Chilean Spanish

Updated on Nov 23, 2023

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Chilean Spanish (Spanish: español chileno, español de Chile or castellano de Chile) is any of several varieties of Spanish spoken in most of Chile. Chilean Spanish dialects have distinctive pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and slang usage that differ from those of standard Spanish.

Variation and accents

In Chile, there are not many differences between the Spanish spoken in the northern, central and southern areas of the country, although there are notable differences in zones of the far south—such as Aysén, Magallanes (mainly along the border with Argentina), and Chiloé—and in Arica in the extreme north. There is, however, much variation in the Spanish spoken by different social classes. In rural areas from Santiago to Valdivia, Chilean Spanish shows the historical influence of the Castúo dialects of Extremadura (Spain), but some authors point to the Spanish province of Andalusia and more specifically to the city of Seville as an even greater influence on the historical development of Chilean Spanish.

Phonetics and phonology

There are a number of phonetic features common to most Chilean accents, though none of them individually are unique to Chilean Spanish. Rather, it is the particular combination of features that sets Chilean Spanish apart from other regional Spanish dialects. These features include:

Yeísmo, the historical merger of the phoneme /ʎ/ (spelled ⟨ll⟩) with /ʝ/ (spelled ⟨y⟩). For speakers with yeísmo, the verbs cayó 's/he fell' and calló 's/he fell silent' are homophones, both pronounced [kaˈʝo]. (In dialects that lack yeísmo, maintaining the historical distinction, the two words are pronounced respectively [kaˈʝo] and [kaˈʎo].) Yeísmo characterizes the speech of most Spanish-speakers both in Spain and in the Americas. In Chile, there are some speakers who are not yeístas and maintain the distinction, mainly in a dwindling few Andean areas south of Santiago.

Like all American dialects of Spanish, Chilean Spanish has seseo: the traditional phoneme /θ/ merges with /s/. In much of the Andean region, the merged phoneme is pronounced as apicoalveolar [s̺], a sound transitional between laminodental [s] and palatal [ʃ]. This phonetic trait (unique in the Americas) is associated with a large number of northern Spanish settlers in Andean Chile.

Word- and syllable-final /s/ is often aspirated to [h] or lost entirely, another feature common to many varieties of Spanish in the Americas, as well as to the Canary Islands and the southern half of Spain. Whether final /s/ aspirates or is elided depends on a number of social, regional, and phonological factors, but in general, aspiration is most frequent when preceding a consonant. Complete elision is most commonly found word-finally, and it carries a sociolinguistic stigma. Thus, los chilenos '(the) Chileans' can be [lɔh t͡ʃiˈleːnɔ].

The velar consonants /k/, /ɡ/, and /x/ are fronted or palatalized before front vowels. Thus, queso 'cheese', guía 'guide', and jinete 'rider/horseman' are pronounced respectively [ˈceːso], [ˈɟi.a], and [çiˈn̪eːt̪e]. For /x/, it is pronounced either [h] or [x] in other phonological environments; thus caja 'box' and rojo 'red' are pronounced [ˈkaxa] ~ [ˈkaha] and [ˈroxo] ~ [ˈroho] respectively.

Between vowels and word-finally, /d/ commonly elides or lenites (a process common throughout the Spanish-speaking world), so that contado 'told' and ciudad 'city' are [kon̪ˈt̪aːo] and [sjuˈð̞aː] respectively. Elision is less common in formal or upper-class speech.

The voiceless postalveolar affricate /t͡ʃ/ is pronounced as a fricative [ʃ] by many lower-class speakers (thus, Chile is pronounced [ˈʃiːle]). This type of pronunciation is viewed as very undesirable. Other variants are more fronted, and include an alveolar affricate, [t͡s], and an even more fronted dental affricate, [t̪͡s̪], mostly used by the upper class.

Unstressed word-final vowels are often devoiced.

Syntax and grammar

Doubling the object clitics me, te, se, lo(s), la(s) and le(s) before and after the verb is common in less-educated or lower-class speech. For example, 'I'm going to go' becomes me voy a irme (standard Spanish accepts me voy a ir and voy a irme). 'I'm going to give them to you' becomes te las voy a dártelas.

The queísmo (when que is used instead of de que) is socially accepted and used in the media, while the dequeísmo (using de que instead of just que) is somewhat stigmatized.

In common speech, the conjugations of the Imperative mood of a small number of verbs tend to be replaced with the indicative singular third person. For example, the 2nd person singular imperative of poner 'to put', pon, becomes pone; the one of hacer 'to do', haz, becomes hace; and the one of salir 'to exit', sal, becomes sale. Ex: hace lo que te pedí 'do what I asked'. However, that is not allowed in formal speaking. Chilean Spanish speakers also replace the etymological 2nd person singular imperative of the verb ir 'to go', ve, with the 2nd person singular imperative of andar 'to walk', anda, while ve is reserved for the verb ver 'to see'. Ex: ve la hora 'look at the time'.

Another feature to note is the lack of use of the possessive nuestro 'our', which is usually replaced by de nosotros 'of us'. Ex: ándate a la casa de nosotros lit. 'go to the house of us', instead of ándate a nuestra casa 'go to our house'.

