Joke formulas
¿Qué le dice…?, van dos y…, había una vez…
Spanish jokes come in a few fixed shapes. Recognise the opening and you know a joke is coming.
¿Qué le dice…?What does X say to Y?
¿Quéwhatle dicesaysuna pareda walla otra?to another
¿Cómo se dice … en …?How do you say … in …?
¿Cómohowse diceone-says……en alemán?in German
Van dos y…Two people walk along and…
Vangodostwoporalongla calle…the street
Había una vez…Once upon a time…
Habíathere-wasuna vezone timeun pollitoa chickquewhose llamaba Pío.was-called Tweet
Esto es un señor que…This is a man who…
Estothisesisun señora manquewhoentragoes-inen un bar…into a bar
Juegos de palabras
One word, two meanings
These words carry most Spanish puns. Learning their two meanings is the key to half the jokes you will hear.
Irony and sarcasm
¡Qué listo!, sí, claro, ni que fuera…
Ironic Spanish says the opposite of what it means, with tone doing the work. Each phrase below can be sincere or sarcastic; the right-hand column shows the ironic sense.
Characters and targets
Jaimito, Lepe and the Argentinian ego
Every Spanish-speaking country has stock joke characters. Know them and you will understand why a room laughs at a single name.
Spain and Latin AmericaJaimitoThe cheeky schoolboy, like Little Johnny: rude answers in class.—Jaimito, ¿qué es un volcán?“Jaimito, what’s a volcano?”
SpainLos de LepeA town in Huelva, the target of “silly people” jokes; Lepe has embraced it with a joke festival.En Lepe…“In Lepe…”
Latin AmericaEl argentinoThe stereotype of Argentine pride, told across the continent and by Argentines themselves.Comprar un argentino por lo que vale y venderlo por lo que cree que vale.“The best business: buy an Argentine for what he’s worth and sell him for what he thinks he’s worth.”
MexicoEl alburFast double-meaning wordplay, often cheeky, a verbal duel between friends.No te albures.“Don’t get caught out.”
Laughing, in speech and text
Jajaja, jejeje, me parto
Spanish j is an h sound, so laughter is written jajaja. The vowel changes the laugh, and there are spoken phrases for laughing hard.
¿Has visto el vídeo?Have you seen the video?
jajajajajabig laugh
jejea small, shy laugh
xDlaughing face (eyes shut)
me meoI’m wetting myself (laughing)
Keep going