The Spaniards have an alarmingly rich vocabulary of swear words and vulgarities – ranging from one-word cusses to full-sentence chants like ‘me cago en todo lo que se menea!‘. When speaking to a typical Spanish man, it’s almost strange not to hear a full sentence with anything erm… crude. Mind you, I adore the Spanish language: combined with expressive hand gestures, it’s full of vigor, passion and emotions. The Spaniards for one, have always captivated my heart with their sultry linguistic demeanours.
If you get to know the Spaniards and learn Spanish well enough, you’ll come to observe that they tend to use palabrotas (cusses) openly in their daily conversation. Words like ‘coño’ (cunt) don’t contain extremely vulgar connotations, and so are used commonly by most people here in Spain.
In comparison, the Latin Americans tend to be a tad bit more gentle in their language. But before you start stringing sentences with a long list of cusses, bear in mind that without the correct usage, you might just end up offending the more refined ones, or end up with a bunch of giggling audience.
Let me sum up the top swear words most frequently used in Spain. Without them, life wouldn’t be this colorful or should i say- de puta madre!
1. Joder! (hho-DErr)
The first Spanish word I’d learnt- this literally translates to ‘fuck’, but perhaps used more commonly than in English. For example: You forgot to bring your phone out, Joder! They’re not showing your favourite TV show anymore, Joder! Damn I have to wake up early tomorrow, Joder! It’s just part and parcel of daily life in Spain. It’s used in many power-packed sentences like ‘Que te jodan! (Fuck you!)’.
2. Mierda! (mi-err-da)
This literally means ‘shit’, and is the most lightweight of all these swear words. It makes a perfect combination with many words to give a better impact, such as ‘Come mierda! (A shit-eater!)’.
3. Gilipollas (hhi-li-PO-yas)
Used frequently to describe bastards, the word ‘Gilipollas’ is simply served as a retorting cuss. When someone pisses you off, or even teases you, you would call him a ‘Gilipollas’. Translated literally, ‘gili’ comes from a latin word meaning ‘son’.
4. Qué Cabrón! (kehh cabrON)
In reality, ‘cabrón’ refers to a big male goat, with giant horns. As the old Spanish saying goes, a man whose wife is cheating on him is called a ‘cabrón’ i.e. his horns are growing. Everyone then started using ‘Que Cabrón!’(What a bastard!), to swear at others. It’s quite a mild cuss, and often used just as a sarcastic remark instead of a real curse.
5. Los cojones! (los co-hho-nehs)
The Spanish men are known as ‘machotes’ (macho men who are proud of their balls), and so, besides the toros (bulls) and the corridas(running of the bulls), they love to show their masculinity by adding the word ‘cojones’ (literally means ‘testicals’) to their colorful language. It tends to be used more like the word ‘Bullshit!’ in English, in occasions when someone is trying to give you some crappy excuse, you would respond with ‘Los Cojones!’
6. Me cago en todo lo que se menea!
My personal favourite of all. It is long yet packs a punch. Whenever I hear my husband chant this long cuss while driving, I crack up. It literally means ‘I shit on everything that moves.’ (strangely unvulgar) ‘Me cago en…’ is a very commonly used cuss, and can be combined with anything and everything that comes to mind, like ‘Me cago en Dios’ (..on God) or ‘Me cago en tus muertos’ (..on your dead relatives).
7. La madre que te parió!
In my personal opinion, this would be top on the list of the most frequently used curse. It literally means, ‘the mother who gave birth to you!’ It is used in the same way as ‘motherfucker’ in English. Usually used as part of a sentence for example: ‘Me cago en la madre que te parió!’ (I shit on the mother who gave birth to you.), it has the same effects as dropping a huge bomb!
8. 
Hijo de puta(yi-hho-deh-PU-tah)
Translated to the English swear word, ‘son of a bitch!’, it’s used in the exact same way as English, except almost ten times the frequency. It is however mostly used to tease someone, especially as a sarcastic or envious remark. Your friend gets a promotion – hijo de puta! Your brother is traveling around the world- hijo de puta! He just bought a 40inch plasma TV- hijo de puta!
9. Tonto del culo
Slightly milder than all the previous curses, this translates to ‘an idiot of the ass’ and it’s used to refer to how stupid/silly someone can be. It’s useful in all occasions.
10. Puta madre (poo-tah madre)
Literally meaning ‘fucking mother’, it can be used to curse but can also be used positively. As a form of exaggeration, it is commonly used to describe how good something is. For example: ‘Esta fiesta está de puta madre!’ (This is a fuckin’ good party!). ‘Puta madre!’ is often used to express great satisfaction, eg. ‘Barcelona won! de puta madre!
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hijo de puta translates to "son of a whore"
hijo de perra transtales to "son of a bitch"
chinga tu madre "motherfucker" or " fuck your mother"
and finally if we put them all together……..que guey? vete a la chingada hijo de tu perra puta madre, si y chinga tu madre tambien puto. = "what idiot? go to hell, you son of a bitch ass whore, yeah and fuck your mother too faggot.
Well, this is such a great resource! I must pass this along to all my english speaking friend who are visiting or will visit Spain, that way they can have a little fun of their own!
it's reallty interesting!!!!
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It's alright. I see you're quite used to the spanish language! xD Anyway, I identify some of the cusses more with the south than with the north. I'm from the north and I usually use "joder", "mierda" or "de puta madre". Plus, I would say that number 6. could be simplified to "Me cago en [any Noun Phrase connected with your trouble]". "¡Me cago en la leche (or "cagoenlaleche")!" is veeeeeery common too!
Maybe you could come up with a Master Thesis with this xD
Im from Venezuela and my boyfriend is Turkish and we had a big fight, when he saw one of my conversations with a venezuelan friend, he used the google translator and was thinking i was going to fuck some dicks and pussys haha, i will show him this page so he finally understands
Thats a funny story! Such language mishaps always amuse me.
Thanks for sharing Daniela!
This is wierdddd.
Hehe thats was a nice one..i liked it
I'll share the top 5 Venezuelan swear words with you guys
1.- El coño de tu madre! (Literally: Your mother's cunt) is one of the most popular Venezuelan insults and is used when extremely angry at someone, as in: "el coño de tu madre, desgraciado!". Can also be used in a friendly manner to refer to a person you are close to, as in: "ese coño e' madre si es depinga!"
2.- Depinga (Literally: belonging to the cock/of the cock). Used to express one's satisfaction at something or someone. See example above.
3.- Mamagüevo (Literally: cocksucker). No much need for explanation here but can also be used among friends to show you find something funny as in "lol! si eres mamagüevo, muchacho!".
4.- Marico (literally: fag) Besides the literal meaning of the word, this insult is used among friends when speanking to each other and would be equal to saying "dude", "bro", or "mate".
5.- Qué güevo! (literally: what a cock!). Used when shwoing annoyance about something or someone as in "Qué güevo contigo, muchacho!"
If you ever travel to venezuela, you'll know when to get upset and when not to
Hehe, a very funny list.
It's true that there are many swear words in spanish, hundreds. And they can be combined in any imaginable way.
Anyway, you should maybe put more emphasis on the fact that you have to know when, where and with whom you can use them. I've already seen more than once foreigners getting in trouble or in akward situations by saying things like "tu puta madre" ('your fucking mother') when trying to say "de puta madre" ('this is fucking great!') .
haha an excellent example! It\’s amazing that \”de puta madre\” and \”tu puta madre\” may seem the same, but they make a whole world of difference!
Está de puta madre lo que has colgado, es la hostia, me he descojonado leyéndolo. Seguro que viene algún hijo de puta a tocar los huevos a dos manos con gilipolleces de que si él habría puesto no sé qué cojones o de que en su tierra se usa vete tú a saber qué mierdas… ¡Pero a esos que les den por culo! A mi me suda la polla lo que digan, y me imagino que a ti también te la trae floja.
Awesome. your post is AMAZING. i totally agree with the person who asked y they cant teach that at skool. wow, now i cn cuss at that latino dude who pisses me off…
thank you. I won a fight against a guy and he was stupid and didnt understand what i was saying to him. I'm 11 and he was 17!
pinche hijo de puta!!
these ten arent right!do the reaserch again gringos im mexican i would know!
I haven't thought about it… but you're f***ing right! It's funny how people in Spain use swear words in such a positive way. They can use them both to insult you or to tell you that you're great! It is difficult not to swear when speaking Spanish in the street.. it's part of the language itself.
Fundamentals, but yes, most points are forgotten by most people eventually, thanks for refreshing the basics..
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Gilipollas
Gili = tonto
Tonto de la polla
I cannot believe you did NOT include "coño" !
This is so funny!
there also exists "me cago en la mar salada" (I shit on the salty ocean) i use this one a lot! and you wrote very little ones, there are much more!!! one typicall spanish conversation : joder ayer fui a una fiesta que estaba de putisima madre, tio! -chupa pollas! y no me invitaste, gilipollas! -hijo de puta, me cago en to' me vulves a decir eso y te arranco los huevos (yeah, it can be like that!)
This helps a ton! now i can know waht those jerks in my class that i teach are saying and cuss back at them all under my breath! they are jerks those spanish kids with spikey hair and annoying how they dont even care about grades or failure they have no goals!
Que coñazo que te tengan que enseñar los putos verdos de mierda en el colegio, pero esto es la coña, joder!
que gilipollas el que posteó esto.
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tonto del culo hehehe (:
omg I don't now how I got here, but I'm Spanish and I have to say I couldn't stop laughing at this! It's so right, we curse far too much!
But thanks for making me have such a great time reading this!