This guide covers common conversational expressions: menos mal, ya era hora, ni hablar, me da igual, and others. Unlike idioms such as meter la pata (literally “to stick your paw in it”), these mostly mean what their words say. The hard part is knowing which situation each one is used in, because several of them translate to similar English phrases.
For each expression, learn two things: the situation it is used in, and which words in it change (for example, the verb conjugates or an adjective agrees). Some expressions never change.
1. Reactions
These four phrases are used as responses. They never change form: no conjugation and no agreement.
Menos mal
Menos mal = thank goodness, good thing. Use it for relief that something bad didn’t happen. It is often followed by que + what prevented it: Menos mal que me lo recordaste. (Good thing you reminded me.)
El pastel casi se quema uses the present tense for something that almost happened in the past. This is very common in spoken Spanish: casi me caigo (I almost fell), casi dejo el pasaporte (I almost left my passport). The preterite (casi se quemó) is also correct.
Ya era hora
Ya era hora = about time, finally. Use it for relief mixed with impatience after a long wait.
Para colmo
Para colmo = to top it all off. It adds the last bad thing to a list of bad things, so at least one bad thing has to come before it.
Ni hablar
Ni hablar = no way, absolutely not. It is a firm refusal, literally “not even (worth) talking about.” It can also report a refusal: Le dije que ni hablar. (I told him no way.)
2. How you feel
In these expressions, the verb conjugates normally and the other words stay the same, except where noted below.
Estar harto/a de
Estar harto/a de = to be fed up with. Harto agrees with whoever is fed up: estoy harto (a man), estoy harta (a woman), estamos hartos. After de comes a noun, an infinitive, or que + subjunctive: Estoy harta de que mi compañero deje los platos sucios.
Tener ganas de
Tener ganas de + infinitive or noun. It means both “feel like” (right now) and “look forward to”: Tengo ganas de verte. (I can’t wait to see you.)
No tener ni idea
No tener ni idea means “to have no idea.” It is stronger than no sé. Add de before what you don’t know: no tengo ni idea de dónde…
Dar igual
Dar igual = to not matter (to someone). It works like gustar: the person goes in the pronoun (me / te / le / nos / les da igual), and the verb agrees with what doesn’t matter: Me dan igual los detalles.
Buscarse problemas
Buscarse problemas = to ask for trouble. The se changes with the person, and it can go before the verb or attach to the infinitive: te vas a buscar problemas = vas a buscarte problemas.
3. Telling the look-alikes apart
The drills use these as wrong answers for each other because their English translations can seem similar. In each pair below, both expressions respond to the same kind of situation, but for a different reason:
- Something bad almost happened → menos mal
- Something good finally happened → ya era hora
- You don’t know → no tengo ni idea
- You don’t care → me da igual
- You won’t → ni hablar
4. Reading Spanish dialogue: the dash (—)
Several of these expressions are replies, so some drills are written as a conversation between two people. Written Spanish marks a change of speaker with a long dash called a raya (—), where English uses quotation marks:
—Ni hablar. “Can I borrow your phone to call my ex?”
“No way.” raya — new speaker
- Each speaker’s line starts with a raya. There’s no closing mark at the end of a line.
- If the narrator breaks in, the raya brackets that part: —Ni hablar —dijo mi hermana—. Es mi teléfono.
- Spanish also uses quotation marks, « » (common in Spain) and “ ” (used everywhere), but only to quote someone’s words inside a sentence: Me dijo «ni hablar» y se fue. Novels, subtitles, and scripts use the raya for dialogue.
- Questions and exclamations start with an upside-down mark (¿ and ¡) and end with a regular one (? and !).
You don’t need to type the raya or any other punctuation. Grading ignores punctuation, so type only the words: ¿Me prestas tu teléfono para llamar a mi ex? Ni hablar. counts as correct.