The word apparently originated in colonial times and referred to an indigenous servant of the Spanish gentry. In modern times, its use has become more widespread and its application broadened to include anyone deemed to show a lack of education in their use of language, taste in music, food, cars—or anything else.

It can be used as a noun or an adjective, although with members of the middle and upper-middle classes applying it liberally to each other, the adjectival form is now probably more frequent. Its use became so common, that the superlative naquísimo is employed to deal with more egregious lapses of etiquette.

Naco’s social opposite is the dainty fresa—originally applied to the spoiled (usually female) children of the monied classes, who wouldn’t wish to be seen dead on public transport, for example. That has also been extended, and now includes anyone who’s touchy about tastes, and possibly allergic to all known germs. Naco can apply to women in the feminine form naca, and fresa can be applied to males with no change in ending.

Neither naco, nor fresa, has a single equivalent in English. In some cases, “redneck,” or “hick” would apply to the former, and “yuppy” to the latter, but the application is too specific to capture all the Mexican possibilities.

The outburst “no seas naco/naca” (“don’t be naco/naca”) is often preceded or followed by the manifestly fresa and evidently meaningless interjection “o sea.”

Because of the class aspect, a person who happens to have a lot of money, but is still a bit of a philistine, doesn’t escape the epithet of naco, either; and distasteful shows of opulence can merely make one a naco con lana — naco with money.  This expression also says a fair amount about the sensitivities of the fresas and their misunderstanding about the virtues or source of their wealth.

You shouldn’t have to spend too long in Mexico before coming across these words, but if you’re impatient for practical examples, here are some things you can do to prompt someone into uttering them:

To hear “No seas naco”

• Wear the collar of your shirt outside the collar of your jacket;
• Burnout the clutch on an incline rather than use the handbrake;
• Play a lot of norteño music, and tap your foot or even sing along;
• Squeeze into a seat on a Metro train car or bus and start nodding off, leaning to one side or the other and forcing your neighbors to readjust their position every couple of minutes.

To hear “Ay, qué fresa”

• Tell people you have Shakira or Luis Miguel on your Spotify playlists;
• Loudly mention important people you know;
• Break out the hand gel every time you touch anything on the street;
• Fan your face in the elevator even if it’s not hot out.

Speaking Spanish gives you access to the local culture and enables you to engage with people in ways that are simply not possible through third party translation and will enhance every experience you encounter in Mexico.

Conversation is the key to language fluency

It’s the everyday interactions with other people that give us the most value and most pleasure from being able to communicate in another language.  Developing your ability to converse in Spanish requires a regular exercise of your vocabulary, and confidence.

The online course offered by our associate is helpful when

• you visit Mexico frequently and want to converse in Spanish for leisure, lifestyle, or for work;
• you’re already living in Mexico and want to improve your Spanish language conversation skills;
• you plan to move to Mexico and you’d like to arrive prepared to converse more confidently.

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When you want to get started speaking Spanish for the first time, a coach will help you to build a solid foundation and get you conversing in Spanish.  You will be speaking Spanish from day one of the course.  This is ideal for those who have never studied Spanish before or those who studied it many years ago but don’t remember much, or anything, from those studies.

False beginner

When you’re someone who’s had previous experiences with trying to learn Spanish but still can’t string a sentence together, this course can help you to retrieve the information you’ve stored over the years, unlock what you already know, and develop new vocabulary and skills while building confidence speaking Spanish in everyday situations.   It’s ideal when you understand more Spanish than you can speak or lack confidence when you need to express yourself in Spanish.

Intermediate learner

When you have a good basic grasp of Spanish, but you sense that you’ve reached a plateau you can’t overcome or need to develop confidence to speak Spanish with strangers or in public, this course can help you to make material advances in your current Spanish language capabilities.  Most language students get stuck in a loop and need some help at some point, and a coach will assess your current level with a view to structuring a course to help you reach your goals.  This is ideal when you’ve tried other courses that don’t seem to work, or sense that your vocabulary and sentence structure need to be sharper or more refined.

