Published on April 26, 2024
A study of Argentinian Spanish
Argentinian Spanish has some unmistakable pronunciation and vocabulary, making it one of the most easy-to-identify accents for Spanish language learners. Some people refer to it as castellano, leaving you wondering “Does Argentina speak Spanish?” According to the Argentinian government, the official language is indeed Spanish (español). If you hear someone shush-ing their double-Ls or using the word “ché”, then you are likely hearing Argentinian Spanish.
So how is Argentinian Spanish different from other regions of the world? Pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary make this variant of the language unique in the Spanish-speaking world. Here’s a short study of these differences, so you’ll have what you need if you’re headed to Argentina.
Like all countries in Latin America, Spanish was brought by Spanish conquistadores in the 16th century during the conquest and colonization of South America. Over time, with the influence of indigenous languages and other European languages such as Italian and French, Argentinian Spanish took shape. While it is the idiom of the majority of the population, other languages such as Mapuche, Guaraní and Quechua are still spoken in Argentina’s indigenous communities.
Common words in daily language like “mate” (tea) and “maracuyá” (passion fruit) originate from Guaraní language while words like “gaucho” (cowboy) and “choclo” (corn) come from Quechua.
Starting in the late 19th century through the mid-20th century, some 3 million Italians migrated to Argentina. Lunfardo is the term for Buenos Aires slang that combines lexical and phonetic elements of Italian, Spanish and French. Some of this slang has been incorporated into typical daily speech in the country.
The territory of Argentina extends greatly and some very different accents and regionalisms can be distinguished in the western, central or northern provinces. The dialect spoken in Buenos Aires – commonly known as “Argentinian Spanish”- is called Rioplatense and it originates in the Rio de Plata basin. If you took a map and drew a circle of roughly 500km around Buenos Aires City, you would be looking at the birthplace of Rioplatense (yes, almost the entirety of Uruguay is part of it too).
The metropolis of Buenos Aires and its surrounding province is home to almost half of the country’s population. Most of the Argentinian media outlets are also based in the city, so it is not surprising that this dialect spread through television, radio and pop culture into the rest of the country too.
The Argentinian Spanish accent can sound quite different if you’re used to the Mexican Spanish accent featured in most North American Spanish-language media. Check out this TikTok prank video from @anantasworld and see if you can hear the following features:
Yeísmo – In Argentina the “ll” and “y” are pronounced like /sh/ or /zh/. This phenomenon is known as yeísmo or colloquially as “sheísmo”. So se calló (he shut his mouth) is the same as se cayó (it fell). In Argentinian Spanish, they are both pronounced as /se ca-SHO/.
Seseo – The seseo is present in both southern Spain (where Latin America’s colonizers hailed from) and most Latin American countries. Seseo is the term for when the “z” and “c” are pronounced the same as the “s”. So casa (house) and caza (hunt) are pronounced the same /CA-sa/. Compare that with Spain’s pronunciation of casa /CA-sa/ and caza /CA-tha/.
Aspiration of the ‘s’ – Like many South American countries, Argentinian Spanish tends to aspirate the ‘s’ sound. It may sound like an /h/ or be absent altogether. For example, the phrase es el mismo (it’s the same) sounds like /EH el MIH-mo/ or even /EH el MI-mo/.
Dropping the final ‘r’ – Argentinians may also drop the final “r” in infinitive verbs. The word parar (to stop) is pronounced as parà /pa-RA/.
In Argentinian Spanish there is a pronounced use of the voseo, meaning the use of vos as the informal you instead of tú.
| English | Standard Spanish | Argentinian Spanish |
| you love | tú amas | vos amás |
| you are | tú eres | vos sos |
| you have | tú tienes | vos tenés |
| you go | tú vas | vos vas |
In Argentina there is also a preference for using the “ir a + [infinitive verb]” (going to + verb) rather than the future tense. For example, instead of saying descansaré un poco (I will rest a little), Argentinians will say “voy a descansar un poco” (I’m going to rest a little).
There are a lot of unique slang and vocabulary words. You can always consult an Argentinian Spanish dictionary if you don’t know. Here’s a brief list to get you started:
Fun fact: The word bondi originally comes from the Brazilian minibus company “Bond”. Brazilians are notorious in South America for turning a final consonant into a vowel sound, so when they pronounced it, the word “bondi” (/BON-dzhi/ in Brazilian Portuguese) was born. Soon, the term was adopted by neighbors in Argentina.
Argentinian Spanish is one of the most recognizable dialects in the Spanish-speaking world. The use of voseo, seseo, yeísmo, the aspirate ‘s’ and influences of Italian and indigenous languages make Argentinian Spanish sound unique. Like many countries in Latin America, there are regional differences, particularly between the capital and other areas. But if you follow these key elements you can understand and even sound like an Argentinian in no time.
