Exploring Dominican Spanish: Accent, grammar and more

Spanish ranks among the world’s most spoken languages. Its wide geographical distribution has promoted the rise of diverse variants, a vibrant example of which is Dominican Spanish. The Dominican Republic may be renowned for its beaches and lively culture, but it’s also worth celebrating for its distinctive twist on the Spanish language.

Dominican Spanish stands out for its slang, accent and colorful expressions. A widespread diaspora of Dominican immigrants ensures that the beautiful Dominican accent is not limited to a single island in the Caribbean, but is also commonly heard throughout the United States — especially in the Northeast U.S. And this melodic variant has transcended borders through music, too, thanks to the influence of Dominican artists like Natti Natasha and Prince Royce.

Curious to learn more about the history and cadences of Dominican Spanish? Then let’s explore the evolution of Spanish in the Dominican Republic and discover what makes its accent and grammar so unique.

• Spanish in the Dominican Republic: A short history
• Dominican Spanish: Accent and grammar
• Common Dominican Spanish slang and phrases

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Spanish in the Dominican Republic: A short history

The influence of diverse cultures — including African, Taíno, Arawak and even U.S. culture — has shaped the particular evolution of Spanish in the Dominican Republic. But why exactly do Dominicans speak this language in the first place? And how have these other cultures influenced their variant of Spanish?

The present-day Dominican Republic was once part of the Spanish Empire. Christopher Columbus landed on the island (today shared with Haiti) in 1492. This island remained under Spanish colonial rule until the late-18th century, during which time settlers from Europe introduced the Spanish language.

Though much of the Spanish heard on this island initially derived from the Andalusian and Canarian dialects, other influences gradually emerged. Chief among these were influences of the indigenous Arawak population and the enslaved people from Africa. This explains why Dominican Spanish today incorporates words of both Arawak and African origin. English syntax also seeped into daily usage, owing to the U.S. occupation of the island from 1916 to 1924.

Nowadays, Spanish is recognized as the Dominican Republic’s official language. More than 10 million Dominican residents (of a total population of 11 million) speak Spanish. Nevertheless, the island’s geographical richness has led to the emergence of distinct dialects throughout the country, such as Cibaeño.

Dominican Spanish: Accent and grammar

Now that we’ve reviewed how Spanish evolved in the Dominican Republic, let’s get into what makes it so special.

The Dominican accent

What characteristics distinguish the Dominican accent from other variations throughout the Spanish-speaking world? Here are some notable features:

• The letter “d”: When a “d” is between two vowels, the Dominican accent tends to omit it. For example, instead of pronouncing abandonado (abandoned) with all of its letters, Dominicans will often pronounce it as abandona’o. As a general rule, any word ending with –ado will transform that sound to-a’o. This feature is not unlike Chilean Spanish.
• The letter “s”: The Dominican “s” is also often “swallowed,” or not pronounced. This is particularly true if the word ends with an “s,” but it can also occur when the letter is in another part of the word. Fiesta (party) may become fie’ta and isla (island) may become i’la.
• Replacing “r” with “l”: Dominicans (especially those from Cibao) tend to replace the “r” with an “l” when the former sound is placed at the end of a word or syllable. For example, perdóname (forgive me) will turn into peldóname and amor (love) into amol.
• Speed: Dominicans tend to speak much faster than other Spanish speakers, especially in comparison with North and Central American variations of the language.
• Yeísmo: The sounds “y” and “ll” are pronounced the same way in Dominican Spanish. This is different from the Argentinian accent, for instance, which pronounces “ll” as “sh.”

Dominican Spanish grammar

We can start to learn how to speak or understand Dominican Spanish by grasping the nuances of its pronunciation. Next, we should take it a step further and explore the grammar! Let’s take a look:

• Pronoun placement: In Dominican Spanish, the pronoun precedes the verb in a typical sentence. This is similar to the English construction, though it differs from the common Latin American practice of omitting the pronoun or placing it after the verb. So, while in México we may hear ¿cómo estás (tú)? (how are you?), Dominicans will often say ¿cómo tú estás? 
• Ustedes and not vosotros: As in other Latin American countries, the second-person plural pronoun is ustedes, not vosotros. For instance, Spaniards would say vosotros camináis (you walk), whereas Dominicans would say ustedes caminan.
• Contractions: Words and phrases are often shortened by Dominicans so that an entire phrase sounds like a single word. For example, instead of saying todo está bien (everything is okay), they may say to’ ‘ta bien.

Common Dominican Spanish slang and phrases

Up for some common Dominican Spanish slang and phrases? These may come in handy if you’re planning to visit a Dominican beach sometime soon. 

Let’s first dive into some vocabulary:

Dominican word	Meaning	Example sentence
allantoso	Someone who talks a lot but doesn’t act (bluffer)	Ella es muy allantosa. (She talks a lot but does little.)
bacano	great/cool	¡Qué bacana eres! (You’re great!)
fiebrú	Someone who is addicted to or fanatical about something	Daniela es una fiebrú del café. (Daniela is addicted to coffee.)
jepeta	SUV	Voy en la jepeta. (I’m coming with the SUV.)
kachú	ketchup	La hamburguesa sin kachú (the burger without ketchup)
nítido	cool	Tus zapatos están nítidos. (Your shoes are cool.)
palomo	a man who is shy when flirting	Él es un palomo y no me ha invitado a salir. (He’s shy and hasn’t asked me out.)
pana	a buddy	Él es pana mío desde bebés. (He’s been my buddy since we were babies.)
tato	it’s all good	Aquí tato. (It’s all good here.)
ticher	t-shirt	Mi ticher está sucia. (My t-shirt is dirty.)
tíguere	an astute man	Él es un tíguere, ten cuidado. (He’s astute, be careful.)
vaguada	a storm	Se viene una vaguada. (There’s a storm coming.)
vaina	a random thing	Esta vaina no tiene sentido. (This thing doesn’t make sense.)
viejebo	someone who is older but adopts cultural characteristics of younger generations	Todos en este bar son viejebos. (Everyone in this bar is older but acts young.)
yala	alright	Yala, yo no te busco más. (Alright, I won’t reach out anymore.)

Common phrases:

Dominican phrase	Meaning
¡Qué vaina!	How annoying!
¿Qué lo que?	What’s up?
Alante, alante	You’re getting ahead of yourself.
Móntame la pura	Be honest with me.
Te pasaste	You’ve crossed a line.
Vamo’ a lo que vinimo’	Let’s do what we came to do (to act without delay).

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‘Yala’

Yala (alright), that was our quick rundown of Dominican Spanish and its nuances! Whether you’re learning more about this variant thanks to an upcoming trip or just out of curiosity, we hope that this article has given you a good baseline. If you’re indeed planning to visit the beautiful island, ¡disfruta esa vaina! (enjoy “that thing”!).

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