It is very common in Chile, as in many other Latin American countries, to use the diminutive suffixes -ito and -ita. They do not only mean 'little', as in perrito 'little dog' or casita 'little house', but also have the additional functions of expressing affection, as with mamita 'mummy, mommy'), or of diminishing the urgency, directness or importance of something, to make something annoying seem more pleasant. So, if someone says espérese un momentito lit. 'wait a little moment', it does not mean that the moment will be short, but that the speaker wants to make waiting more palatable while possibly hinting that the moment may turn out to be quite long.

Pronouns and verbs

Chileans use the voseo and tuteo forms for the intimate second person singular. Voseo is common in Chile, with both pronominal and verbal voseo being widely used in the spoken language. However, unlike in neighboring Argentina, neither is deemed acceptable as part of any written document except as reported speech. Voseo of any kind is considered bad linguistic form and generally labels the speaker as unsophisticated, rude or lacking in education.

In Chile there are at least four grades of formality:

1. Pronominal and verbal voseo, that is, the use of the pronoun vos (with the corresponding voseo verbs).
For example: vos sabís, vos venís, vos hablái, etc.
This combination occurs only in very informal situations and should be approached and used with caution by foreigners. It is always considered rude and insulting but is tolerated and enjoyed as part of friendly bonding and banter. However, with even a slight change in intonation it can change from a tone of friendly banter to a form of insult in a heated argument, even among friends. Non-natives should refrain from using vos until sufficient understanding of its use is gained.

2. Verbal voseo, using the pronoun tú.
For example: tú sabís, tú venís, tú hablái, etc.
This kind of voseo is the predominant form used in the spoken language. It should never be used in formal situations or with people one is not very familiar with.

3. Standard tuteo.
For example: tú sabes, tú vienes, tú hablas, etc.
This is the only acceptable way of writing the intimate second person singular. Its use in spoken language is reserved for slightly more formal situations such as (some) child-to-parent, teacher-to-student or peer-to-peer relations among people who are not familiar with each other.

4. The use of the pronoun usted.
For example: usted sabe, usted viene, usted habla, etc.
Used for all business and other formal interactions (e.g. student-to-teacher, but not always teacher-to-student), as well as "upwards" in situations where one person is considered to be well respected, older or of an obviously higher social standing. Stricter parents will demand this kind of speech from their children as well.

The Chilean voseo conjugation has only three irregular verbs in the present indicative: ser 'to be', ir 'to go', and haber 'to have' (auxiliary).

Ser

In Chile there are various ways to say 'you are' to one person.

Vo(s)soi
Vo(s) erí(s)
Tú soi
Tú erí(s)
Tú eres
Usted es

The first four are considered unneducated speaking and the ending (s) in these forms is omitted or aspirated. The educated speaker says "you are" only as the last two cases.

Conjugation

A comparison of the conjugation of the Chilean voseo, the general voseo used in Latin American countries except Chile, and the tuteo.

* Rioplatense Spanish prefers the tuteo verb forms.

Vocabulary

Chilean Spanish has a great deal of distinctive slang and vocabulary. Some examples of distinctive Chilean slang include gallo/a (guy/gal), fome (boring), pololear (to go out as girlfriend/boyfriend), pelambre (gossip), poto (buttocks), quiltro (mutt) and chomba (knitted sweater). In addition, several words in Chilean Spanish are borrowed from neighboring Amerindian languages.

Argentine and Rioplatense influence

In Chilean Spanish there is lexical influence from Argentine dialects, which suggests a covert prestige, since Chilean attitudes toward Argentine cultural traits are often negative. Lexical influences cut across the different social strata of Chile. Argentine summer tourism in Chile and Chilean tourism in Argentina provide a channel for influence on the speech of the upper class. The middle classes receive Argentine influence by watching football on cable television and Argentine programs on broadcast television. La Cuarta, a popular Chilean newspaper, regularly employs words and expressions from the lunfardo slang of the Buenos Aires region. Usually Chileans do not recognize the Argentine borrowings as such, claiming they are Chilean terms and expressions. The relation between Argentine dialects and Chilean Spanish is one of asymmetric permeability, with Chilean Spanish adopting sayings from Argentine variants but usually not the reverse.

Coa and Lunfardo expressions

Lunfardo is an argot of the Spanish language that originated in the late 19th century among lower classes of Buenos Aires and Montevideo. Coa is an argot common among criminals in Chile. It has been heavily influenced by Lunfardo. Examples of Lunfardo and Coa words and phrases in Chilean Spanish are:

Mapudungun loanwords

The Mapudungun language has left a relatively small number of words in Chilean Spanish, given its large geographic expanse. Most Mapudungun loans are names for plants and animals for example:

Quechua loanwords

The Quechua language is probably the Amerindian language that has given Chilean Spanish the largest number of loan words. For example, the names of many American vegetables in Chilean Spanish are derived from Quechuan names, rather than from Nahuatl or Taíno as in Standard Spanish. Some of the words of Quechuan origin include:

French, German and English loanwords

There are some expressions of non-Hispanic European origin such as British, German or French. They came with the arrival of the European immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries. There is also a certain influence from the mass media.

Example

An example of a text in normal, carefully spoken Latin American Spanish and the same text with very relaxed pronunciation in informal Chilean Spanish of lower class people: