Venezuelan Spanish ( or ) is the variety of Spanish spoken in Venezuela.
Spanish was introduced in Venezuela by colonists. Most of them were from Galicia, Basque Country, Andalusia, or the Canary Islands. The last has been the most fundamental influence on modern Venezuelan Spanish, and Canarian and Venezuelan accents may even be indistinguishable to other Spanish-speakers.
Italian and Portuguese immigrants from the late 19th and the early 20th century have also had an influence; they influenced vocabulary and its accent, given its slight sing-songy intonation, like Rioplatense Spanish. German settlers also left an influence when Venezuela was contracted as a concession by the King of Spain to the German Welser banking family (Klein-Venedig, 1528–1546).
The Spaniards additionally brought African slaves, which is the origin of expressions such as ("excellent"), which comes from Yoruba . Other non-Romance words came from indigenous languages, such as (a type of coffee) and (black bean).
Features Venezuelan Spanish sometimes shortens words, such as para ("for") to pa. In addition, between vowels is sometimes dropped (elision): helado ("ice cream") becomes . Originally from southern Spain and the Canary Islands, those traits are common to many other Spanish variations and in the Caribbean. Another common feature is the debuccalization of syllable-final , whereby adiós ("goodbye") becomes and este ("east") becomes . It is common to most coastal areas in America, the Canary Islands, and the southern half of Spain. Syllable-final undergoes velarisation. This may also happen before bilabials and alveolars instead of assimilation: ambientación ("atmosphere") becomes or . Also like most other American versions of Spanish, Venezuelan Spanish has yeísmo (the merger of and ) and seseo ( and are merged). That is, calló ("s/he became silent") and cayó ("s/he fell") are homophones, and casa ("house") is homophonous with caza ("hunt"). Seseo is common to all of America, the Canary Islands, and southern Spain, and yeísmo is prevalent in most Spanish dialects. The phoneme is realized as glottal in the Venezuelan Caribbean and largest area of Venezuela, like in El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Colombia, Ecuadorian coast, Spanish Caribbean islands, Canary Islands, and southern Spain and sometimes in Peru, Chile, and Argentina. A characteristic common to Spanish in Venezuela, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Costa Rica is the use of the diminutive -ico and -ica, instead of the standard -ito and -ita in words with -t in the last syllable: rata ("rat") becomes ratica ("little rat"). Another noteworthy diminutive is "manito," instead of the more common "manita." The second-person singular informal pronoun is usually tú, as in most of the rest of Latin America and in Spain. That is referred to as tuteo. However, in Zulia and some parts of Falcón and Trujillo, it is common to find voseo, the use of vos instead of tú. That phenomenon is present in many other Latin American variations (notably Central American Spanish and Rioplatense), but Zulian voseo is diptongado: conjugation preserves the diphthongs of the historical vos conjugation, which have had monophthongization in Rioplatense. The Zulian forms are thus the same as those in Spain for the second-person plural vosotros): instead of tú eres, tú estás, Zulian has vos sois, vos estáis (compare with the plural forms in Spain vosotros sois, vosotros estáis, and with Rioplatense forms, vos sos, vos estás). Another exception to tuteo in Venezuela is the use of the second-person singular formal pronoun usted interchangeably with tú in informal speech, unique to the states of Mérida, Táchira and Trujillo.Alexandra Alvarez & Ximena Barros, "Sistemas en conflicto: las formas de tratamiento en la ciudad de Mérida, Venezuela" , Lengua y Habla (2000), Mérida, Universidad de Los Andes. As in most of the rest of the Americas, the only plural form of the second person is ustedes. The word vaina is used with a variety of meanings (such as "shame," "thing, topic," or "pity") and is often an interjection or a nonsensical filler, however is considered a rude word and is usually avoided in formal conversation. Venezuelan Spanish has a lot of Italianisms, Gallicisms, Germanisms, and Anglicisms.
Regional variations There are several subdialects of Venezuelan Spanish:
The Andean dialect, particularly in the state of Táchira, near the Colombian border, is characterized by a nonaspirated pronunciation of 's', and use of instead of even in informal contexts. Another variant, in the states of Mérida and Trujillo, still uses instead of , but has the nonaspirated pronunciation of as a voiceless alveolar retracted sibilant , also called apico-alveolar or grave, between and . That phonetic trait, unique in the Americas, is from the large number of northern Spanish settlers in Andean Venezuela. The Central dialect, a characteristic marked accent whose use is very common in cities like Caracas, La Guaira, Los Teques, Maracay and Valencia. This dialect is the basis of standard Spanish of Venezuela. The Guaro or Larense dialect, spoken initially in Barquisimeto, Cabudare, El Tocuyo and Quíbor, spread throughout the state of Lara and other Central-Western states. In it, the older Spanish verbal inflections -ades, -edes, -odes have become -ás, -és, and -ós: Lapesa Melgar, Rafael. 1970. Las formas verbales de segunda persona y los orígenes del voseo., in: Carlos H. Magis (ed.), Actas del III Congreso de la Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas (México, D.F., 26-31 Aug 1968). México: Colegio de México, 519-531: 525-526. "vos cantáis", "vos coméis", "vos sois." The Llanero (plainsman) dialect is spoken in the Venezuelan plains, Los Llanos. One of its characteristics is a considerable aboriginal lexicon, a product of the fusion of Spanish with Indigenous languages. The Margaritan dialect (oriental), spoken in Isla Margarita and the northeast of mainland Venezuela. The Margaritan dialect sometimes has an interdental for pre-vowel 's', and uses a strong 'r' instead of 'l' for most words. The Venezuelan dialect influences of Patois of Trinidad and Papiamento, the language spoken and taught most in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. The Zulian in the northwest of the country, also called maracucho or marabino, uses voseo. The Amazon dialect uses nonaspirated pronunciation of 's' and a considerable native lexicon.
