Un chesco por favor

I'd be willing to bet you haven't seen the word chesco in your dictionary or any other dictionary for that matter.  I really don't remember where I came across this word, but never mind that, let's talk about what it means.

Like so many other words I talk about on this blog, chesco is mexican slang.  The standard word is refresco.    And if you've never heard the word refresco, you'll be glad you read this post.  Here's a photo:

Yes, a refresco is a soda. 

While chesco is mexican slang, the word refresco is universal.  It's not hard to use, here's an example:

Dame dos tacos y un chesco
Give me two tacos and a soda

Quiero un chesco, una coca
I want a soda, a coke

Notice that you can say coca to order a coke.  Coca seems to be pretty universal, I've used it with Dominicans and Puerto Ricans as well as Mexicans.

Since we're on the topic of refrescos, Mexico has it's own very popular (and delicious) brand of refrescos called Jarritos.

Personally, I love these things.  They come in many different sabores (flavors) such as:

Tamarindo, mandarina, tuttifruti, jamaica, limón, toronja, guayaba, piña, fresa, mango
Tamarind, Orange, Fruit Punch, Jamaica, Lime, Grapefruit, Guava, Pineapple, Strawberry, Mango

My personal favorite is fresa. You can find Jarritos in any Mexican grocery store or authentic neighborhood Mexican restaurant.

While we're on the subject let's talk a little more about a refresco.

A refresco can come in a botella (bottle) or a lata (can).  If it comes in a botella, then you're going to need to destapar the corcholata.

Destapar means to uncover or take the bottle cap off of our botella.   You'll need a destapador for that. 

And a bottle cap is called a  corcholata.  At least that's what it's called in Mexico.  If your Spanish speaking friends are from another country, ask them what they call it, as I suspect each country has it's own name for it.  In fact, share it in the comments section when you find out.

That's it for today.   Now go out and enjoy your refesco of choice!

Marque su PIN

So there I was in Mexico in desperate need of an ATM machine.  Sadly I didn't know where to find one, or how to ask for one.  I had a faint recollection of how to say ATM in Spanish because I had heard the word once before in a podcast, but I couldn't remember it to save my life.  But desperate times called for desperate measures and I absolutely had to break down and ask someone where to find an ATM.

I walked into the closest building which just happened to be a casino and started talking.  I don't remember what I said, but I remember the gentlemen I was talking to having a blank look on their faces (most assuredly because of my wretched Spanish) and me ending the conversation with...

¿Saben dónde está un cajero?

I went in the direction they pointed to and there was no ATM machine in sight.  I did however, find a bar with a cash register, which is exactly what I asked for, a cajero.  A cajero is actually a cashier, not an ATM machine.  While I did eventually find an ATM, it wasn't until much later that I was able to find out how to ask for an ATM machine in Spanish.

¿Hay un cajero automático por aquí?
Is there an ATM machine around here?

Cool, now we know how to ask for an ATM.  This handy little phrase may slip your mind, but not to worry, you can use my Android app My Spanish Phrasebook so you can have this expression and few other useful ATM expressions (and a whole lot of other useful phrases) handy when you need them.

But guess what?  knowing how to ask for an ATM machine is only half the battle, because the ATM machine you have to use might not have English as a language option.  And that my friends, is what we're going to talk about today.

I'm going to walk you through withdrawing your hard earned cash from an ATM in Spanish.  It's not as hard as you might think, but it certainly won't hurt to have a "how to" lesson on doing it before you do it for real the first time.

Let's get started.  BTW, this is probably going to be a bit long, so I recommend you get comfortable.

Marque su PIN
Enter your PIN

That should be pretty straight-forward.  You may also see codigo secreto for PIN.   FYI, marque comes from the verb marcar.

Ver Saldo de Cuenta
Account balance

I'm not going to translate everything, so anything I don't cover you can consider it to be your homework assignment.

Of course you have to press OK after entering your PIN, but the button was on the machine and not the pantalla - screen.

OK, so now we're ready to get down to business.

If you don't already know it, efectivo is cash.  I first learned that from reading the Spanish on a gas station pump.

Retiro de Efectivo
Withdraw Cash

Reciba Saldos y Estados de Cuenta
Get Balance and State of your Account

Saldos means balance and cuenta is account.   I selected Retiro de Efectivo.

This screen should be pretty self-explanatory.  I went with...

Ingrese otra cantidad
Enter a different amount

Borrar means to erase.  This is the button you want when you punch in a wrong number.

This is the screen you get when you don't put it the nice round numbers these machines like.

Este ATM utiliza billetes de $20 para los retiros.  Ingrese una cantidad diferente.
This ATM uses increments of $20 for withdrawals.  Enter a different amount.

Once you've finally entered everything properly, the ATM gives your  efectivo  and asks...

Sin Recibo
No receipt

Imprimir Recibo
Print Receipt

And that's it, así de facil.