Intermediate-advanced learner

When you’re seeking to improve your Spanish language capabilities for specific purposes, for example, as part of a career development plan or due to some other specialized interest, your intermediate-advanced skills can benefit by having the course structured to your more advanced needs or professional goals.   For example, you might need to learn Spanish in the context of medical, scientific, business, educational, or technical disciplines.  This course is ideal for those who have a decent command of the Spanish language, but who want to sharpen their abilities and gain others’ trust when speaking in Spanish, especially in formal or business situations.

Someone who wants to learn Spanish for living in Mexico

If you’re living in Mexico, or plan to make a move here in the future, this online course can also help you to improve your Spanish language skills to face everyday lifestyle situations in Mexico.  Language lifestyle conversations are helpful when you are already living here and want to improve your language skills, or you visit Mexico frequently, or plan to move to Mexico in future—so that you can arrive prepared with language and vocabulary skills that will enable you to converse confidently in lifestyle situations you’ll encounter when you’re here.

Every course is tailored to your current skill level

Every course is tailor-made for each student.

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Some examples include:

• El veloz — “the speedy” one
• La Ventosa — “the windy” place
• Los desesperados — “the desperate” ones

Some English adjectives are also applied as nouns, such as in the rich, the poor, the good, etc., but these are usually general, whereas in Spanish almost any adjective can be used, and the application is specific.

This also lends itself to abuse, as sports commentators will tell you. Inevitably a 90-minute soccer match requires the narrator to refer dozens of times to the ball. There are three words in Spanish for ball:

• balón, used in soccer, basketball, and American football;
• pelota, which is used for tennis or golf balls; and
• bola, used to describe billiards or bowling balls.

Some, but not all, are interchangeable, and soccer commentators can use all three.

Not satisfied with three different words, they also take advantage of the adjective rule, and use “el esférico” (the spherical thing) or “la esférica“—the feminine is allowed because of “pelota.”

The trouble is, after a while it sounds silly even in Spanish. Although no one would question its shape —American football commentators use “el ovoide“— with the number of times “el esférico” is mentioned in a game, it rather defeats the purpose of finding a synonym.

Another word that doesn’t really have many synonyms is “agua” —water— and whenever the rain season starts late giving rise to a temporary drought, the alternative “vital líquido” comes back into vogue, “H2O” (AH-chay-dos-OH) being a bit pompous even for modern-day scribes.

Language opens your access to the culture

Language is a primary instrument that gives you access to a foreign culture, and being able to converse in Spanish —even at a basic conversational level— will make every experience you encounter in Mexico richer, and more meaningful to you.

Spanish is an important language that is widely spoken around the the world, and Mexican Spanish is polite, clear, and easy to understand.  The speed at which the language is spoken in Mexico is not as accelerated as it is Spain and some South American countries, and the pronunciation is softer, which makes the language easier to ‘pick-up’ and easier for beginners to learn.

PinPoint Spanish series shares valuable insights

PinPoint Spanish is an extensive series of articles which help you to study Mexican Spanish language usage and additionally, provide context and nuance of the language as it’s contemporarily spoken and applied in everyday situations across Mexico.

The series is an ideal study resource for beginners who want to get a wider perspective of the language beyond the basic mechanics and grammar, while intermediate and advanced students of the language will particularly enjoy the insights the articles share about the subtle nuances and everyday practical uses of Mexican Spanish.

Spanish language resources on Mexperience

Mexperience offers you knowledge and connections to help you learn and improve your Spanish language capabilities:

• Enjoy dozens of language insight articles through our PinPoint Spanish series
• Connect to our Learning Spanish section for more advice
• Find online Spanish courses to help you develop your conversation skills
• Discover language schools in Mexico where you can participate in a class in-person, or online

Purpose or end use vs motive or reason

The principal difficulty can be illustrated in the following phrases:

• Lo compré para ti – I bought it for you; and
• Lo hice por ti – I did it for you.

The difference is that:

• “para” denotes purpose or end use; while
• “por” expresses motive or reason for something.

