SS: Spanish Curse Words, No.1 Tip To Fluency, A Mistake I've Made for 4 Years

You Must Do This to Reach Fluency, Learning Swear Words is More Important Than You Think, Avoid This Mistake I Made for Years...

SPANISH SUNDAYS

Hola a todos,

Before we begin this week’s edition I wanted to share something that will both improve your Spanish and make a positive impact on someone who needs it:

https://adoptaunabuelo.org/una-carta-para-un-abuelo/

This website is to help elderly Spaniards who are spending Christmas alone. Using this website, you can write a card in Spanish to help them feel a little less lonely during this period, it’s completely free. Let’s help make someone’s Christmas a little better :)

---

Around the Hispanic World

Spanish Swear Words - Spain Edition

DISCLAIMER: As the title suggests, this section is all about swear words from Spain, if this isn’t for you feel free to skip to the next section title Novato.

While it might sound unconventional, Spanish profanity is packed with cultural insights that help you build your vocabulary naturally. Plus, when listening to most Spaniards speak you’re going to hear them use a lot of these phrases, so I’d say it’s pretty important to learn them.

Remember this is the Spanish edition! Some of these words may have completely different meanings in Latin America. There are loads so I’m just going to touch on five common ones. Now let’s begin:

1. Gilipollas = Idiot

• Eres un gilipollas → You’re an idiot

I said this one for a few months in everyday conversations without knowing it was a swear word.

Bottom line: research words picked up in podcasts before using them.

Next, we have the weirdest swear word on this list…

2. Hostia = Communion wafer

If you’re unfamiliar with what this is, here’s a photo:

Very weird one I know… here are a few examples:

It can be used by itself when you’re amazed or shocked

• Hostia → Wow / Sh*t

¡Hostia! Mira lo que ha pasado → Wow! Look at what’s happened

Or when something/someone is really good

• La hostia → The sh*t (the best)

Soy la hostia → I’m the sh*t
Esa fiesta fue la hostia → That party was the sh*t

Or when you’re annoyed

• Mala hostia → To be pissed off

No me hables, estoy de mala hostia → Don’t talk to me, I’m pissed off

3. Mierda = Sh*t

• Una mierda → Bullsh*t

Esto es una mierda → This is bullsh*t

• De mierda → Sh*tty

Este coche de mierda → This sh*tty car

Coche = Car (Spain)

Carro/auto = Car (Latin America)

4. Joder = F*ck

Can be used in loads of situations, here’s a few examples:

• No jodas → No way

No jodas, Barca ganó contra Madrid → No way, Barca beat Madrid

• No me jodas → Are you kidding me?

No me jodas, ¿ella realmente te dijo eso? → Are you kidding me, she really told you that?

• Está jodido → It’s f*cked

La situación está jodida → The situation is f*cked

• Me jode → It pisses me off

A mi me jode cuando no responden a mis mensajes → It pisses me off when they don’t respond to my messages

5. Coño/a = F*ck

By itself it can be used for surprise or frustration like hostia and joder

Other examples are:

• Qué coño → What the f*ck

¿Qué coño pasó? → What the f*ck happened?

• ¿Estás de coña? → Are you kidding me?

¿Estás de coña? Ella te dejó tirado así? → Are you kidding me? She dumped you like that?

• Ni de coña → No way

Ni de coña marcaste un gol → No way you scored a goal

• Here are some more commonly used profanities:
  Puta, cojones, me la suda, me cago en,

---

Novato (beginner section)

This week let’s look at the phrase:

• me cuesta … = it’s hard for me …

This is an absolute must-know in Spanish, it’s one of the most commonly used phrases and is pretty much universal in the Spanish speaking world. Here are some examples:

• Me cuesta hacer ejercicio → It’s hard for me to exercise

Cuesta comes from the verb costar → to cost.

You may know costar from cuánto cuesta? → how much does it cost?

Let’s look at some more examples:

• Me cuesta levantarme por la mañana porque me encanta dormir → It’s hard for me to get up in the morning because I love sleeping

• Antes, me costaba viajar por avión → Before, it was hard (mentally) for me to travel by plane

---

---

Avanzado (advanced section)

This week I wanted to go over something that I got wrong consistently for four years. I even tried explaining it on one of my short-form videos and was bombarded with comments from Spanish speakers telling me how wrong I was.

So let’s make sure we get it right this time….

Sentir vs sentirse = To feel.

There’s a very subtle difference between these two verbs, obviously sentirse being reflexive but the best way to explain this difference is:

• Sentirse is how you feel

• Sentir is what you feel

You can also think of it like this:

Sentir + Noun

• Siento felicidad → I feel happiness

• Siento escalofríos → I feel shivers (good phrase)

• Siento el agua caliente → I feel the hot water

Also, when you say: ‘I feel that’, it’s always ‘siento que’, never ‘me siento que’

• Siento que esto no vale la pena → I feel that this isn’t worthwhile

Vale la pena = Worthwhile (good phrase, very commonly used)

Whereas with sentirse its:

Sentirse + Adjective

• Me siento feliz → I feel happy

• Me siento enfermo → I feel sick

Hope this clears it up!

---

Can you understand this?

Cómo llegar a la fluidez

Si quieres mejorar tu español, intenta incorporarlo en tu día a día. Por ejemplo, cuando viajas a tu trabajo escucha un podcast o antes de dormir habla por tres minutos en español resumiendo lo que hiciste ese día. Es así de simple porque en el largo plazo, esos pequeños hábitos se acumularán y harán que tu nivel de español esté muchísimo mejor. Desde mi punto de vista, los hábitos son la clave para llegar a la fluidez en español y mantenerla. Así que intenta encontrar maneras de usar el español más en tu vida cotidiana.

---

Translation

How to get to fluency

If you want to improve your Spanish, try to incorporating it into your daily life. For example, when you travel to work listen to a podcast or before going to sleep speak for three minutes in Spanish summarising what you did that day. It's that simple because in the long term, those small habits will accumulate and make your level of Spanish much better. From my point of view, habits are the key to achieving and maintaining fluency in Spanish. So try to find ways to use more Spanish in your everyday life.

---

If you enjoyed this week’s edition please leave a like!

Please consider sending a letter to someone who needs it this Christmas. It’s a fun way to test your Spanish!! Gracias :)