Texting in Spanish: How to LOL in Spanish and Master "Chatñol" (2024)

Ah, text slang, the epitome of communication in the digital word. What started as a necessity due to a lack of characters is now an unavoidable part of our lives whenever we use our phones or interact on social media. Of course, the digital world in en español has its own codes and expressions. In fact, some even refer to the Spanish text slang dialect as “chatñol”. Pretty clever, right?

Knowing the elements that make up the Spanish text lingo will get you familiar with this common subset of familiar communication that you’ll encounter on a regular basis. But don’t worry, in this post we’ll teach you everything you need to know to decipher “chatñol” and become a Spanish text slang connoisseur. We’ll start off with the basic rules for texting in Spanish, and we’ll finish up with the ultimate list of Spanish texting expressions. Let’s get started!

Skip the Accents and Punctuation Marks

This is probably the easiest rule of Spanish texting. We know that in Spanish there are some extra punctuation marks, such as the opening question mark “¿”, the opening exclamation mark “¡”, and the accents which are normally integral parts of correct spelling. However, Spanish text slang is more flexible and informal, so you can kiss them goodbye when you’re texting.

Symbols Are Part of the Mix

Symbols are a fundamental part of Spanish text slang. Most of them are mathematical symbols that represent the pronunciation of the word, but you can also find symbols like “@”, which is used to include both genders in the same word.

Let’s look at some examples:

• + o –: Más o menos – More or less, So-so
• Me da =: Me da igual – I don’t care, It’s all the same to me
• Xfa : Porfa, Por favor – Please
• Amig@s : Amigos/as – Friends (without referring to any specific gender)

Replace as Many Letters as You Can

Of course, being quick is a must when it comes toSpanish texting, hence the habit of reducing the number of characters per message as much as possible. We do this in Spanish text messages by replacing some consonant clusters in the syllables with a single consonant that makes the same sound or a similar one.

Let’s look at some examples:

• Awa: Agua – Water
• Antiwo: Antiguo – Old, Ancient
• Weno: Bueno – Good
• Ke +, Q +: ¿Qué más? – What’s up?
• Kien: Quién – Who
• Xao: Chao, Adiós – Bye
• Xico: Chico – Boy

Let Sounds Do All the Work

As we saw in the last section, sounds are very important for abbreviating when we send text messages in Spanish. Besides swapping consonants, you can also rely on the sound that a given letter makes on its own. This happens a lot in English, with expressions like “C U” or “Gr8”. In these expressions, the sound that the character makes on its own is what replaces the syllable and gives meaning to the phrase.

These are the most common characters used to replace sounds:

Let’s look at some examples:

• T amo: Te amo – I love you
• No c: No sé – I don’t know
• Ksa: Casa – House
• Ddo: Dedo – Finger
• Pro: Pero – But
• BB: Bebé – Baby
• 100pre: Siempre – Always
• Salu2: Saludos – Regards
• S3: Estrés – Stress
• CQ: Secu, Secundaria – High School
• Gfe : Jefe – Boss

Chop Some Letters Off

We’ve said it a lot: the shorter the better. And in its quest to fulfill this mission, text slang in Spanish not only replaces letters, it also makes them disappear. Whether it’s making words shorter by dropping vowels or whole syllables, this practice is essential to understanding Spanish text message slang.

Let’s look at some examples:

• Pa: Para – For
• Toy, Stoy: Estoy – I am
• Tas, Stas: Estás – You are
• Ta, Sta: Está – He/She/It is
• D vdd : De verdad – Really

Simplify Things with Initials

In English there are many phrases made up with initials that make our lives easier. Things like “OMG!”, “YOLO” or “LOL” are found in every corner of the digital world. Naturally, the same is true with Spanish text slang, so there’s a wide variety of phrases to know and use if you want to really fit in with the locals. Here are some of the most popular ones:

Of course there are many more, but don’t worry. Check out the complete list of Spanish text message abbreviations at the end so you can decipher any message written in Spanish text slang.

LOL Like a Local: Jajaja!