Use and meanings of the word ‘por’

Por is also used to mean on behalf of, or because of.

• Hablo por mí – I speak for myself.
• Me apuro por temor a llegar tarde – I am hurrying for fear of arriving late.

Por also means by, through, or about.

• Tres por cuatro – Three by four.
• Caminar por la ciudad – To walk through or about the city.

Use and meanings of the word ‘para’

Para translates as “to” or “in order to” when followed by a verb in its infinitive form:

• Trabajo para ganar dinero – I work to earn money;

but translates to “so that” when followed by que and a verb in the subjunctive:

• Lo digo para que sepas – I say it so that you know.

Sometimes interchangeable

In some phrases, the two words can be interchangeable, such as

• Por siempre and para siempre – both mean forever.
• “Forever and ever” is often rendered por siempre y para siempre.

In use with the question ‘why?’

Both words can also be used with qué to mean “why?” although there is a subtle difference:

• ¿Para qué preguntas? —Why do you ask?— in the sense of: for what purpose do you ask?
• ¿Por qué preguntas? —Why do you ask?— in the sense of: for what reason do you ask?

Breakfast in Mexico

Breakfasts are famously hearty in Mexico, especially at weekend gatherings, whereas the weight and timing of other meals depend more on people’s schedules and eating habits.

Desayuno derives from the Spanish word ayunar —to fast— and thus describes the first meal of the day.

Traditionally, this will include coffee, pan dulce, and the choice of a hearty main course to get the day started: most popular are molletes, chilaquiles and the different Mexican styles of cooking eggs —huevos rancheros, a la mexicana, huevos divorciados— and at family weekend breakfast gatherings this might include a corn-dough huarache topped with beans and chicken or cecina (salted beef), and cream.

While these dishes are traditionally taken at breakfast time, there are no hard and fast rules on what dishes apply to what meals of the day.

Lunch or dinner

Comida is the main meal of the day; in English it translates to lunch or dinner, depending where you’re from.  Traditionally this meal is taken at around 2 p.m. and will include soup, a substantial main course, aguas frescas, a soda or beer, dessert and coffee.

Dinner or supper

Cena —dinner or supper— is taken later in the evening, anytime from 6 p.m. onward.  This tends to be a lighter meal before bedtime, although it may also be more substantial, especially if one’s comida was on the light side.

Other meals throughout the day

There are also meals between meals, or combination meals like brunch.

Almuerzo tends to refer to brunch, i.e. a late heavy breakfast —usually taken on leisurely weekends— that can be substantial enough to tide the diners over until the evening meal.  It can also refer to lunch in the U.S. sense: a light midday meal to be followed by a more complete cena (not comida which is always in the afternoon).

Merienda usually refers to a light afternoon meal between comida and cena. It could be coffee or milk with cookies, or buñuelos, which are sugar coated fritters, or any of Mexico’s selection of sweet bread, pan dulce.  The British would call this “afternoon tea.”  Americans probably just refer to it as an afternoon snack.  Merienda can also be instead of the cena, if the comida was more of a dinner than a lunch.

Corresponding verbs

Each of the meals has its corresponding verb: desayunar, almorzar, comer (which means “dine” and is also the generic “eat”), merendar, and cenar. The verbs are descriptive and don’t come across as pompous, as can be the case with English if you say you “breakfasted” at such and such a time, or “lunched” at one.

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“No hay nada” —literally, “there isn’t nothing”— is a multi-purpose expression which can mean the fridge is empty, no one showed up for the game, or nobody knows anything about this.  It can also mean “there’s nothing.”

Likewise, “no hay nadie” means there’s no one, and “no tenemos nada,” means we have nothing.

There are some people, however, usually among those more given to scientific than artistic pursuits, who will insist that this is all wrong, that a double negative is a positive and that the correct way to deny the existence of something or anything is “no hay algo.”

This isn’t only anathema to those sensitive to the aesthetic qualities of the language and appreciative of its simplicity (not its economy), but also confusing.  They can’t tell if the person arguing thus is merely trying to drum-up some controversy for conversation’s sake, or is really incapable of grasping the literary equivalent of two-plus-two.

