How to Speak Argentine Spanish

Argentina is a beautiful and remarkable place to visit. Any English-speaking visitor who has beginner-to-advanced familiarity with the Spanish language will certainly encounter, when speaking to natives (called Porteños in Buenos Aires), some subtle, yet dramatic differences from the Spanish you have learned.

While most Argentines will understand your Spanish, embrace the changes and learn to speak Spanish, Castellano as they call it, the Argentine way. When in Argentina, do as the Porteños do with some of these basic variant pronunciations, forms and conjugations.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. The first and most important difference in Argentine Spanish you will encounter is the use of “vos” instead of the standard “tú.” These words both translate to the present tense, second person “you” in English, with informal implications.

2. Vos also has an impact on verb conjugations. As you already know, in Spanish, the ending of the verb is dropped and a new ending is added on depending on the pronoun that is used. The standard verb endings for -ar and -er/-ir verbs for the “tú” form in Spanish are -as and -es, respectively. In Castellano, generally speaking, the endings are -ás, és, and -í. For example: Vos comés, not comes. Vos tenés, not tienes. Vos hablás, not hablas.

3. There are some irregulars that do not follow the standard verb endings. Ser is the most important of these, which becomes “sos” in the vos form. For example: "Vos sos un estudiante inteligente" means "You are an intelligent student."

4. The double “l” is pronounced as “zsh.”
   Example: calle = “ca-zshay,” pollo = “po-zshow”

5. A “y” in Castellano is pronounced also as “zsh.”
   Example: yo = “zshow,” mayo = “ma-zshow”, playa = “pla-zsha”

6. Usually, or sometimes, depending on who you ask, if there is an “s” that appears in the middle of a word before another consonant, or at the end of a word (unless that word begins with a vowel), the “s” is not pronounced. An aspirated “hh” sound replaces the omitted “s” sound. For example: dos = “dohh,” flores = “flor-ehh,” pasta = “pahh-ta.”

Tips & Warnings

• The best way to pick up on this new Spanish dialect is from the native speakers. Go to a café or park to listen and learn from the pros.

Resources

• Rioplatense (Argentine) Spanish
• Argentine Slang Dictionary

[tritone]

on 2/8/2009 There's actually a program available that teaches Argentine Spanish. I think it's called Bueno, Entonces. Could be worth checking out if you're headed down there.