe you’ve tried to learn Spanish on your own (via Duolingo perhaps…), but find yourself lost amongst the local Porteños around you.

With an Argentinian fiance, I found myself lost in conversation when visiting his family for the first time. Argentinians speak very quickly, and not only is their accent different from the Mexican-American Spanish we’re used to in the states, but they use a lot of Argentine slang in their day to day conversations. Here’s a rundown of what to expect, so you can prep for your trip or study abroad in Argentina (or to impress that special Argentinian in your life 😝).

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Brief Overview of Argentine Spanish

Castellano

Spanish in Argentina is called castellano (ca-ste-shah-no)so don’t be confused when someone asks you, “hablas castellano?”, they’re just asking if you speak Spanish.

Pronunciation

The letter ‘y’ and double ‘l’ (‘ll’) are both pronounced sh, so common words like yo and pollo or even common item names like mayonaise would be pronounced like sho and pollo or mashonesa. Foreign names that start with the letter J or Y are usually pronounced with the sh sound too– Jordan is pronounced Shordan and Yoko Ono is pronounced Shoko Ono.

Vos vs. Tu

In Argentina, they use the word “vos” instead of “tu” to mean “you”. There is also a slight difference in conjugation. For example “tu tienes” (you have) turns into “vos tenés.” You can read more about the specifics of how to conjugate “vos” here.

Lunfardo

With origins in the late 19th and early 20th century, Lunfardo is what Argentine slang is known as today. Or more specifically, Buenos Aires slang.

Birthed in Rio de La Plata (the greater Buenos Aires region), Argentine Lunfardo started out as the language of criminals, used in prisons to prevent guards from understanding what is being talked about. This way of speaking later spread to lower class citizens and, due to the influx of Italian and European immigrants, Lunfardo today has a lot of influences from their languages, especially Italian. The origin of the name Lunfardo itself actually comes from the Italian city of Lombardy, where a majority of the Italian immigrants to Argentina came from.

It’s popularity and widespread use in Tango enabled the so-called “language of thieves” make its way through the social classes and spread to the rest of Argentinian society. Although it originated in Buenos Aires, some Lunfardo words have since found their way to other neighboring countries in Latin America such as Chile, Bolivia, and Paraguay. If you visit Buenos Aires today, you’ll hear Lunfardo slang words everywhere.

Cursing

It took me a while to get used to, but cursing is very much a part of the culture here. I added some common curses and their definitions at the end of the post, if you want to learn more.

Vesre (Switching Words Around)

If in America we have pig latin, in Argentina they have vesre. Although many don’t know it by its official name, ‘vesre’, this is a funny thing that Argentinians do sometimes when they speak. They reverse the order of the syllables in a word. For example, instead of saying “calor” (hot), they will sometimes say “lorca,” or instead of saying “quilombo,” they’ll say “bolomqui” because it’s funny.

Did you notice? Vesre itself is vesre for reverse (reves in Spanish).

Now Let’s Get to the Argentine Slang

Che

If you visit Argentina, you will hear this word all the time as it’s the most common Argentinian slang word. It’s often used to grab someone’s attention and means “hey” or “dude.”

Examples:

1. “Che, te estoy hablando”: “Hey, I’m talking to you”
2. “Che boludo!”: “Hey dude!”
3. “Dejate de joder, che“: “Cut the BS, man”

Boludo

Boludo can either be “stupid” or “dude,” depending on how you use it. Friends often use it amongst themselves to mean the latter. Note, since this is a gendered noun, if you’re talking to (or about) a girl, you say boluda.

Examples:

• “Sos un boludo!!!”: “You’re so stupid!!!”
• “Cómo andas, boludo?”: “How’s it going, dude?”

Che Boludo

If you put che and boludo together you get the pinnacle of Argentinian slang, “che boludo.” If there’s one phrase you should come out of this post learning, it’s this one. The most important on this list, che boludo is used in order to grab someone’s attention and start a conversation (usually someone close to you).

Dale

Similar to Arabic’s yalla, dale means something along the lines of “let’s go,” “hurry up,” or “yeah.”

Examples:

• “Vamos a la playa?” “Dale!”: “Wanna go to the beach?” “Yeah!”
• “Dale, dale!”: “Hurry up, let’s go”

Que onda?

This means what’s up or what’s going on here. Onda means a frequency wave, so que onda literally means “which wave.”