There is a way to avoid the double negative without causing the poet to pack it all in and get a job, and that’s by inverting the object and the verb.  So the lie, “no temo nada,” —I fear nothing— can be “nada temo” keeping both sides happy, although I’m afraid it might get a bit monotonous.

See also: Hasta, or (Don’t) Read this Until You’re Ready

Pride

Of several words in Spanish that can be used to mean pride, orgullo is the most common and the most versatile, and it can have both positive and negative connotations. Orgulloso can apply to people who take pride in their work or in their children’s achievements, but also to describe those who are somewhat aloof.

Soberbia is synonymous with orgullo but usually denotes a greater degree of arrogance. Someone who is soberbio looks down haughtily on others and lets them know it both by actions and attitude. One catch: soberbio can also mean superb, for example in sports when referring to a great goal or some other skillful play. Un gol soberbio, or una jugada soberbia.

Another Spanish expression for pride is amor propio, literally self-love, which can be used when someone’s pride is hurt and they feel offended. It can also mean self-esteem (as can autoestima), vanity or conceit.

Lust

This one is fairly straightforward: lujuria. The adjectival form is lujurioso, and synonyms include libertino and lascivo. Spanish, like other languages, didn’t get the memo about gender equality, and expressions referring to the lustful have a habit of excusing as a peccadillo in men what is often roundly condemned in women. So mujeriego — philanderer or womanizer — has no direct feminine equivalent. Well, maybe promiscua. And even viejo rabo verde — old lecher — sounds somehow less offensive in Spanish. (Note plural: los viejos rabo verde.)

Gluttony

Gula in Spanish. Glutton, someone who eats or drinks excessively, is glotón. The word tragón, from tragar which means to swallow, is far more usual in Mexico, although it is often used in a playful way, such as when a friend decides to go for just one more taco de carnitas.  Someone may also say they ate an extra dessert “por gula,” —out of gluttony— perhaps just to try another flavor.  “Por antojo” —out of whim or fancy— is a nicer way of putting it.

Anger, or wrath

This is ira in Spanish, and the adjectival form is iracundo. Cólera is a synonym for anger or fury, with its adjective colérico, meaning short-tempered. In Mexico, coraje is commonly used to mean anger, which is generally given as its second meaning, the first being courage. (Here people more frequently use valor to mean courage.)  Hizo un coraje means he or she “flew into a rage,” or “threw a tantrum.”  Someone who is in the habit of getting angry can be said to be corajudo.

Enojo is more akin to annoyance, and enojado means cross or annoyed.  Enojón or enojona is closer to grouchy than irate or wrathful.

Envy

Envidia is a very common word in a country where material inequality is great and widespread.  But “the sin of the have-nots against the haves,” strangely enough, seems to be more one of “the haves against the have mores.”  Envidioso is the adjectival form, and “no seas envidioso” is a common retort to criticism, undue or warranted.

Greed

Codicia is generally used for the desire to amass worldly goods.  Avaricia, like avarice, is synonymous with codicia but can also refer to greed in the sense of being stingy.  Avaricioso or avaro means miserly, and avaro is the word for miser (avaro can be a noun or an adjective). Other common words in Mexico for stingy are tacaño and codo.  (Codo means elbow, and in this context supposedly illustrates the grasping action of the money-grubber.)

Codicia is used for greed when it is applied to covetousness, as in “no codiciarás la casa de tu prójimo” — you shall not covet your neighbor’s house.  But it doesn’t really apply to someone who is greedy for food: see gluttony.

Sloth

Most people leave this one until last. Pereza is the Spanish word for sloth.  It also means laziness, although in Mexico flojera and flojo are more commonly used than pereza and perezoso.

An often-heard and impolite alternative for flojera is güeva, itself a sanitized version of hueva—the use of which will get you dirty looks. ¡Qué flojera! can apply to any proposed activity that requires more energy than you wish to expend, or reaction to something that you consider tedious or boring.  It could be translated as “what a drag!”

