Puerto Rican Spanish→English

Translate Puerto Rican Spanish to English the way locals mean it.

In Puerto Rican Spanish, everyday messages use local words, English-based verbs, and softening tags that a textbook reader can take too literally.

Going the other way? English to Puerto Rican Spanish

474 local dialects

AIRTranslate on iPhone choosing between Spanish varieties

What locals actually say

¡Wepa! ¿Vas a janguear más tarde?

Hey, are you hanging out later?

Wepa is an excited greeting or reaction, while janguear comes from “hang out” and means spend time socially, not move around aimlessly.

Estoy pelao, no puedo bregar con eso ahora.

I’m broke, I can’t deal with that right now.

Pelao means short on money, and bregar means handle or deal with something, not literally work at it.

No tengo chavos pa’ coger la guagua.

I don’t have money for the bus.

Chavos means money in Puerto Rican Spanish, and guagua means bus, so the sentence is about bus fare rather than unspecified coins or a baby.

Ese mofongo está brutal, pero pásame el pique.

This mofongo is amazing, but pass me the hot sauce.

Mofongo is a Puerto Rican dish, while pique means hot sauce and brutal is a local intensifier meaning excellent.

Mi mai me dijo que no llegara tarde, tú sabes cómo es.

My mom told me not to come home late, you know how she is.

Mai is the Puerto Rican colloquial shortening of mamá or madre, signaling an informal family setting.

Estoy explotao hoy, tengo un revolú de trabajo.

I'm wiped out today, I've got a huge pile of work.

Explotao is a clipped colloquial form of explotado meaning exhausted, and revolú means a chaotic mess or pile of things.

Está cayendo una pela de agua, sal con sombrilla.

It's pouring buckets, take an umbrella.

Pela de agua is a Puerto Rican expression for very heavy rain, and sombrilla is the everyday local word for umbrella.

Estoy achocao, no quiero hablar con nadie.

I'm feeling down, I don't want to talk to anyone.

Achocao is a Puerto Rican colloquial adjective for feeling emotionally low or shut down.

Notes like these come with every AIRTranslate translation, so you learn why locals phrase it that way as you go.

How Puerto Rican Spanish differs

Puerto Rican Spanish. Tú informal; local colour where casual: wepa, janguear from hang out, chavos for money, guagua for bus, zafacón for trash can; comfortable English loanwords.

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Choosing Spanish (Peru) from 471 local variants

Localization Notes explaining why locals say it that way