Now keep in mind that your ATM might translate things a little differently, but we talked about all the key words that you need to know, so consider yourself armed and dangerous, ready to take another step down the path to fluency in Spanish.

Oh, one last thing.  You probably noticed the pictures I posted here showed amounts in dollars.  Well, in a Spanish speaking country those amounts will almost always be pesos, so be prepared.  And as for dealing with conversion rates, that my friends, I leave up to you!

¡Hasta Luego! 

Vas a tener trillizos

At some point we all learn the word embarazada means pregnant.  

Estoy embarazada

I'm pregnant

That's fabulous, but every book I've ever seen leaves out how to answer all the questions that are bound to come after you tell someone you're "embarazada".  But don't worry, today we'll clear all that up.

On several occasions I've struck up a conversation with complete strangers by asking...

¿Para  cuándo esperas?
When are you due?

As usual, there's more than one way to skin a cat.

¿Para cuándo?

¿De cuánto tiempo estás (embarazada)?

You can also just shorten this to ¿de cuánto estás?


 ¿De cuántos meses estás embarazada?

¿Qué tiempo tiene?

¿Para cuándo estás?

¿Cuantos meses de embarazo tienes?

¿Cuanto meses tienes/estás?

While you have several options, I recommend you just choose one and stick with it.  Now let's talk about the answer you can expect to hear, or give, should that be the case.

¿De cuántas semanas estás?
De 11.

How many weeks are you?
11.

Tengo 6 meses de embarazo
I'm 6 months pregnant

Estoy embarazada de 6 meses y  no tengo casi nada de panza
I'm 6 months pregnant and I almost have no stomach

And of course you substitute semanas for meses  in the examples above.

Estoy embarazada de dos meses aun faltan 7 meses
I'm two months pregnant and I've got 7 months to go

There's another phrase that will come in handy in this situation, Dar a luz.

¿Cuando vas a dar a luz?
When are you going to have the baby?

I actually blogged about this last year.  You can read about it here.

Let's take a step back and figure out how to talk about getting pregnant in the first place.  You need quedarse to talk about getting pregnant.

¿Cómo me quedo embarazada?
How do I get pregnant?

Me quedé embarazada
I got pregnant

If you need talk about who got you pregnant, use estar embarazada de.

Estoy embarazada de mi novio
I'm pregnant with my boyfriend's baby


Estoy embarazada de Carlos
I'm pregnant with my Carlos's baby


The word for pregnancy is embarazo.

Los primeros síntomas de embarazo
The first symptoms of pregnancy

¿Ya te hiciste la prueba de embarazo?
Have you already taken a pregnancy test?

And of course everyone wants to know if you're having a boy or a girl.

¿Conoces el sexo de tú bebe?
Do you know the sex of the baby?

Sí, va a ser un varón
Yes, it's going to be a boy

Other options can be mujer, mujercita, niño or niña.

¿Tienes alguna preferencía?
Do you have a preference?

¿Que prefieres, niña o niño?
Do you want a boy or a girl?

Ojala que sea niño
I hope it's a boy

A madre primeriza is a first time mother.

Soy madre primeriza
I'm a first time mother

You can also just shorten that to Soy primeriza.

Let's not forget the gentlemen. 

Soy padre primerizo.
I'm a first time father.

You can also say Soy papá primerizo.

If you want to congratulate someone on their new baby, it's really easy.

Te felicito por el niño / la niña
Congratulations for the baby boy/girl

I think I put the cart before the horse.  You may want to start off by asking if they're pregnant.

¿Estás embarazada?
Are you pregnant?

Once the baby's finally here, the questions just keep coming.

¿Cuando nacío el/la bebe?
When was the baby born?

Notice the el / la.  The word bebe is the same for a boy or girl, so you need the el or la to clear things up.


¿Cuánto pesa tu bebé?
How much does your baby weigh?


¿Cuanto  pesó  tu bebe al nacer?
How much did your baby weigh at birth?

Mi bebé pesó 16 libras
 My baby weighed 16 pounds

You might think 16 pounds is crazy, but I actually found this headline in Google.

Nació el bebé más grande de Texas, pesó 16 libras
The biggest baby born in Texas weighed 16 pounds

Sorry, let's get back on track.

¿Con cuanto mide?
How long is the baby?

Mi bebé mide alrededor de 7 a 8 centímetros de largo
My baby is around 7 to 8 centimeters long

The last thing we're going to cover is when a woman is blessed with more than bundle of joy.

Estoy embarazada de gemelos.
I'm pregnant with twins.

Gemelos actually means identical twins.  Mellizos are fraternal twins.

Take a look at this picture.  Aren't they adorable?

Anybody want to take a guess as to what vas a tener trillizos means?

Vas a tener trillizos
You're going to have triplets


That's it for today, ¡Chao!