Lexical influences Native influence Venezuelan Spanish, like that of the rest of Spanish America and Castilian in general, has taken many words from indigenous languages.
Some examples:
Arepa (from Cariban). Auyama (from Arawakan). Budare (from Cariban). Casabe (from Cariban). Chinchorro (from Chaima). Conuco (from Taíno). Ocumo (from Arawakan). Onoto (from anoto, word from Tamanaku). Totuma (from Chaima)
Common words
A mamar que llegó Tío Rico. = v. Eat up, it's your lucky day (lit: "Tío Rico -a very popular ice cream brand- has arrived") Achantado(a) = adj. (or achanta'o/achantá) A person of slow thought or slow reasoning. Someone passive, or lacking seduction skills. Achicopalarse = v. To become sad or depressed. Agarrado(a) = adj. Selfish. See pichirre. Agüevoneado(a) = adj. (or agüevonea'o/agüevonea'a). To be thinking slowly or with poor reasoning, being a sucker. "Ando agüevonia'o" (I didn't get that / I feel like a sucker). Profane. Ajá = filler word, used when someone feels ashamed or bothered. "Me volverion a echar del colegio, y ajá, estoy fuera." I was kicked out of school again, and, yeah, I'm out. Alborotado(a) = adj. To be excited or in a frenzy. Alzado(a) = adj. (or alza'o/alzá) Rebellious, haughty, insurgent. Lit. Lifted, raised. Amapuche = n. A passionate demonstration of affection. A warm hug. Amuñuñar = v. To tightly yet disorderly put things together. Apapacho = n. A hug. Arepa = n. Armpit sweat marks. In baseball it also means a score of zero. Lit. Arepa. Arrapado = adj. Sexually aroused (profane). Arrecharse = v. To get angry (profane). Arrecho(a) = adj. Superlative attribute for an object or situation, namely extremely good, bad or difficult (profane). There are differences if someone is arrecho(a) for a finite period of time (to be angry) or if someone is arrecho(a) all the time (has a difficult character or personality). On the other hand, if something is arrecho, it is very good. "Qué arrecha estuvo la fiesta" (the party was awesome). It also has a superlative, "arrechísimo" (extremely good, bad or angry, depending on the context). Arrecochinar = v. To gather people disorderly in a small space. Arrocear = v. To turn up at a party without being invited. Arrocero(a) = n. Party crasher. Asaltacunas = n. Someone who likes to date or have sex with people who are significantly younger (+6 years age difference. May include people under legal age). Similar terms in English would be "Manther" (for men) or "Cougar (for women). Lit. "Cradle-robber" or "cradle-snatcher". Asaltamecedoras = n. Opposite of the term above. Lit. "Rocker-robber" or "rocker-snatcher" (referring to a Rocking chair) Baba = n. A baby/young alligator, caiman, or crocodile. Lit. Saliva. Baboso(a) = n. A person who flirts inappropriately. Bachaco = n. A blond or redhead mulatto. Lit. Leafcutter ant. Bajarse de la mula = exp. To pay for something. To be demanded for money. To be robbed. Lit. "To get off the mule". Bájate de esa mata e' coco = exp. "Get your head out of the clouds". To get real. To focus and stop daydreaming. Lit. "Get off that coconut tree." Bala fría = n. Junk food. A quick snack. Lit. "Cold bullet". Balurdo(a) = adj. or n. (from French Balourd) An awkward or ridiculous person. A low-class person or behavior. See chimbo Barrio = n. Poor neighborhood. Often built upwards on hillsides, they are a distinct and noticeable feature of the landscape in large cities in Venezuela. Barquilla = n. Ice cream cone. Becerro(a) = n. A goofy person. A moron (insult). Lit. Calf (animal). Example: "Sí eres becerro" = You're such a moron. Beta = n. A problematic or otherwise interesting situation. For instance: "When we were at the party se armó un beta and the police arrived". Bicha = adj. A girl/woman of bitchy behavior, foxy lady, vixen. Used as a noun, it can also mean a firearm, mostly a pistol. Birra = n. Beer. Biyuyo = n. Money. See churupo and real. Bochinche = n. A gathering or noisy party. Disorder, chaos, but usually in a funny way. See jodedera. Boleta = adj. To be indiscreet. Example: "No seas boleta" = Don't be indiscreet. Used when someone indiscreetly looks at another person, or imprudently listens to someone else's conversation. Also means a grade, mark, qualification. A description for some people who dress and talk in a marginal way. See Tuki, Tierrúo. Lit. Ticket, note.
Bolo = n. A single unit of Venezuelan currency. Similar to calling the U.S. Dollar a "buck." Bolsa = n. (or Bolsiclón) A moron. Lit. Bag. Broma = n. A thing. Example: "Sólo agarra esa broma y vámonos" = Just take that thing and let's go. Also, it can be used as a synonym (and a less "harsh" version) for "vaina" (See vaina). Lit. Joke. Bucear = v. To ogle discreetly. To peep furtively. Lit. To skin dive. Bululú = n. A fuss. A place in which there is a noisy crowd, and not always partying. Burda = adv. or adj. (superlative) Very much. Example: "Caminamos burda" = We walked a lot. "Ella es burda de linda" = She's very pretty. Buzo = n. Peeper. Lit. Diver. See bucear. Cachapera = n. A lesbian (pejorative). Lit. Woman who makes cachapas. Cacharro/a = n. Old, worn out vehicle. A piece of junk. Cachicamo = n. Armadillo. Cachúo(a) = adj. (or cachudo(a)) Someone who has been cheated on by his partner. In Zulia, it means "horny" instead. (profane). Lit. With horns (See cuckold.)