Perezoso also refers to sloth the animal.

Common terms for streets in Mexico

The most common term seen and used in Mexico is “calle” —street— with calle principal indicating a main route, usually crossing or connecting smaller streets adjacent.  The fancier avenida, or avenue, and even bulevar may also be employed when the need for distinction arises.

Camino, the equivalent of ‘road’ or ‘way’ in English, is less commonly seen and used in Mexico, and is a word that can also serve to describe a person’s journey: va en camino, he’s on his way—or distinctly, va por su camino which translates to ‘he’s making his own way (in life)’.

Callejón indicates a narrow road or alley, and retorno stipulates a dead-end or cul-de-sac, with the Spanish in this case more practical in letting the wanderer know there’s no point going there without a specific reason.  Retorno can also indicate a loop or opportunity to U-turn or double-back over a bridge or under a tunnel to cross-over to the other side of a road; on some roads it could also be a wide space within a camellón (median strip) reserved for that purpose.

Related to retorno is cerrada, which is oftentimes used to describe a private road with a dead-end; privada might also be used in this context.

Another term you’ll come across when driving in Mexico the word crucero which means junction.  Related to crucero is the word entronque, which means to connect, or merge.  Junctions are most often signed when they require additional precautions to be exercised, —for example, Entronque Peligroso— where a road merges with another on the left hand side of the adjoining highway (overtaking lane) instead of the (more-usual) merge lane on the right.

Freeways and tolled highways

Moving onto trunk roads, there are two ways of referring to a highway: carretera and autopista; and these are sometimes referred to (or signed on highways) as ‘Libre‘ (freeway) or ‘Cuota‘ (tollway), respectively.

Carretera is akin to the U.S. freeway and most often refers to the federally-funded interstate roads which connect main towns and cities, but may also refer to a primary trunk road around a town or city.  These are usually not tolled, and most are two-lane highways; some have stretches for overtaking slow vehicles.  You might see these signed as ‘Libre‘ on highways.

Autopista (and its related term, ‘cuota’) are words reserved to describe tolled interstate highways in Mexico—some of which run alongside, or nearby, carreteras federales. You might see these signed as ‘Cuota‘ on highways.

The toll fee is called peaje although tolled highways in Mexico are rarely if ever referred to using that word.

Streets alongside ocean scenes

Seaside resorts, and the roads or highways connecting them, have their costeras, or coast roads.  These describe streets or roads which can vary in size and importance, but which invariably run along the seafront.  Inside coastal towns alongside some costeras you may find el malecón—a pedestrian boardwalk or esplanade facing the waterfront, some of which might also include a lane for pedal-bikers, and those using skates and skateboards.

Miscellaneous street terms in Mexico

Some other related terms you may encounter in journey parlance here include:

• lateral, which refers to a parallel side road that may be situated alongside any main urban road, or carretera, or autopista, and separated by a camellón—a central reservation or median strip;
• libramientos, which can sometimes be part of a carretera or autopista refer to ‘relief roads,’ built specifically to route passing traffic away from, or around, a town or city center;
• periférico refers to a ring road (or beltway) around a town, city, or place;
• in Mexico City, the stretches of tolled elevated beltway raised primarily above the capital’s original beltway (anillo periferico) is colloquially referred to as El Segundo Piso.  You need a ‘Tag’ on your vehicle’s dashboard or windshield to use the electronically controlled gates which give drivers access to the tolled level of roadway;
• for those traveling on foot: footpaths, nature trails, and ancient pathways are commonly described as senderos, whereas formal pedestrian walkways, or shopping streets closed to traffic, are referred to as a paseo peatonal; and
• paseo that means a walk or a drive, and pasear means to go for a walk, or a ride, or a drive. The word pasear is somewhat more versatile than what the average dictionary can accommodate: it can also mean go out with no particular purpose or plan, maybe hang out at the mall, grab a coffee, browse the stores, watch a movie, or just wander about. It’s also used as a term to mean going away, being away, or having been away on vacation—voy/estoy/estuve de paseo.

