Want to learn 10 of the most popular Argentinian slang words you’ll hear EVERY DAY in Argentina?
Want to fit in with the cool kids in Buenos Aires, or at least know when they’re insulting you?
Today you’ll get all of that AND more! This article will contain:
- Why Argentinians have their own slang and why it’s important
- The most common Argentinian slang words (lunfardo) and how to use them
- Voice recordings of Argentine slang used in common day speech – Each example phrase is voiced by a voice actor from our amazing Gritty Spanish learning audio stories!
¡Empezamos ya boludo!
(Let’s get started, bro!)
Why do Argentines Talk Differently and what is Lunfardo?
If you’ve ever hung out with Latinos, then you’ve heard that Argentinians have a “reputation” for being a bit in love with themselves and thinking that they are the Europeans of South America (if you don’t believe me, check out this hilarious Flama video of an Argentinian Intervention below:)
📢 After reaching the post's conclusion, ensure you take our engaging multiple-choice quiz to gauge your understanding of the material. 📢
“Oh yeah… As if the Argentinians didn’t believe they were Europeans!”
Actually, it’s because they are.
Advanced agricultural industry brought millions of Italian immigrants to Argentina, who inevitably influenced the culture and language. Lunfardo, an Argentinian dialect, was created as the by-product of Italian and Spanish mixing amongst the working labor class. Today, it’s the cool kids slang.
That being said, Argentinians take their slang VERY SERIOUSLY and are quite protective of their own. The swag is real, so it’s important to respect their dialect and its nuances.
📢 After reaching the post's conclusion, ensure you take our engaging multiple-choice quiz to gauge your understanding of the material. 📢
Let’s dive right into the Argentinian LUNFARDO slang and have a look at some everyday convos!
10 Really Popular Words You’ll Hear Every Day in Argentina.
💡Be sure to take the multiple choice quiz about this topic at the end of the article!
1. Che, boludo!
Che, boludo is the quintessential Argentinian phrase. Anyone who knows anything about Argentina knows this.
Che is basically a synonym of Argentina. It’s where revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara gets his name because he was always addressed with che. Some people believe it originates from the Italian “che” or “que” in Spanish.
It can be loosely translated as “Hey”, a sort of segue into a conversation. For example:
- “Che, querés salir a comer?”
(Hey, you wanna go get something to eat?)
- “Che, te quería hablar…”
(Hey, I wanted to talk to you…)
Boludo is someone who does or says stupid things, or is irresponsible. It can mean anything from “dude” to “idiot”. See examples below along with voice recording by our Gritty Spanish voice actor:
- “Che boludo, ¿qué hacés?”
(Hey dude, what are you doing?)
- “Che, ¡no te hagás el boludo!”
(Yo, don’t be an idiot!)
Because Che, Boludo is so common, many Argentinians are not impressed when you greet them with this phrase because they’ve heard it a million times.
“He thinks he’s Argentinian and he only knows the word boludo”!
So, let’s keep beefing up your Argento vocabulary!
You’ll hear Che, and Boludo being used in some of the audio episodes in Gritty Spanish.
Below, from the very sad episode from Gritty Spanish original called, “Rough night in the Bronx“, you’ll listen to a Puerto Rican and a guy from Argentina have a conversation about a murder in the neighborhood.
The very first word the Argentinian guy uses is, “Che“, to start the convo…
And continues….
“¿Qué onda Antonio? Es una locura esta noche, amigo. ¿Escuchaste toda la conmoción?…..”
“What’s up Antonio? It’s crazy tonight, man. You heard all the commotion?….”
So you see, it can also mean, “man” in this content as well as “Hey” or “Yo” as we like to say in NYC.
Check out a short clip below of the very beginning of this episode to hear a piece of that authentic Argentine accent…
2. ¿Cómo andás?
¿Cómo andás? is the Argentine way of saying, what’s up? or ¿qué tal?
- “Che boludo, ¿cómo andás? ¡Che hace tiempo que no te veo!”
(Hey bro, what’s up? It’s been a while!)
Notice that the verb andar is conjugated in vos, which is used in place of tú (andas) and usted (anda). For more on El Voseo & How it Works, check out this video!
3. Chabón/chabona
Chabón/chabona is how you say tipo/tipa, guy, girl or chick. The origin is pretty insane and represents the quirkiness of lunfardo.
It used to be the word chambon (clumsy or inept) until the 50’s or 60’s. Then, in their version of Pig Latin, Argentines turned chambon into “boncha” and proceeded to address people with this word. This was slightly insulting, like boludo, but as language adapted it started to mean dude/dudette. In the 80’s, it was re-inverted again, this time without the “m”, hence chabón.
