This one's
VERY family-friendly slang (in more ways than one, lol).
But
padre is actually dead simple.
Because as slang, it
ALWAYS means that something's good, cool, or awesome.
Always!
💦 ¡Aguas!In Mexican Spanish, when you're giving your subjective, personal opinion about something, you'll very often use
ESTAR instead of
SER…
Está muy padre la fiesta.The party is really cool.
Está muy padre tu chamarra.Your jacket is really cool.
Use
SER when you’re describing something as generally cool or inherently nice:
Su chamba es muy padre, la neta.Honestly, his work is really cool.
👩
Madre may well be the queen of Mexican slang,
BUT it's also kinda confusing (it can be both
VERY positive and
VERY negative).
And, unlike
padre, expressions with
madre are very often vulgar… or at least a little rough around the edges.
Useful patterns 🧩Estaría padre + infinitive / que…Used to say that something would be nice, cool, or fun.Estaría padre ir algún día.It would be nice to go someday.
Estaría padre que vinieras con nosotros.It would be cool if you came with us.
Va a estar padreUsed to say that something is going to be cool, fun, or enjoyable.La fiesta va a estar padre.The party is going to be fun.
Vas a ver, va a estar padre.You’ll see, it’s going to be great.
Lo padre es que…The good/cool thing is that…👍 Rupert's top tip:
ALWAYS use
ser here.
Lo padre es que siempre hay algo que hacer.The cool thing is that there’s always something to do.
Lo padre fue que conocimos a mucha gente.The cool thing was that we met loads of people.
Lo padre de + noun / infinitiveThe good/cool thing about…Lo padre de este trabajo es la flexibilidad.The good thing about this job is the flexibility.
Lo padre de esta película es el final.The cool thing about this movie is the ending.