We’ve already seen the basics of text slang in Spanish, but at this point you’re still probably wondering how to express laughter or amusem*nt in Spanish text messages. In other words, how do we LOL in Spanish?

Well, in the digital world you will encounter many Spanish speakers using LOL, but the most popular way to express laughter is jajaja. Remember that in Spanish the “j” is pronounced like the English “h”, so it would be the equivalent of “hahaha”, but with its own twists.

1. The more jas you put in, the louder the laughter: jajajajajaja.

2. If the JAs are capitalized, the laughter is even louder: JAJAJAJAJA.

3. If the jas are mixed with other random letters, it means that you are laughing so uncontrollably that you can’t type straight: jahskajajak.

4. A vowel change can alter the nuance of your laughter. If you use jejejeyour laugh is more sarcastic whereas with jijijiyour laugh expresses mischief and playfulness.

The Complete List of Spanish Text Expressions

Let’s begin by clarifying that it’s not necessary to learn all the Spanish texting terms and abbreviations that you might encounter. Besides, this is one of those things that you learn as you go along. Our list of Spanish texting expressions will help you become familiar with the most common terms, and you can come back to it whenever you need to write a message or decipher one using Spanish text slang.

Conclusion

That’s it, we’ve covered everything you need to know to master Spanish text slang and text like a local. Let’s do a little review to make sure we understood the basics of text slang in Spanish.

The shorter and simpler, the better. That is the key principle of text slang, and in Spanish there are five major ways to achieve this goal. First, we say goodbye to punctuation marks such as accents and opening question and exclamation marks. Then, we saw that symbols are a common element of Spanish text slang. Generally, we use math symbols such as + or -, but you can also find symbols like “@”, which we use to avoid referring to a specific gender and just include everyone.

We can also swap consonant clusters for a single consonant or replace an entire syllable with a character that has the same sound or similar one. On the other hand, text slang in Spanish can also go from replacing to simply dropping vowels or whole syllables, or using initials to shorten words.

Finally, we learned how to LOL in Spanish: jajaja! We ended with our comprehensive list of Spanish text message abbreviations to make you sound like a true native speaker.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this post and that it helped you out with deciphering Spanish text slang. Feel free to share or bookmark this page in case you want to check back to the list of abbreviations whenever you need. See you in the next post. Xau, amig@s! – Bye, friends!

Exercises

How about practicing a little and trying to decipher some text slang messages in Spanish? You can refer to the list if you need to. Let’s see how you do!

1. Hla cm sts?

2. No c dnd stoy

3. Tqm, xica

4. T vo + tard. Salu2

5. Xdon x llegar tard

6. Vns? Rspnd xfa

7. Ymam mñn. Nph tng mxo tbj

8. K tl, amig@s? Los spro en mi ksa

9. Ntp. Dim qndo nos vmos

10. Feliz qmple. Gpi

Answers

1. Hla cm sts?: Hola, ¿cómo estás? – Hello, how are you?

2. No c dnd stoy: No sé dónde estoy. – I don’t know where I am.

3. Tqm, xica: Te quiero mucho, chica. – I love you a lot, girl.

4. T vo + tard. Salu2: Te veo más tarde. Saludos. – See you later. Greetings.

5. Xdon x llegar tard: Perdón por llegar tarde. – Sorry I’m late.

6. Vns? Rspnd xfa: ¿Vienes? Responde, por favor. – Are you coming? Answer me, please.

7. Ymam mñn. Nph tng mxo tbj: Llámame mañana. No puedo hablar, tengo mucho trabajo. – Call me tomorrow. I can’t talk, I have a lot of work.

8. K tl, amig@s? Los spro en mi ksa: ¿Qué tal, amigos? Los espero en mi casa. – How’s it going, friends? I’ll be waiting for you at my house.

9. Ntp. Dim qndo nos vmos: No te preocupes. Dime cuándo nos vemos. – Don’t worry. Tell me when can we meet.

10. Feliz qmple. Gpi: Feliz cumpleaños. Gracias por invitar. – Happy birthday. Thanks for the invite.