Often called Rioplatense Spanish (castellano rioplatense), the colloquial language of Argentina and Uruguay is one of the most unique dialects of Spanish. The most noticeable difference is its use of vos in place of tú. Along with this comes the voseo style of conjugating verbs in the second-person present tense and imperative mood. These conjugations form come from Old Spanish and are often similar to the vosotros conjugation used in Spain.

Present Tense Examples:

poder (to be able)
tú puedes
vos podés

tener (to have)
tú tienes
vos tenés

salir (to leave)
tú sales
vos salís

Imperative Mood Examples:

venir (to come)
tú ven
vos vení

decir (to say)
tú di
vos decí

soltar (to let go)
tú suelta
vos soltá

Argentine Spanish also employs local slang called lunfardo. These words often come from Italian - due to the historically large number of Italian immigrants - as well as Portuguese and native languages such as Guaraní and Quechua. This lesson includes some of the most common slang word you’re likely to encounter as well as an introduction to the voseo.

For a more complete collection of Argentine Slang words, check out our app Porteño Spanish.