Register and politeness
Tú or usted, how much to soften, and when the same words land completely differently.
A1
- Greetings and the fifteen phrases that get you through week one
The phrases you need before any grammar — greeting, asking, apologising, and the two questions that keep a conversation alive when you are lost.
- Spanish personal pronouns — and why Peru never says vosotros
The full set of Spanish subject pronouns, when to drop them, the tú and usted decision, and why vosotros is not used anywhere in Latin America.
- How to say goodbye in Peruvian Spanish
Why adiós is almost never used, what "ya, nos vemos" really means, and the long Peruvian goodbye that foreigners keep cutting short.
- Spanish for taking a taxi in Lima
The eight phrases that actually come up in a Lima taxi, including how fares get agreed before you get in and what to say when the price is too high.
- Ordering food in Spanish in Peru
The menú del día, what entrada and segundo actually mean on a Peruvian menu, and the phrases for ordering, asking and paying.
- Small talk in Spanish in Peru
What Peruvians actually say in the first two minutes, why "¿cómo estás?" is not really a question, and how to keep a short exchange going.
A2
- Poder: can, can't, and the polite Peruvian request
Poder plus an infinitive covers ability, possibility and permission — and ¿puede...? is how you ask a Peruvian stranger for anything.
- Querer, preferir, necesitar: want, prefer, need
Three verbs that take a bare infinitive or a noun, two of them with a stem change — and why quiero is too blunt for ordering in Peru.
- ¿No? ¿Cierto? ¿Ya? — how Peruvians check you agree
The little words tacked onto the end of a sentence to soften it or ask for agreement. What each one does in Lima, and which not to use yet.
- The Spanish imperative: commands, and how to soften them
Affirmative and negative commands are built from different stems, tú has eight irregulars, and in Peru a bare command is usually the wrong register anyway.
- Peruvian diminutives: why -ito is not about size
In Peru -ito is about warmth, softening and politeness far more than size. Ahorita, un cafecito, un momentito — what they mean and when they sting.
- Spanish augmentatives: -ón, -azo and -ote
How -ón, -azo and -ote work in Peru: -azo is the productive one, it means a great one or a blow with one, and -ón often insults the person.
- How Peruvians say "friend" (and when each one works)
Pata, causa, choche, amigo. Peru has several words for friend and picking the wrong one marks you out. What each carries, and who to say it to.
- How to bargain in Spanish in Peru
Where bargaining is normal and where it is rude, the four phrases that do the whole job, and how to walk away without offending anyone.
B1
- The Spanish conditional: would, politeness, and guessing
One set of endings on the whole infinitive, twelve irregular stems shared with the future, and three jobs — hypotheticals, softened requests and speculation.
- Diminutives or augmentatives? Choosing the ending
Same noun, two endings, two different sentences. How -ito and -azo, -ón, -ote split the work in Peru, and why the system is not symmetrical.
- In Peru, "de repente" means maybe — not suddenly
In Peru "de repente" means maybe, not suddenly. One of the highest-value differences between Peruvian and textbook Spanish, and how to hear it correctly.
- What does "ya pe" mean in Peruvian Spanish?
"Pe" is a reduced form of "pues" and it ends a great many Peruvian sentences. What it does, why it barely translates, and why not to use it yet.
B2
- Tú or usted in Peru: the decision, and how to get out of it
Usted is not archaic in Lima and not only for the elderly. Who gets which, how the switch happens, and the safe opening that works either way.
- The words Peruvians actually connect sentences with
O sea, igual, la verdad, nada que ver, en todo caso. The markers that make speech sound spoken, what each one signals, and which to use first.
- The Spanish passive, and the two things said instead
Fue construida is real Spanish and mostly newspaper Spanish. In speech you get se construyó, or a bare they-form: me robaron.