Cuban Spanish Words and Phrases Everyone Should Know

Cuban Spanish is easy to spot and hard to keep up with: fast, rhythmic and packed with words your Spanish teacher never mentioned. Whether you grew up in Miami hearing your grandparents, live on the island or are planning your first trip, this guide gives you the words you'll hear most. It isn't a dictionary, just a friendly head start.

What Cuban Spanish sounds like

• The disappearing "s": at the end of a syllable, "s" is often softened to an "h" sound or dropped. Los tomates can come out as "loh tomate", and ¿cómo estás? as "¿cómo ehtá?".
• "L" and "r": in eastern Cuba, as elsewhere in the Caribbean, they sometimes swap at the end of a syllable ("amol" for amor). In Havana and the west, an "r" is more likely to blend into the next consonant: "cabbón" for carbón.
• The vanishing "d": cansado (tired) becomes "cansao".
• Tú, usted and no vosotros: Cubans use tú in most everyday situations and save usted for respect or distance. Vosotros isn't used at all; a group is always ustedes.

All of this shifts with region, age and setting. Nobody talks the same way at a job interview as on their front porch.

Greetings and people

• asere: friend, buddy; a warm way to address someone. It's usually linked to the Afro-Cuban Abakuá society, and researcher Ivor Miller traces it to a greeting in the Efik language. Asere, hace siglos que no te veo. (Man, I haven't seen you in ages.)
• ¿qué bolá?: "what's up?". Also spelled ¿qué volá?, and often paired with asere. ¿Qué bolá, mi hermano? ¿Todo bien? (What's up, bro? All good?)
• consorte: close friend, partner in crime. Ese es mi consorte desde la primaria. (He's been my buddy since grade school.)
• ecobio: friend, brother. Tranquilo, que con mi ecobio no hay problema. (Relax, my brother's cool with it.)
• monina: pal, buddy. Oye, monina, ¿vienes o no? (Hey, buddy, are you coming or not?)
• socio / mi socio: friend, pal. The word is also used in the Canary Islands. Mi socio me ayudó con la mudanza. (My buddy helped me move.)
• el puro / la pura: dad and mom, in young people's slang. Also puretano/puretana. Tengo que llamar a la pura antes de salir. (I have to call my mom before I go out.)
• yuma: a foreigner, especially an American. La Yuma is the United States. Mi prima vive en la Yuma desde hace años. (My cousin has lived in the States for years.)
• jeba: girlfriend, girl. Esta noche salgo con mi jeba. (I'm going out with my girlfriend tonight.)

Everyday life

• guagua: bus. Where it comes from is debated; EcuRed lists several theories, from the sound of the horn to the English word wagon. La guagua viene llenísima. (The bus is packed.)
• almendrón: a classic car, usually a 1950s American model, working as a shared taxi. Cogimos un almendrón hasta el Vedado. (We took an old-car taxi to Vedado.)
• coger botella: to hitch a ride. No había guagua, así que cogí botella. (There was no bus, so I hitched a ride.)
• botero: a driver who gives rides for money, like a private taxi. El botero me dejó en la esquina. (The driver dropped me at the corner.)
• jaba: a bag you carry by hand. No te olvides la jaba para el pan. (Don't forget the bag for the bread.)
• fula: dollars, or hard currency in general. Heads-up: ser fula can also mean being a bad person or something being lousy. Eso se paga en fula. (You pay for that in dollars.)
• baro: money; also spelled varo. No tengo ni un baro. (I don't have a dime.)
• quilo (or kilo): a cent. Eso no vale ni un quilo. (That isn't worth a penny.)
• ¿quién es el último?: "who's last?", the question you ask when you join a line. Once you know who's ahead of you, you can step away and keep your place. ¿Quién es el último? Yo voy detrás de usted. (Who's last? I'm behind you, then.)
• pinchar / la pincha: to work / work, the job. Hoy no puedo, tengo que pinchar. (I can't today, I have to work.)
• pulóver: T-shirt (not a sweater!). Ponte un pulóver, que hace calor. (Put on a T-shirt, it's hot.)
• trusa: swimsuit. Echa la trusa en la mochila, que vamos a la playa. (Throw your swimsuit in the bag, we're going to the beach.)
• bombillo: light bulb. Se fundió el bombillo de la sala. (The living room bulb burned out.)

