🇵🇪 Peruvian Spanish
How Peru says it — Lima, word by word
Chibolo, Tono, Cañita. 27 everyday things and the word Lima uses for each, beside what Buenos Aires, Santiago, Medellín, Santo Domingo, Madrid, Mexico City, Lima and San Juan say. Click any row for the full comparison and its sources.
Lima word by word
| In English | In Lima | Elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| a kid informal | chibolo | pibe cabro chico pelao carajito chaval chamaco nene |
| a party / going out | tono | joda carrete rumba teteo fiesta / salir de marcha peda jangueo / un party |
| a straw | cañita | sorbete bombilla pitillo calimete pajita popote sorbeto |
| dude | causa | che weón parce manín tío güey pana |
| what's up? | ¡Habla! | ¿Qué hacés? ¿Cómo estái? ¿Qué más? ¿Qué lo que? ¿Qué tal? ¿Qué onda? ¿Qué es la que hay? |
| a T-shirt | polo | remera polera camiseta franela camiseta playera t-shirt |
| ok / sure | ya | dale ya po listo ta' to' vale sale dale |
| popcorn | canchita | pochoclo cabritas crispetas cocaleca palomitas palomitas popcorn |
| right away | al toque | ya mismo al tiro de una ahora mismo enseguida ahoritita ahora mismo |
| a job | chamba | laburo pega camello trabajo curro trabajo |
| cool | chévere | copado bacán bacano guay chido |
| gas station | grifo | estación de servicio bencinera bomba bomba gasolinera gasolinera |
| money | plata | guita cuartos pasta lana chavos |
| the bus | micro | colectivo bus guagua autobús pesero guagua |
| a beer with friends | chela | birra una fría una caña una fría |
| a birthday cake | torta | bizcocho tarta pastel bizcocho |
| a hangover | resaca | la caña guayabo cruda hangover |
| a pen | lapicero | birome lápiz pasta boli pluma pluma |
| a traffic jam | embotellamiento | taco taco tapón atasco tapón |
| beans | frejoles | porotos porotos fríjoles habichuelas judías / alubias frijoles habichuelas |
| a banana | plátano | banana banano guineo guineo |
| eyeglasses | lentes | anteojos gafas espejuelos gafas espejuelos |
| a car | carro | auto auto coche coche |
| a swimming pool | piscina | pileta alberca |
| an apartment | departamento | apartamento piso apartamento |
| avocado | palta | aguacate aguacate aguacate aguacate aguacate |
| sneakers | zapatillas | tenis tenis tenis |
Each row links to the full eight-country comparison with its sources. Grey = the standard dictionary word is the local word too.
Talk like a cusqueño
The in-app «Talk like a local» guide for Peruvian Spanish — the words and turns of phrase Lima's characters use in conversation, so you recognise them when they come at you at speed.
| They say | It means | You'll hear |
|---|---|---|
| chompa | sweater, jumper (elsewhere: jersey / suéter) | Llévate chompa, en la noche baja el frío. The everyday word from Ecuador down to Bolivia. At 3,400 m it is the single most useful noun in Cusco. |
| choclo | corn on the cob (the big-kernel Andean kind) (elsewhere: mazorca de maíz) | Un choclo con queso, por favor. From Quechua "chuqllu". Andean choclo has kernels the size of a thumbnail — it is not the small sweetcorn sold elsewhere. |
| palta | avocado (elsewhere: aguacate) | ¿Me pone paltita en el pan? From Quechua "palta", the word all along the Pacific side of South America; "aguacate" (Nahuatl) is the Mexican half of the map. |
| chacra | smallholding, a family's worked plot (elsewhere: pequeña finca / granja) | Mis papás todavía trabajan la chacra en el valle. From Quechua "chakra". Not a hobby garden and not a ranch — it is the piece of land a family farms, often terraced and often in several scattered strips. |
| wawa | baby, small child (elsewhere: bebé) | Su wawa ya está caminando. Quechua and Aymara for a baby, ordinary Spanish across the Andes — and written "guagua" in Chile, Bolivia and Ecuador. THAT spelling is the sharpest trap in Spanish: in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba "guagua" is the BUS. In Cusco you carry one; in San Juan you catch one. |
| combi | minibus, the city route van (elsewhere: autobús) | Tomo la combi hasta San Jerónimo. The small privately-run vans that do most urban transport in Peru. The boy hanging out of the door shouting the route is the "cobrador". |
| chamba | work, a job (elsewhere: trabajo) | Mañana tengo harta chamba. Shared with Mexico and just as universal here; the verb is "chambear", and somebody hard-working is "chambeador". |
| plata | money (elsewhere: dinero) | No tengo plata suelta, ¿acepta yape? Standard money-talk in Peru. "Sencillo" is small change — always ask before handing over a hundred-sol note. |
| cancha | toasted corn, the free snack on every table (elsewhere: maíz tostado) | Nos trae un poquito de cancha mientras esperamos. From Quechua "kamcha". It arrives before the food in almost every picantería. (The football pitch is also "la cancha" — context does the work.) |
| carpa | tent, market stall canopy (elsewhere: tienda de campaña) | Armamos la carpa antes de que llueva. From Quechua "karpa". In a market it is also the awning over a stall. |
| menú | the fixed-price set lunch (elsewhere: menú del día) | ¿Cuánto está el menú? — Ocho soles, señora. In Peru "el menú" is not the list of dishes (that is "la carta") — it is the set lunch itself: entrada, segundo and refresco for one price. |
Everyday phrases
- ¿Cómo andas? — How are you? / How's it going? The everyday greeting between people who know each other. With somebody older or a customer, keep it to "¿Cómo está, señora?".
- pe / pue — …then, y'know (sentence-final tag) A worn-down "pues" that lands at the END of the sentence. "Ya pe", "claro pe", "no pe" — nothing sounds more Peruvian, and it softens whatever came before it.
- al toque — right away, in a second Genuinely fast, unlike Mexico's elastic "ahorita". "Al toque nomás" is faster still.
- la yapa — the little extra thrown in free From Quechua "yapa" (more). Asking a market vendor you buy from regularly for a yapa is expected, not cheeky — and "casera/casero" is what you call that vendor.
- nomás — just, only, go ahead Constant sentence furniture in the Andes. It softens an instruction into an invitation — "pase nomás" is warmer than "pase".
- Ya — OK / right / got it Peru's all-purpose agreement token, said quickly. "Ya está" means it's done; "ya pe" closes a plan.
Practise it with someone from Cusco
Cusco Spanish is unhurried and unusually clear — the consonants stay where they were put, which makes it a kind place to learn. What it adds is Quechua: chompa, choclo, wawa, and the «pe» tacked onto the end of a sentence. At Menú Doña Trini you eat the way the city eats at midday: a set lunch, entrada then segundo, ordered in two words and in front of you in three minutes — and the yapa is a real thing here, not a promotion.
Meet Nilton in Cusco →