What's some essential "slang" to know?
Slang that is used often and would be helpful to know.
1 Answer
First of all, you should know that slang (jerga) is often very regional so you might want to clarify just what country - or even city - you are talking about. Also, there are thousands of examples. Whether they are essential or not is very much debatable. If you are a tourist or just doing survival Spanish, not really essential. Is your aim to be fluent in one region? Well sure, you'd like to know some slang. Do you want to speak like a member of a gang? Possibly not, so you don't really need to know your area's gang slang very well. Also, there is slang and then there are idioms that don't make logical sense. There is a difference but it is hard to draw a line between them. That being said, here are a just few examples:
Vale - Well...; OK; Great!
Padre, padrisimo - Cool, wicked cool
Sale vale - OK, okey dokey.
La pasta - Money (lit,, dough)
Meter una hostia - to hit hard, slam
Un tipo - a guy
De cojones - (Vulgar) darn good
Puto, -a - (Vulgar) crappy, lousy
Un chorizo - (Familiar) a jerk
Pringaos - (Familiar) wretches
No es para tanto - there is no need to exaggerate
Una meona - "little pisser"
Gaitas - drag, nuisance
Un sol - A dear
Most, but not all, of these examples are used in Spain. Are any essential? I don't know about that. Suerte!
