There is a group of words which we use almost interchangeably in our daily accounts of the day. Technically speaking, these would be referred to as ‘unnamed subjects’: people you don’t know by their name.
I don’t have nearly as much option when it comes to English translations for these words. I think of them under guy, lad, dude or bloke, but I’d love to hear what other options are out there.
All of these words have a masculine and a femenine form, but you’ll rarely hear ‘chabona’.
Masculine | Femenine |
---|---|
Pibe | Piba |
Flaco | Flaca |
Chabón | Chabona |
Tipo | Mina |
Loco | Loca |
It’s very difficult to explain why we’d choose one or other, most people leaning towards one or the other based off a personal preference. The only exception is pibe, because it’s used to refer to people of younger age, say below 25.
Alternatively, people could address you using words like:
- maestro
- jefe
- pa
- capo
- señor
What’s interesting about all the words above is that they reflect a respectful, more hierarchical relationship.
Hope you liked learning something new today,
Happy Spanish learning,
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