"Cool" in Spanish

Question

How do you say "cool" in Spanish? I'm mostly interested in Spain, Mexico and Columbia, so I would like to know how it is said in those countries.

How exactly are these words used? In English, we cool to describe a lot of things. "He's a cool guy" "Those are cool shoes."

Sometimes we use it as a generic phrase meaning "that's good." For example: "I don't have any homework today." "Oh, cool."

Gracias para la ayuda

"Colombia". - 002067fe, Apr 7, 2011

Answer 1

You could also use "padre" = "cool" for all these;

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• "Es un padre tipo. (He's a cool guy)
• "Esos son los zapatos padre." (Those are cool shoes.)
• "Hoy no tengo ninguna tarea. Que padre." (I don't have any homework today. Oh, cool.)

Answer 2

In Spain

That's really cool - Qué guay o qué mola

Thanks, but do they use it in the very broad way that Americans do? - greenpeppers311, Oct 29, 2009

You may have to ask Heidi. - Eddy, Oct 29, 2009

Answer 3

Chévere here in Venezuela.

Answer 4

en el norte de México nosotros usamos ''Que Padre"'

Answer 5

In Mexico I hear:

Que Padre

Que Chido

Genial

http://spanish.about.com/od/translationsfromenglish/a/cool.htm

Answer 6

He oido decir, "nitido," usado en este contexto.

Answer 7

En España, guay, mola o alucinante.

Answer 8

In Colombia, they say chévere. Mexico, they say orale.

Does chévere also mean "great" - ian-hill, Oct 29, 2009

'orale is more like the English expression "right on" and is not an adjetive... - AngelinaG, Dec 27, 2010

And 'orale' is written with tilde = órale :) - cristalino, Apr 7, 2011

Answer 9

Chido is used frequently in Mexico; watch out for 'guay' because in Mexico it is VERY different from the use in Spain...in Mexico it is a term that is slightly vulgar used in a similar fashion as 'dude' and specifically is calling someone an ox

Answer 10

In Spain, we would say: guay.

Answer 11

As well as chévere, in Colombia they also say vacano (sometimes written bacano).

You can also describe something as 'una chimba'.

I say chévere a lot, I'm told that it's not much used now by the younger generation, vacano is more used.

Interestingly, the supermarket chain Carrefour has as a slogan on the sides of its shops:

I can't imagine Walmart - cool appearing anywhere any time soon...

Other expressions that need to be used with caution are del putas and la verga. Some may take offence to these expressions, verga being vulgar slang for penis and puta being a derisive term for prostitute. That aside, amongst young(ish) lads, including my 30 yr old Colombian business partners, you'd hear:

Ese man es la verga, o, ese man es del putas.

I'm told that although buena onda is Mexican slang, it is used here as well...

Answer 12

I think one that is pretty common is:

In Chile, according to this thread they sometimes use: