Do you need help understanding Dominican slang words and phrases? Today, I’ll give you a list containing 7 Dominican Slang that will help you get started, soon you’ll be talking like an official Dominicano!
Lets learn some Dominican Spanish!
No doubt, the Dominican Republic is a beautiful country. It has wonderful beaches, its a hot yet an amazingly tropical climate and the warmness of its people makes its such an amazing country to visit. As you know, the national language is Spanish, but it’s not like all the other Spanish in the region, they speak very fast and use a lot of Slang and words you’ll probably never hear in other Spanish speaking countries.
One of the more interesting things about Dominican Spanishis the LARGE amount of colorful words and expressions they use on a daily basis. Not only that, every now and then, they will create newer words! So, if you’re up to the challenge to speak fluent Dominican Spanish here are 7 words and expressions you should be familiar with:
After reading the post, be sure to to check the video as well at the end of this post. You will HEAR each word used in a sentence by a Dominican native who voiced several scenes in the Amazing Gritty Spanish Spanish learning stories!
Spanish can be a pain, it can seen really difficult, but when you read and listen to phrases in context, it will be A LOT less frustrating!
1. Bacano/a (Bah-kka-no) — This is an adjective that means something is good, cool or awesome.
Example:
“Ese dibujo está muy bacano”
“That drawing is pretty cool”
Not only that, Bacano can be used also as a way of referring to someone if you don’t want to use their name. It’s the Dominican equivalent of Dude, Man or Pal.
For an example:
“Bacano, te estoy diciendo, no estoy hablando mentira”.
“Dude, I’m telling you, I’m not lying”.
2. Jevi (Hea-vy) —It is no coincidence that this word is pronounced just like Heavy since that is exactly what you’re saying. This is commonly used as Cool when you’re trying to express something is nice or when you’re OK with something.
Examples:
“Fui al bar del que me contaste. Estaba jevi.”
“I went to the bar you told me about. It was cool”
“Nos vemos en el bar a las 8pm. —Jevi.”
“See you in the bar at 8pm. —Cool”
3. En Olla (En-Ouh-yah) — For a Dominican there’s no better way to express you’re broke than using this phrase. Literally it’s saying, “I’m in cooking pot” in English, which honestly… makes no sense. But in Dominican Spanish, it means that you have no money. It is INCREDIBLE the amount of ways Dominicans can say that they are broke, but for today we’ll just learn about this one.
Here is an example of how you can use it:
“No puedo ir al club con ustedes, estoy en olla.”
“I can’t go to the club with you guys, I’m broke.”
4. Zumbón (Zoom-bawn) — Sometimes you’re just so angry that you just want to let go all that anger through any action like, say, throwing things. To give something a “zumbón” is to throw that something far away. Normally the expression implies fury or anger.
Example:
“Cogí la pelota y le dí un zumbón al otro lado del campo”
“I took the ball and threw it to the other side of the field”
5. Mangue (Man-gay) — Now let’s get to an interesting topic: love and couples. In the English language some expressions can be rather ambiguous when talking about couples. When you are trying to say that two people go out, make out and do some stuff together you may probably think they’re a couple or they’re getting to know each other for romantic purposes; but it may not be the case. If those two people care only for satisfying their needs from time to time, how do you call it? Well, in the DR, the call it “mangue” to a person that is not our romantic partner, but sometimes does things like they were.
Example:
“¿Y quién es esa que está con Julián? ¿Su novia?”
“Who is the one that is with Julián? His girlfriend?”
“Nah, es un mangue que tiene.”
“Nah, that’s just a fling he has”
6. Divariar (Dee-va-ree-ar) — When you’re demanding an answer from someone, but that someone starts saying things that do not necessarily addresses an answer, or that person keeps talking gibberish without saying anything important related to the question, then Dominicans say that person is “divariando”. It’s when people don’t get to the point in the moment they need to, you know? Beating around the bush? The correct way to write it is “desvariar”, but the way Dominicans pronounce it is “divariar”.
Example:
“No me estés divariando, respóndeme la pregunta.”
“Stop talking gibberish, answer the question.”
7. Papá (Pa-pah) — This is an easy one, but for some, it’s probably going to be really awkward when some Dominican guy randomly calls you “papá” in a normal conversation. You will think,“but isn’t papá like… ‘father‘ in English?, is he calling me his father or something? Or maybe… Is he calling me “daddy!?” The answer is no, he or she isn’t calling you daddy. The word papá is commonly used as a substitute of dude, pal, man, when you’re talking to somebody. Just as “Bacano”, as we have described before. You’ll hear this a few times in the Gritty Spanish Audio Stories.
Example:
“Papá, este será mi último trago.”
“Dude, this will bemy last drink.”
So why not LearnDominican Spanishand be a Dominicano?Hahaha.
So far this is only a few words that you can use in a normal conversation with a Dominican, there are so many more, but 7 is good amount to practice. We don’t want to give you 500 words in one post, ya know?
Remember, not only Dominican Slang words, but there are huge benefits to learning slang and Street Spanishin general, since people don’t speak “Book Spanish” in the street.
We hope you find those 7 useful Dominican slang phrases useful! Don’t forget to take a look at Gritty Spanish if you want to hear Dominican voice characters using a bunch of Dominican slang and phrases!
