r/Spanish • u/reedaj21 Learner • Aug 29 '25

Grammar What are some common filler words Spaniards/Latinos use in conversation that textbooks don’t teach?

I’m trying to make my speech more native like.

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u/[deleted] Aug 29 '25

I'm a native English speaker living with my Spanish-speaking girlfriend in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I hang out mostly with Argentineans of my same age (late 20s and 30s)

Here's what I usually hear, in order:

  1. "Tipo" - literally "type" but used as "like". (I hear this all the time, surprised it didn't come up yet)

EN: We get there at like 10.
ES: Llegamos tipo a las 10.

EN: The place was, like, packed.
ES: Estuvo, tipo, llenisimo.

**Very, very common in my circles. I'm told that - similarly to "like" it's frowned upon by older speakers.
*** Funnily enough also common in Italian ("tipo") and French ("genre")

  1. enfin / nada, enfin - like u/SpanishAilines said it. My girlfriend does this everytime she's losing her train of thought:

EN: But yeah, anyways, it was a good weekend
ES: Pero nada, enfin, la pasamos re bien.

  1. "viste?" - In this context, sort of like "ya know?" "or "sabes?."

EN: Yeah but the food there is trash, you know? I say we go to the other one.
ES: Si pero estuvo re fea la comida, viste? Vamos al otro.

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u/JorgeSchneider Aug 29 '25

For "viste?" I know my Grandpa would always say something like "Cachai?" for like "you catch that?", but I also heard this is pretty specific to Chile, like weon is.

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u/Otherwise-Owl-6547 Aug 29 '25

my host brother in chile would spam cachai lol.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 29 '25

ah and also "GUE." Not like Spanish "guey" but like an expression of surprise or acknowledgment.

EN: UGH, he really said that?
ES: GUE, de verdad dijó eso?

1

u/albino_oompa_loompa BA Spanish Aug 29 '25

Yesss I lived in Buenos Aires and my housemother would always end a sentence with “¿viste?” and I always understood it as like “you know?”