AdultLingoSpanish course › Section 4 › Unit 20
💢 Anger, Venting & Heated Outbursts in Spanish
Express frustration and anger like a native. Cursing at situations, blowing off steam, fury, reacting when things go wrong.
“Rose here. Two weeks on a cruise with my fiancé's family has given me a lot to say, and Spanish has the perfect words for all of it. Let's learn to lose our temper properly, and then find it again.” — Rose, your host for this unit
Practise this unit free ➔Key Spanish words and phrases
| Spanish | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ¡qué rabia! | how annoying!, so frustrating! |
| la nariz | nose |
| estar hasta las narices (de…) | to be fed up (with…) (colloquial) |
| el barco | ship, boat |
| harto | fed up, sick of it |
| cabrear | to piss off, make angry (colloquial, Spain) |
| el coñazo | a pain in the ass (vulgar, Spain) |
| mosqueado | miffed, annoyed (colloquial, Spain) |
| desahogarse | to vent, get it off your chest |
| sacar de quicio | to drive someone up the wall |
| me pone de los nervios | it gets on my nerves |
| déjame en paz | leave me alone |
| ¡basta ya! | enough already! |
| no me toques las narices | quit bugging me (colloquial, Spain) |
| la vida | life |
| decidir | to decide |
| hablar | to talk, speak |
| el tono | tone |
| estoy que exploto | I'm about to explode |
| gritar | to shout, scream |
| el mar | the sea |
| me hierve la sangre | my blood is boiling |
| cabreado | pissed off, furious (colloquial, Spain) |
| ¡que te den! | screw you! (rude) |
| me cago en todo | fuck it all (vulgar) |
| vete a la mierda | fuck off, go to hell (vulgar) |
| encabronado | pissed off (vulgar, Mexico) |
| pagarlo con… | to take it out on someone |
| pasarse | to go too far, overstep |
| no es culpa tuya | it's not your fault |
| de mala leche | in a foul mood (colloquial, Spain) |
| hacer las paces | to make up (after a fight) |
| calmarse | to calm down |
| enfadado | angry (Spain) |
| sino | but (rather) (after a negative) |
| estar hasta el moño (de…) | to be fed up (with…) (colloquial, clean) |
| mandar a freír espárragos | to tell someone to get lost (colloquial, clean) |
Example sentences
I'm fed up with this ship.
Do you want to vent a little?
I'm sick of them planning my life.
Don't talk to me in that tone
I need to scream at the sea.
Sorry, I needed to vent a bit.
Hey, don't take it out on me.
I'm not angry with you, but with them.
A conversation from this unit
Barcelona port day. Rose comes out of a photo shop on the Ramblas with an empty envelope.
Rose: ¡Qué rabia! Han perdido mis fotos de Palma.How annoying! They've lost my photos of Palma.
Jack: ¿Todas? ¿Las de la playa también?All of them? The beach ones too?
Rose: Todas. Estoy que exploto.All of them. I'm about to explode.
Jack: Tranquila. ¿Quieres desahogarte un poco?Easy. Do you want to vent a little?
Jack: Vale. Vamos al mar: allí puedes gritar.OK. Let's go to the sea: you can scream there.
Rose: ¿Y mis fotos?And my photos?
Jack: Hacemos más. Tengo mi cámara.We'll take more. I've got my camera.
Culture notes
Lunch in a busy Barcelona restaurant. At the next table, four friends are talking over each other, louder and louder. Jack looks worried. What's most likely going on?
Nothing much: in Spain, loud, overlapping conversation is normal among friends, even about trivial things.
Spaniards tend to talk loudly and interrupt each other, and jumping in shows you're engaged, not rude. A table that sounds like a row is usually friends arguing happily about football, politics or where to eat next. Volume alone doesn't mean anyone is angry.
Say it like a local: No están enfadados, es su manera de hablar. — They're not angry, it's just how they talk.
Breakfast on deck. Marta, Rose's Spanish friend, puts down her phone: her ex has called for the fifth time this morning. «¡Estoy hasta el moño!» What does Marta mean?
She's completely fed up.
Moño is a hair bun, and estar hasta el moño ("to be up to the bun") means being fed up, filled right to the top. Spain has a whole set of these: hasta el moño, hasta las narices, hasta la coronilla (the crown of the head). They're colloquial but clean, so you can say them to anyone, bun or no bun. The vulgar version, hasta los huevos, is for close friends only.
Say it like a local: ¡Estoy hasta el moño! — I'm fed up! (lit. "I'm up to the bun")
In a café by Barcelona's port, the bill is twice what the menu said, and the waiter shrugs. Rose is fuming. What's the most effective thing she can do?
Calmly ask for the hoja de reclamaciones, the official complaint form every business must have.
Every business in Spain that serves the public must keep official complaint forms (hojas de reclamaciones) and display a sign saying so. A filed complaint goes to the consumer authorities, so asking for it calmly often fixes the problem on the spot. A cool, firm request works better than shouting.
Say it like a local: Quiero la hoja de reclamaciones, por favor. — I'd like the complaint form, please.
Lupe, the Mexican bartender on board, says she's «enojada» with the new shift manager. Rose has only ever heard «enfadada». What's the difference?
Same meaning: enojada is the everyday word in Mexico and most of Latin America; enfadada is the everyday word in Spain.
Both mean "angry". In Mexico and most of Latin America people say enojado/enojada; in Spain the everyday word is enfadado/enfadada, and enojado sounds more formal or bookish. Pick the one your listener uses, and match the ending to the speaker: Rose says enfadada, Jack says enfadado.
Say it like a local: ¿Estás enfadada conmigo? — Are you angry with me? (to a woman, Spain)
In a bar in Palma, a man keeps pestering Rose after she's said no twice. Marta leans over: «Mándalo a freír espárragos.» What is Marta telling Rose to do?
Tell him to get lost.
Mandar a alguien a freír espárragos ("to send someone to fry asparagus") means telling them to go away and leave you alone. To his face it's ¡vete a freír espárragos! It's colloquial and clearly a brush-off, but it has no swear word in it, so it does the job of vete a la mierda without the vulgarity. After two noes, nobody owes a pest any more politeness than that.
Say it like a local: ¡Vete a freír espárragos! — Get lost! (lit. "Go and fry asparagus!")
Learn it properly
In the app, Rose takes you through this unit in short lessons: multiple choice, matching and building sentences from tiles, with audio, plus listening scenes, chats that react to your replies, read-the-room choices, culture cards and a drama episode. Words you learn come back in review right before you'd forget them. It's free and there's no account: progress stays in your browser.
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