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Spanish slang and idiom vocabulary: 448 words

Sound like a local — common colloquial words and idioms with their natural equivalents in each language (English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese). This page lists 40 of them with their Spanish translations, then lets you practise the full set in either direction with spaced repetition.

English to Spanish: the first 40 words

EnglishSpanishNotes
coolguay
awesomegenial
guy, dudetíoInformal for a person; friendly, not insulting in casual speech.
to hang outpasar el rato
to chill, relaxrelajarse
No way!¡Ni hablar!
Awesome, right?¿A que mola?
It's a piece of cakees pan comidoIdiom: very easy to do, not about actual cake.
It's raining cats and dogsestá lloviendo a cántarosIdiom: heavy rain, not animals falling.
to cost an arm and a legcostar un ojo de la caraIdiom: extremely expensive, not literal body parts.
to pull someone's legtomar el peloIdiom: to tease or joke with someone, not physical.
to be brokeestar sin blancaHaving no money, not damaged or injured.
Speak of the devilhablando del rey de RomaIdiom: person arrives just as you mention them.
not my cup of teano es lo míoIdiom: not something you like or enjoy.
to hit the nail on the headdar en el clavoIdiom: to say or do exactly the right thing.
Good luck!¡mucha suerte!Said before a performance or challenge.
little by littlepoco a poco
more or lessmás o menos
What a mess!¡Qué lío!
Are you kidding?¿En serio?
no worriestranqui
awesome timeuna pasada
to be fed upestar hartoVery annoyed or tired of something; impatient.
on the doten puntoExactly on time.
big deal, a lotun montón
to mess upmeter la pata
step by steppaso a paso
It's worth itvale la pena
so-soasí así
to keep an eye onechar un ojoIdiom: to watch or monitor, not literal eye.
Get it?, Understood?¿Vale?
Okay, alrightvale
to be worth nothingno valer nada
hurry up!¡date prisa!
to be in a hurrytener prisa
for real, seriouslyen serio
That's lifeasí es la vida
Better late than nevermás vale tarde que nunca
little by little the bird builds its nestpoco a poco se llega lejosProverb: steady progress achieves goals over time.
to be on cloud nineestar en las nubesIdiom: extremely happy, not literally in sky.

408 more words in the full “Slang & Idioms” library, each aligned across seven languages and scheduled for you by spaced repetition. Add it to your account and start drilling English to Spanish in one click.

What to watch out for in Spanish

  • Accents count. Answers are graded accent-sensitively, so you need á é í ó ú ü ñ ¿ ¡ — LinguaSwap shows a one-tap keypad for them while you type.
  • 339 words carry a usage note in the full library, for the cases where a direct translation would mislead you.

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