Peruvian everyday words: grifo, chompa, pata, al toque

Explanation

Begin with the words you will need on the first day and would not guess. A grifo is a petrol station — the tap sense exists but is not what a Peruvian means. A chompa is a jumper or sweater (from English jumper, not Quechua), a polo is a T-shirt, and a casaca a jacket. A combi is the small private minibus that does most urban transport, and to take one you say sube nomás. Al toque means right away, and ahorita — as in Colombia and unlike Mexico — leans towards soon rather than this instant. Jato is a house or a place to crash, and jama is food in casual speech.

The social vocabulary is dense and mostly Lima-born. Pata is a mate, and a close one is a pata del alma; causa is also friend, borrowed into slang from the dish. Chibolo is a kid, pituco a posh person, misio broke, and huachafo describes something tacky in a specifically social-climbing way that has no clean English equivalent — it is one of the most Peruvian words there is. Bacán and chévere both mean great. Chamba is work and chambear to work, shared with Mexico. A cachuelo is a side job. Tombo is a police officer, and asu or asu mare is a general exclamation of surprise.

Then the traps. De repente in Peru means perhaps, so de repente vengo is "I might come", not "suddenly I come" — this catches learners who know the word from elsewhere. Roche is embarrassment, and me da roche is "I'm too embarrassed to". Rico applies to food and to people, and in Peru as elsewhere the second use is flirtatious. Two register notes: much of this layer is informal and generational, so recognising it matters more than producing it, and the coast, the Andes and the Amazon differ enough that Lima slang is not automatically understood in Iquitos or Puno.

Examples

Related rules

• Quechua in Peruvian Spanish: papa, choclo, palta, cancha
• Ya pe: how pues shrinks to pe in Peruvian Spanish
• Peruvian courtesy: usted, titles, and saying no without saying no
• Everyday Bolivian words: chango, yapa, jailón
• Tinto, parce, qué pena: everyday Colombian words