Mango

No, not the delicious fruit. In Argentine slang, mango means money, specifically one peso.

Example:

• “No tengo un mango“: “I don’t have a penny (or peso)”

Quilombo

Quilombo is used to describe a mess, complicated situation, or commotion. Similarly a quilombero is a person who makes a commotion, like a drama queen or a hyperactive child.

Example:

• “Que quilombo!”: “What a commotion!”

Laburo

Laburo refers to your day job.

Example:

• “Tengo mucho laburo!”: “I have a lot of work!”

Re

In addition to the Spanish word “muy,” Argentinians like to use the word re for emphasis to mean “very” or “really.”

Example:

• “Ese choripan esta re rico”: “That choripan is really good.”

Me estas cargando?

The literal translation of me estas cargando is “you’re charging me,” but it’s used to mean “you’re kidding” or “no freaking way”

Example:
“Hoy vi a Messi en el supermercado!”: “Today I saw Messi in the supermarket!”
“Me estas cargando!”: “No freaking way!”

Morfar

Morfar means to eat and you can conjugate it just as you would any other Spanish verb. Similarly, morfi means food.

Example:

• “Tengo hambre, vamos a morfar algo”: “I’m hungry, let’s eat something!”
• “El morfi estaba rico”: “The food was good”

Piola

Piola is used to describe something cool.

Example:

• “Está piola esta pelicula”: “This movie is so cool!”

Pedo

Pedo literally means “fart” but it’s used in a variety of slang phrases, such as…

Estar en Pedo

Literally meaning “in a fart”, estar en pedo means getting drunk or wasted.

Al Pedo

This one translates to “to the fart”, but means pointless. Similarly, estar al pedo means that you’re being lazy or don’t have anything to do.

De Pedo

Literally means “from the fart”, but means “by chance.”

Ni en pedo

Literally means “not even drunk”, but means “no way!”

A Los Pedos

Literally means “to the farts”, but means “very fast.”

Tipo

Tipo is to Argentinians what “like” is to Americans. It’s a very commonly used filler word, however it also means “a guy.”

Examples:

• “Nos juntamos tipo tres?”: “We’ll meet at like three?”
• “Viste a ese tipo?”: “Did you see that guy?”

O sea (o se-ah)

This filler word is the Argentine version of “um.” It doesn’t really mean anything, it’s just used as a filler.

Mala leche

The literal translation of mala leche is bad milk, but it means something like “bad luck” or “bad vibes,” depending on the context.

If you say que mala leche it means oh what a shame or you didn’t have luck. Alternatively, a person who is mala leche is a person who has a bad character, bad vibes, or is generally just a party pooper.

Medio pelo

This translates to “half a hair”, but it refers to something that wasn’t so good.

If you ate something and didn’t really like it, you can say: “Estuvo medio pelo” (but that won’t happen to you in Buenos Aires).

There is so much to Argentine slang and Castellano

If you want to truly master Castellano and Argentinian slang, the best way is to learn from an Argentinian tutor. italki is an incredible online platform where you can find native online tutors from around the world. With one-on-one lessons, you’ll be able to get the attention and comfort you need to practice and master Castellano. They have virtually every language available and many teachers offer trial lessons for as low as 1$!

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In conclusion…

Argentina has a very beautiful spoken language and slang that portrays the intricacies of their culture. I hope you learned some useful Argentine slang words in this post that you could use on your next trip to Argentina.

If you like this post, let me know in the comments section and I’ll write a part 2 dedicated to Argentinian idioms because there are a ton of those as well.

Hasta la proxima (until next time),
Take a shans!

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Bonus Section: Bad Words

I added this section just because I simply cannot leave it out. As I mentioned before, cursing is a big part of Argentinian slang culture. In fact, it’s such an integral part of it that there are multiple ways to say curse in Argentine slang: insulto, puteada, and mala palabra.

So here are a few of the common bad phrases you’ll hear while in Buenos Aires.

La Concha de tu Madre

Son of a b*tch.

Chupame un huevo

The literal translation of this phrase is lick my b*ll, but it means f*** off.

La puta que te pario

Literally means “the whore that birthed you,” but it’s another way of saying son of a b*tch.

Pelotudo

Pelotudo means something like idiot or assh*le. It’s the ruder version of “boludo” that I mentioned above.

Forro

Literally means condom, but if it’s aimed at a person, it’s an insult, like saying assh*le.