Balbuena Wines – Wine tasting in Montevideo
Great little wine store is a mandatory stop for Uruguay wine tasting in Montevideo with a selection of 130+ Uruguayan wines.
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…you hear these seven expressions like ALL THE TIME.
People from Montevideo and Buenos Aires have a similar accent when they speak Spanish*. As an English-speaker you can be forgiven for thinking that they sound exactly the same.
But some words and expressions are a dead give-away that the person you are speaking to is a Uruguayan.
Seven expressions to listen out for and know – you’re in Uruguay now.
Used in the same myriad ways an English-speaker uses “OK”. It is a shortened form of the word “está” meaning “it is”. Uruguayans pepper it throughout their speech.
Roughly translates as man or mate and is used similarly. It is the shortened form of “botija” which is a slang word for kid or kiddo. Uruguayans also use “che”, but Argentinians never use “bo”. Here you may hear the double-barrelled “che, bo!”, like hey, man!
Roughly translates as “it’s cool” or “don’t stress”. Typically used with bo and che! As in “Che, bo, todo bien!” It’s an ultra-flexible phrase Uruguayans use to shrug off an annoying or depressing situation like water rolling off a duck’s back. Its ubiquity illustrates their unruffled demeanour.
Plays a similar role to “todo bien” and the two are often used consecutively. Someone did something to piss you off but you are going to let it go? Uruguayans say: Todo bien bo, vamo’ arriba. Can also be used to give someone encouragement.
I was in Buenos Aires recently and declared “¡Divino día!” or “Lovely day!” The Uruguayan with me gasped, you can tell you’ve been living in Montevideo for years, no one in Buenos Aires would ever use that expression!
A multi-use slang word meaning difficult, amazing, enormous, depending on the context. It’s literal meaning is salty.
This one just cracks me up. Basically these exclamations are used to express disbelief or astonishment. Kind of like No way! A variation is ¡PAAA!
* They pronounce the double “ll” and “y” like zzhh, so “uruguayo” (Uruguayan) is pronounced oo-roo-GW-EYE-zzhoh, not oo-roo-GW-EYE-yo as it would be in most of Latin America. (Btw, to the rest of Latin America, this accent sounds super sexy – perhaps a reason to learn Spanish in Uruguay?? 🙂 )
Extracted from: The Guru’Guay Guide to Montevideo
Photo: Jimmy Baikovicius
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Balbuena Wines – Wine tasting in Montevideo
Great little wine store is a mandatory stop for Uruguay wine tasting in Montevideo with a selection of 130+ Uruguayan wines.
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14 Responses
One uruguayismo that took me by surprise when I lived there for about 1.5 years was “No” in response to “Gracias” instead of “No hay de que” or similar “textbook” responses. The friendliness of the speaker completely belied the apparent brusqueness of the response.
Another Uruguayan expression for your list. When you ask someone for directions and they don´t know: “Pah, me mataste”, (you killed me!) meaning: I have no idea.
Love this! Great observation.
Excelente compilación de nuestro idioma!.. lmao…😂
Variacion de FAA puede ser FUAAA? He escuchado eso tambien. Saludos.
¡Sí! 🙂
Te olvidaste del: che vos! …y otra
que empieza p….y no es “pelota” de
fufbol.
♥️🇪🇸
Muchas gracias por tu comentarios a nuestros dichos y dialectos . Juro sacaste una carcajada con tu explicación …besos apretados de una Uruguaya y que tengas un bonito día .
jajaja! Gracias, Cristina!! besos, Karen
You make me smile explaining these uruguayeses in english… and explanations are spot on!
Thanks, Alvaro! We love it extra special when Uruguayans love what we do 😉 — best, Karen
Hi Karen! Nice and interesting web site, watch out that Uruguayan flag is the other way round than the one shown in the picture..
cheers
Hi, Karen. I was in Montevideo last year and picked up some of the uniquely Uruguayan terms from your book. I was at the bus station in Concordia, Argentina, when the woman sitting next to me asked if I minded her smoking. I said “Ta” and she got quite excited thinking she’d met a fellow Uruguayan! The book was very helpful in other ways, too!
So cool to hear, Douglas!!!