- “Che boludo, ¿cómo andás? ¿Viste un chabón con la camiseta de argentina?”
(Hey dude, what’s up? Did you see a guy with an Argentinian jersey?)
4. Re copado
“Super awesome man… I’m coming on Friday!”
Re copado consists of two words that are super Argentine.Re means very or really, “muy”. Anything can be re in Argentina: re caro(expensive), re lindo(beautiful), re barato(cheap)…
Copado/a means cool or awesome. You can slide in a “qué copado” in any instance to sound more local.
- “Che boludo, ¡esa chabona es re copada!”
(Hey bro, that girl is super cool!)
Wacho or “guacho” pretty much means hispanic hoodrat, or more literally orphan. It comes from Quechua “wakcha” meaning poor or orphan.
Additionally, if something is very funny someone might throw out a “¡qué guacho!” or if something is very bad (theft, etc.) you may also hear a “no, ¡qué guacho!”
This is not a nice word: I do not recommend using it, but you can recognize if someone is calling you a wacho or to “watch out for that wacho!”
5. Boliche
Boliche is lunfardo for night club or discoteca.
- “Che, anoche salimos del boliche a las 7 de la mañana ¡Pintó cualquiera!”
(Yo, last night we left the club at 7am. It was crazy!)
¡OJO! In other countries, boliche means bowling alley.
💡Be sure to take the multiple choice quiz about this topic at the end of the article!
6. Mango
The word mango bears an uncanny resemblance to the fruit mango. That’s because it is- but it also means money (or their currency, which is Argentinian pesos).
The origin traces back to prison slang of Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires who used the word as a synonym for currency. The story goes that it is a contraction for the word “marengo”, which was a battle fought by Napoleon in Piedmont, Italy (La Batalla de Marengo). It was an easy victory or gain (“triunfo”) and served as code by thieves who would rob to make their mango.
- “¡No puedo salir al boliche! ¡No tengo un mango!”
(I can’t go out to the club! I don’t have money!)
La guita also means money or bucks.
7. Quilombo
Quilombo is a mess or disaster.
- “¡Qué quilombo los políticos de este país, boludo! ¡No saben hacer nada!”
(What a hot mess the politicians of this country, man! They don’t know how to do anything!)
Quilombo is actually a Portuguese word adapted from the African language Kimbundu and represented communities of runaway slaves in Brazil, reflecting the disorderly living conditions. However, funny enough, quilombo is not used in this context in Brazil.
8.Posta
La posta is the truth! It can also mean the real deal, or to tell someone what’s up!
- “Boludo, ¡dejá de joder! ¡Decíme la posta ya!”
(Bro, stop messing around! Tell me the truth!)
- Che Boludo, ¡Te Digo La Posta!
(Hey bro, I’m say what’s up to you!
)
Note again that the verb dejar and decir are both conjugated in the voseo. This is very important if you want to sound Argentinian.
9. Mirá vos
Mirá vos is an expression to say “Whadya know!” or “Would you look at that” or “How about that!”
A lot of times it is used sarcastically (as seen in meme above) when someone is showing off, but it can also be used seriously to mean “Wow, I didn’t know that!”
Here is an example of each with one sarcastic tone and the other genuine:
- Sarcastic: “¿Ah sí, mirá vos? ¿Te aplaudo o que?”
(Would you look at that! Should I applaud you or what?)
- Genuine: “Mirá vos, ¡no sabía! ¡Qué interesante!”
(How about that, I didn’t know! How interesting!)
10. Cheto/rocha
Cheto/a and rocho/a is the way of saying bougie (high class, rich) and the opposite (poor, ratchet).
These words are used all throughout pop culture and music argenta (check out this song by popular Kumbia group Nene Malo). The Youtube views on that video is absolutely insane!
WARNING: Cheto is a socially acceptable word, but rocho is still not very PC. I would advise against using rocho unless necessary.
- “Che, esa chabona es re cheta”
(Hey, that girl is super bougie)
- ¡Esa música es rocha mal!”
(That music is so trashy!)
Now that we are all up to speed on our everyday lunfardo, we can recap:
- Argentinians have their own special reputation and slang because of their unique history and colonization
- There is a TON of Italian influence on the language and its sounds, unlike other Latino countries exposed to more indigenous and African languages
- You can understand every day slang like “Che boludo”, “¿Cómo andas chabón?” “Re copado el boliche, ¡la posta!” “Que quilombo, ¡no tengo un mango!” or the classic “Mira vos, ¡sos re cheto!”
Take our Argentinian Slang Quiz Below!
We know you enjoyed this article and learned a lot! Why not take the quiz on what you’ve just learned about Argentinian Slang? Go for it!
Also check out our amazing Spanish slang madness post in this article!