At the table

• vianda: not "food" in general, as in Spain, but starchy roots, tubers and fruits like yuca, boniato, malanga, plantain and squash. De acompañante hay arroz y vianda. (Rice and root vegetables on the side.)
• congrí: rice cooked together with beans. EcuRed keeps the name for red beans, but plenty of Cubans use it for black beans too. El congrí de mi abuela no tiene rival. (Nobody beats my grandma's congrí.)
• moros y cristianos: rice and black beans cooked together. Hoy toca moros y cristianos con lechón. (Today it's black beans and rice with roast pork.)
• tostones / chatinos: green plantain slices fried, smashed and fried again. Haz unos chatinos, que vienen visitas. (Make some tostones, we've got guests coming.)
• mariquitas: thin, crispy plantain chips. Con una cerveza, unas mariquitas son perfectas. (Plantain chips are perfect with a beer.)
• fruta bomba: papaya. In Cuba "papaya" has a cheeky double meaning, so stick with fruta bomba. Un batido de fruta bomba, por favor. (A papaya shake, please.)
• guarapo: freshly pressed sugarcane juice. Con este calor, un guarapo bien frío. (In this heat, an ice-cold guarapo.)
• cafecito: a small, strong, sweet shot of Cuban coffee topped with espumita, sugar whipped with the first drops. Vamos a tomarnos un cafecito. (Let's grab a cafecito.)
• colada: a larger cup of Cuban coffee with tiny cups for sharing. Trae una colada para la oficina. (Bring a colada for the office.)
• cortadito: Cuban coffee "cut" with milk, already sweetened. Para mí, un cortadito clarito. (A light cortadito for me.)
• pan con lechón: Cuban bread with roast pork, onions and mojo. En las fiestas nunca falta el pan con lechón. (No party is complete without pan con lechón.)
• frita: the Cuban "burger", popular in Havana since at least the 1920s. En Marianao se comían las mejores fritas. (Marianao had the best fritas.)

Everyday expressions

• tremendo/tremenda: huge, incredible, for better or worse. Se formó tremendo lío en la cola. (A huge fuss broke out in line.)
• estar en candela (or en llama): to be in a tough spot; literally "on fire". La cosa está en candela. (Things are rough.)
• no es fácil: "it's not easy", Cuba's all-purpose sigh, half joke, half resignation. —¿Cómo andas? —Ahí, no es fácil. (How are you? Hanging in there, it's not easy.)
• no cojas lucha: don't stress, don't sweat it. No cojas lucha, que eso se resuelve. (Don't sweat it, it'll get sorted out.)
• echar un pie: to dance. Esa orquesta da ganas de echar un pie. (That band makes you want to dance.)
• jamar / la jama: to eat / food. Vamos a jamar, que tengo hambre. (Let's eat, I'm starving.)
• dar muela (or meter muela): to talk a lot; also to sweet-talk or talk someone into something. Ese te da muela hasta que le digas que sí. (He'll talk your ear off until you say yes.)
• tirar un cabo: to lend a hand; literally "throw a rope". Tírame un cabo con estas cajas. (Give me a hand with these boxes.)
• estar mamey: to be great, just perfect (mamey is a tropical fruit). Este dulce está mamey. (This dessert is amazing.)
• arroz con mango: a mess, a mix-up; literally "rice with mango". Esa reunión fue tremendo arroz con mango. (That meeting was a total mess.)
• el choteo: Cuban teasing and joking around. Con él todo es choteo. (With him, everything's a joke.)
• fajarse: to get into a fight. Casi se fajan por el último puesto. (They almost came to blows over the last spot.)
• estar arrancado: to be broke. Este mes estoy arrancado. (I'm broke this month.)
• me piro: I'm out, I'm leaving. Bueno, me piro, que es tarde. (OK, I'm off, it's late.)
• una bola: a rumor. Corre la bola de que van a arreglar la calle. (Word is they're going to fix the street.)
• un güiro: a party. El sábado hay güiro en casa de Yoandy. (There's a party at Yoandy's on Saturday.)

Cuban Spanish in Miami

• parquear: to park (from English). No encuentro dónde parquear. (I can't find anywhere to park.)
• la ventanita: the walk-up window at Miami's Cuban cafés where you order a cafecito or a colada. Nos vemos en la ventanita a las ocho. (Meet you at the ventanita at eight.)
• Spanish in English clothing: FIU sociolinguist Phillip Carter has studied Miami English phrases that translate Spanish word for word, like get down from the car (from bajarse del carro) or put the light (from poner la luz). Get down from the car, we're here! (¡Bájate del carro, que llegamos!)

Regions and generations

Cuba doesn't speak with one voice. Some words change from east to west: plata for money is common in eastern Cuba and rare in Havana. Others depend on age: asere spread everywhere in the late 1980s, and puro/pura for parents sounds young. If a Cuban tells you "we don't say it like that", they're probably right... in their neighborhood.

Want more? The columns by Alexis Díaz-Pimienta and Ariel Camejo on OnCuba (in Spanish) are a joy.

Frequently asked questions

What does asere mean in Cuban?

Asere means friend or buddy, and it's used to address someone you're comfortable with. It's commonly linked to Abakuá, an Afro-Cuban tradition with roots in the Calabar region of West Africa.

What does "qué bolá" mean?

It's a casual greeting, roughly "what's up?". You'll see it spelled both "qué bolá" and "qué volá", usually followed by "asere".

Why do Cubans call the bus a guagua?

No one knows for sure. The most common theories point to the sound of an old horn ("gua, gua") and the English word wagon. The word is also used in the Canary Islands, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

What is a yuma in Cuba?

A yuma is a foreigner, especially an American, and "la Yuma" means the United States. It's casual slang, not an insult.

Last reviewed: October 2026.