When someone apologizes for some wrong done to another, it’s as common in Mexico to hear pido una disculpa (I ask you to forgive me) as it is to hear ofrezco una disculpa (I offer an apology).

Disputes arise with the expression pedir una disculpa. Some, including the Spanish Royal Academy (RAE), say that it can mean ask to be forgiven or excused, while the Mexican Language Academy (Academia Mexicana de la Lengua) says una disculpa —in this sense, an apology— can only be demanded by the offended party and offered by the offender.

Each draws a different conclusion using the same definition of disculpa.

The Mexican academy argues that since disculpa isn’t a precise synonym of perdón (pardon or forgiveness), it shouldn’t be substituted for it. The RAE suggests that if the verb disculpar can be used to mean to ask forgiveness, then the noun disculpa can also be a synonym of pardon or forgiveness.

With two such authorities in disagreement on matters pertaining to the correct use of language, the best mere mortals can hope to do is take a look at (or listen to) how Spanish speakers in Mexico go about apologizing for their misdeeds or negligence in daily life.

Starting with an easy one. You bump into someone on the Metro or on a crowded street. “¡Perdón!” or “disculpe” —(sorry!)— is usual, and enough. Often both parties will apologize in this way at the same time, in which case one may assume the disculpa is simultaneously requested and granted. Note “disculpe” is the polite or formal form of the imperative, implying usted whereas the informal form of the verb would be “disculpa.”

For more egregious offenses, one is more likely to ask for out and out forgiveness than to offer an excuse. “Perdóname” or “te pido perdón,” although “discúlpame” is also common. “Lo siento” is another way of saying I’m sorry.

While there is no dispute among Spanish speakers that ofrecer una disculpa is correct, to the English-speaking mind (and to the extent that language affects our way of thinking, if anyone would like to go down that rabbit hole) it can sound a bit like the offender offering to forgive himself or herself.

But se disculpó means the person apologized, not that the person forgave themselves. Or as RAE notes above, disculparse in this sense can mean to justify, and it gives the example of someone blaming the traffic for their tardiness to some engagement.

If this PinPoint Spanish article creates more confusion than it clears up, de antemano una disculpa. 

Two Spanish verbs ‘to know’

Of the two verbs to know, the irregular saber is generally applied to facts, and the almost regular conocer to people and places. There are areas, however, where the two overlap, and either verb could be used—languages, for example:

• él sabe español, means he knows Spanish, and
• él conoce el español means he knows, or is acquainted with, the Spanish language.

One way to determine whether conocer can be used is to test whether the phrase “is acquainted with,” could be substituted for “know.”

When applying conocer to people, the preposition a is used. So:

• conoce Cervantes, means he knows the work of the author of Don Quixote, while
• conoce a Cervantes would mean he knows the writer.

Saber is used for “to know how to,” for example:

• ellos saben nadar (they know how to swim), and
• ella sabe tocar el piano (she knows how to play the piano).

Two Spanish verbs ‘to have’

The two verbs “to have” are tener and haber, and both irregular.

• Tener is used to show possession, tengo dos perros (I have two dogs), and
• haber as the auxiliary verb for forming compound tenses, for example,
• hemos llegado por fin (we have arrived at last).

The expression hay, derived from haber, is used to say “there is” or “there are.”  Hubo or había mean “there was/were.”

The verb haber can also be used in some instances for “must,” “should,” or “ought to.” For example,

• ha de ser difícil, (it must be difficult), or,
• has de conocer esta regla, (you ought to know this rule).

Dealing with the imperative

For indicating an imperative, such as tenemos que tomar el camión (we have to take the bus),  tener is used when the subject is specific. Tengo que ir (I have to go), tienes que entender (you have to understand), but haber can be used when you want something done, don’t want to do it yourself, wish someone else would do it, but would rather not appear to be pushy. This is all possible with the not so subtle “hay que…” Hay que recoger la mesa means the table has to be cleared. This is also useful for broad statements like hay que tener paciencia. The English equivalent “one has to be patient” is somehow stilted in comparison.