#argentina slang

Che= It would be similar to hey I guess? But not really. Everyone knows that we use che when we talk all the time, when we start conversation, when we are going to ask for something, however we don’t use che when we approach complete strangers nor superiors of any kind (professor, bosses, etc) because it seems kind of disrespectful to address them with a friendly slang.

“¿Che me pasas el ketchup, por favor?” = “Hey, can you pass me the ketchup, please?”

Boludo/a/os/as: It doesn’t have a proper translation but is the softest insult we have, is so soft that we throw it around in a friendly mannerism for the most part, however obviously depending on the tone we say it, it can be used as a not so nice insult, and you wouldn’t be calling a complete stranger boludo while talking to them because sure, is the softest that we have but it is still an insult, unless you actually do want to insult them, of course.

“Boluda, compre un vestido re lindo para el casamiento” = “Boluda, I bought such a cute dress for the wedding”

Ahre or Ah re: I’ve said before what re means, however, ahre or ah re (it can be written in both ways) means a completely different thing. Is an expression that we use at the end of our sentences to let people know that we said something jokingly or to take some of the seriousness off of a sentence. And sometimes can be used as a reply when someone says something dumb, as to let them know that’s a dumbass behavior.

“El otro día estaba pensando en volver con mi ex” “Ah re, ¿Qué decís?”

“The other day I was thinking about going back to my ex” “Ah re, what are you saying?”

Da= is the shortened version of dale (c’mon). We mostly use it when we want someone to hurry up or when we are trying to convince someone.

“Da apúrate que en cinco viene el uber”

“C’mon hurry up that the uber will be here in five”

Pibe/a/es/as: is literally boy(s) or girl(s). Anyone who is twenty-something or less can be called by these terms.

Wacho/wacha/os/as: this is also a way to say boy(s) or girl(s). Is even more slangy(???) you won’t see a lot of posh people using this one. And it can be used when people fight, instead of “what’s your problem man? You wanna fight?” you would hear

“¿Tenes algún problema wacho? ¿Te queres parar de manos?” 

“do you have a problem man? Do you want to stand on you hands?”

Pararse de manos: literally translated is stand on hands. It means fighting, if you see two people fighting on the streets chances are you’re going to hear one of them asking the other to stand on their hands, it’s kind of similar to square up.

“Dale wacho parate de manos ¿o no te animas?”

“C’mon man square up, or you don’t dare?”

So, if someone tells you to stand on your hands and they look ready to fight, walk the fuck away.

Wachin/na/es/as: wachin or wachines can be used to refer to a little kid (m) or a group of little kids or a group of people way younger than you (m and f), but also it can be used in a way to put you down in a kind of insulting manner, because it’s not a straight up insult but they are not flattering you if they call you a wachin or wachina, it’s a way to say that someone acts childlike, or doesn’t know how to act their age. Wachina falls more on the category of the second meaning so you don’t want to adress little girls by this one unless you want their mother to punch you.

“No boluda, Marcos es un wachin tiene veintidós y actúa como un wachin de dieciséis”

“No boluda, Marcos acts childlike he is twenty-two and acts like a sixteen-year-old kid”

“No vayamos a esa fiesta va a estar llena de wachines, vayamos a algún bar”

“Let’s not go to that party is going to be full of kids, let’s go to some bar”

As the title says I’ll give you the basics of Argentina slang.

Agarrar= Grab/Get. The actual meaning is grab like “Agarra eso por mi, por favor”“Grab that for me, please”, but in Argentina, we also use it to refer to “getting” things that you can’t physically touch for example;

“Meagarre un resfrió hace un mes” = “I got a cold a month ago”

“Vi la película que me dijiste y me agarrouna tristeza cuando la termine” = “I watched the movie that you told me, and Igot a sadness when I finished it.”

Re= So or Such a/an. We use this so much in our daily basis, mostly to emphasize what we are saying. 

“La frutilla esta recara” = “strawberry is soexpensive”

“No le prestes atención, es re idiota” = “Don’t mind him, he’s such anidiot”

En/Un pedo= Being drunk. 

“Esta re en pedo, no sabe lo que dice” = “He is so drunk, he doesn’t know what he is saying”

Un pedo in Argentina can mean two things a fart or being drunk so watch out, it’s not the same “Alguien se tiro un pedo” = “Someone farted” than “Me agarre un pedo anoche” = “Last night I got a drunkenness”

Boliche= Nightclub. In some Latin American countries, Boliche refers to Bowling places, in Argentina it refers to nightclubs.

Cheto/a= Posh. We use this word to refer to posh people or posh places.

“Ese boliche es recheto” = “That nightclub is so posh”

“Todas las amigas sonchetas” = “All her friends are posh”

In recent years the youth has taken cheto and started to use it to say they are cool or ok with something, for example:

“Ya tengo las entradas del cine” “Cheto” = “I already have the tickets for the cinema” “Cool/Ok”

Socheto can be used in both ways, mainly the first example, if you are trying to let an older person know you are ok with something, and tell them cheto, instead of ok, chances are they are going to look at you weirdly.

Mal ahi= Bad there. It literally makes no sense in English, but we use this expression in Argentina when someone is telling us something bad that happened to them and to let them know we agree that what happened was bad.

“Se me rompió el auto y hasta el lunes no me lo dan” “No, mal ahi amigo”

“My car broke down and I won’t have it back till Monday” “No, bad theredude”