Guide to Costa Rican Spanish

Día de la Madre – Mother’s Day
Futura madre – an expectant mother
Lengua madre – mother tongue or first language
¡Madre de Dios¡ – Good heavens!
Madre patria – mother country
Madre política – mother-in-law. Suegra is more common.
Madre primeriza – first time mother
Madrear – to insult someone. In México madrear means to kick someone’s butt or hit them hard.
Madreperla – mother-of-pearl
Madre soltera – an unmarried mother
Mentar la madre – to insult someone’s mother (Don’t do it!)
Salirse de la madre – to go to far or go beyond bounds (figuratively)
¡tu madre! – F…you or Get f…ked! (very, very insulting). Be prepared to get into a fight or even die if you say this to the wrong person.

Tiquismo or Costa Rican expression

Madre solo una y como ella ninguna – There is nobody like one’s mother.
Madre solo una y como la mía ninguna – There is no mother like mine.
Mamacita solo una y como tu ninguna – Something nice to say to a woman you like. It’s a piropo or compliment.

The noun “trabajo” means “work” and the verb “trabajar” means “to work.” Both have many idiomatic uses.

Ahorrarse el trabajo – to save oneself the work
Dar trabajo – to be hard to do. Esta tarea me da mucho trabajo – This task is hard to do. Dar trabajo can also mean to give work or a job to someone.
El hijo está trabajando a su madre para sacarle plata – The kid is working his mother to get some money out of her.
El tiempo trabaja a nuestro favor or tenemos el tiempo de nuestro lado – Time is working for us or time is on our side.
No trabajamos este producto – We don’t carry that product. You here this a lot in Costa Rica
Partirse el lomo – to break one’s back working
Tomarse el trabajo de + verb or tomarse la molestia de + verb – to take the trouble to do something
Trabajo a destajo – piecework or to get paid by the piece.
Trabajo fijo– a permanent job
Trabajo forzado – forced labor
Trabajo manual – manual labor
Trabajo provisional or trabajo temporal – temporary work
Trabajar como loco – to work like crazy
Trabajar como un esclavo or hormiga (to work like a slave or ant) – to work hard or work a lot.
Trabajar de sol a sol (to work from dawn to dusk)– to work all day
Trabajar medio tiempo – to work half time
Trabajar mucho or duro – to work hard
Trabajar para vivir o vivir para trabajar – work to live or live to work
Trabajar tiempo completo – to work full time

Tiquismos and expressions

• Brete is the word for work in Costa Rica. Also bretear may be used instead of the verb trabajar.
• Amasando se hace el pan – Only by working can you finish a task.
• El trabajo enfanga el espiritu – Work is a drag.
• No hay atajo sin trabajo – There is no shortcut without work.

According to Hamel’s Bilingual Dictionary of Mexicanismos (Mexican Spanish) the word chingadera means trash or nonsense. During my youth when I was living and studying in México in the 1960s I became familiar with this term and most of its uses.

(1) Chingadera
Esta tienda vende puras chingaderas. This shop sells nothing but crap or trash.

Quita esa chingadera de allí. Get rid of that trash (figurative). The equivalent in Costa Rican Spanish. Quita esa basura or mierda de allí

No digas tantas chingaderas. Stop talking nonsense. Here you might hear Dejá de hablar tanta paja(B.S.) or mierda (crap).

(2) Chingar
In Mexico the verb chingar usually means to bother (molestar), to harm (dañar), to make sacrifices (sacrificarse) or to screw someone (figuratively or literally), etc.

No me andes chingando – Stop fucking with me! Here you will probably here . ¡No jodás!

Eso me chinga mucho. That bothers me a lot.

Se chingó la fiesta The party got all screwed up. In Mexico they also say Se aguó la fiesta.

Me chingo trabajando día y noche – I work my butt off day and night. In Mexico they also say, Me deshuevo trabajando I bust my balls working. I have also heard, Me deslomo or me parto la espalda trabajando– I break my back working

(3) In Mexico Chingo means “a lot” .
Here it means nude (desnudo). Also in Costa Rica “Dormir a chanco chingo” means to sleep well. Getting back to Mexican Spanish.

Te quiero un chingo – I love you a lot. Here you might hear te quiero a montones or un montón.

Gasté un chingo de dinero. I spent a lot of money. In Costa Rican pachuco you can say Gasté un montón de plata. I have also heard Gasté un hueval de plata (sort of vulgar).

The noun “trabajo” means “work” and the verb “trabajar” means “to work.” Both have some special uses.

Ahorrarse el trabajo – to save oneself the work
Dar trabajo – to be hard to do. Esta tarea me da mucho trabajo – This task is hard to do. Dar trabajo can also mean to give work or a job to someone.
El hijo está trabajandoa su madrepara sacarle plata – The kid is working his mother to get some money out of her.
El tiempo trabaja a nuestro favor or tenemos el tiempo de nuestro lado – Time is working for us.
No trabajamos este producto – We don’t carry that product. You here this a lot in Costa Rica
Partirse el lomo – to break one’s back working
Tomarse el trabajo de + verb or tomarse la molestia de + verb – to take the trouble to do something
Trabajo a destajo – piecework or to get paid by the piece.
Trabajo fijo– a permanent job
Trabajo forzado – forced labor
Trabajo manual – manual labor
Trabajo provisional or trabajo terporal – temporary work
Trabajar como loco – to work like crazy
Trabajar como un esclavo or hormiga (to work like a slave or ant) – to work hard or work a lot.
Trabajar de sol a sol – to work all day
Trabajar medio tiempo – to work half time
Trabajar mucho or duro – to work hard
Trabajar para vivir o vivir para trabajar – work to live or live to work
Trabajar tiempo completo – to work full time

Tiquismos and expressions

• Brete is the word for work in Costa Rica. Also bretear may be used instead of the verb trabajar.
• Amasando se hace el pan – Only by working can you finish a task.
• El trabajo enfanga el espíritu – Work is a drag.
• No hay atajo sin trabajo – There is no shortcut without work.

A law-abiding man – hombre de orden
An order of food – una orden de comida
Alphabetical order – orden alfabético
A common place occurrence – estar a la orden del día
An order (books, etc.)- un pedido de + noun
At your command or service – a sus órdenes
Get your life in order – poner su vida en orden
In a disorganized way – sin orden ni concierto
In order – en orden
In the wrong order – Estar mal ordenado
Keep order – mantener el orden. Mantenga a los niños en orden. Keep the children in order.
Law and order – el orden or la ley y el orden
Made to order – hecho a la medida or hecho a gusto del cliente
Obey orders – cumplir or obedecer órdenes
Order in the court – ¡orden en la sala!
Orders are orders – órdenes son órdenes
Out of order (broken or doesn’t work)– fuera de servicio or no funciona or está averiado
Papers are in order – los papeles están en regla or en orden
Rush order – un pedido urgente
The old order – antiguo régimen
The order of things – la ley de la vida
To order someone to do something – Mandar or ordenar a alguien hacer algo.
To order something in a restaurant – pedir or ordenar (verbs)
To put into order – ordenar or poner en orden
To take orders – recibir órdenes
Under the orders of – bajo las ordenes de. Los soldados están bajo las ódenes del general.

tiquismo (Costa Rican expression)

Pasearse en la olla de leche – to spoil something. Cagarse en la olla de leche is a very vulgar version. It means to defecate in the milk or “screw up.”