Voy a hacer lo que me da la puta gana

Before we get into today's expression, we need to talk about the word gana.

A gana is a desire, or a want.

You'll also (and more commonly) hear the plural form of the word, ganas.   We won't be looking at the word ganas today, but I did write  about how to use the word ganas back in 2010.   I recommend you read the post on ganas to get a handle on the word, it's pretty common so you'll need to have this one in your Spanish toolbox for sure.

Now we're ready to move on to the good stuff.

Hago lo que me da la gana
I do whatever I feel like

Dar la gana is the idiomatic expression you use to tell people that you do whatever you feel like.  It can come across as kind of strong, so be careful of how you use it.

I reserve the right to dress however I want

¿Por qué no vas a la fiesta?
No me da la gana

Why aren't you going to the party?
I don't feel like it

Por mí puedes hacer lo que te da la gana
You can do what you like for all I care

Now, if you want to really to emphasis the fact that you aren't in the mood to do something, then you just need add what I like to call a sentence enhancer.  The first sentence enhancer we'll look at is regalada.

Normally regalada means something is a good deal, a bargain, or a steal as we would say.   But for some reason when you use it with the expression dar la gana, it takes on whole new meaning.

Hago lo que me da la regalada gana
I do whatever the hell I feel like

Por qué quieres hacer eso?
Porque me da la regalada gana

Why do you want to do that?
Because I damn well feel like it




And now we get to the next sentence enhancer and today's expression:

Voy a hacer lo que me da la puta gana
I'm going to do what I f'ing want to do

I'm pretty sure I don't need to explain what "f'ing" means.  Much less that this is for sure one of those situations that this will come across as rather strong.

The word puta in Spanish is very much a bad word and has quite a few meanings.  I tend to keep this blog PG (ok, sometimes PG-13) so you can read about the many uses of puta on my No Seas Pelangoche blog.




Now, as usual, there's more than one way to skin a cat (hay muchas formas de pelar un gato) in Spanish, which brings us to the expression pegarsele la gana. In grammatical terms that's pretty complicated.  The examples below will help you figure out how to use it.

It means the exact same thing.

No se me pega la gana
I don't feel like it

Sé de él solo cuando le pega la gana
I only hear from him when he feels like it

Porque se me pega la regalada gana
Because I damn well feel like it

Hago lo que se me pega la gana
I do whatever I feel like

Me hablas cuando se te pega la gana
You talk to me whenever you feel like it

You can use the same sentence enhancers I mentioned above as well.

Te llamo cuando se me pegue la regalada gana
I'll call you when I damn well feel like it

Haces lo que se te pega la puta gana

You do whatever the f@ck you feel like

And that's it.  Before I let you go, don't forget to read my post on ganas (¿Tienes ganas?) because it will help you get more a complete understanding of the word and the concept.

¡Hasta la próxima! 

Eso que ni que

So there I was, texting away with my carnal:

Yo:  Hay que disfrutar la vida
Mi carnal:  Eso que ni que

By the way, carnal is Mexican Spanish for brother, either by blood or a close friendship.

Eso que ni que

I had never even seen that before. Clearly a literal translation wasn't going to work:

That what neither what

I didn't see his reply until a few hours later, so I wasn't able to ask him what it meant.

My mind was scrambling trying to figure that one out.  A few Google searches later and verifying my research with another of one my Mexican amigos, I finally found out what it meant.

Yo:  Hay que disfrutar la vida
Me: You have to enjoy life

Mi carnal:  Eso que ni que
My buddy: I totally agree

I won't say "I totally agree" is a direct translation, but it certainly captures the meaning.  Eso que ni que is way of saying you absolutely agree with what's being said or that something is very clear, leaving no doubt.

Here's another example:

Si me quitan ésta muela me dejara de doler
If they take this tooth out it'll stop hurting me

Eso que ni que
No doubt about it

It's very a common Mexican expression and if you want to say it in standard Spanish, it would be something close to definitivamente, no hay duda or sin duda, any way of expressing your agreement with the other person would work.

Well, another mystery solved.  But guess what?  It reminded me of a few other expressions involving que.

Eso que ni que is a statement of agreement and ni que nada is an expression of negation or denial, kind of like when we say "my foot", "no way"  or maybe even "in your dreams" to add emphasis.  You're saying that whatever it is they're asking for is not going to happen.

Party my foot 

There's a lot do around here

Let me point out the creator of our meme has some pretty bad ortografía (spelling).  Ay should be hay and aser should be hacer.  That aside, ni que nada is a very common expression, at least in Mexican Spanish.

Here's another example:

A: El me dijo que era contador
     He told me he was an account

B: ¿Qué contador ni que nada? Él no ha terminado la Universidad
     What do you mean an accountant?  He hasn't even finished college

 That brings us to our next expression, ni que ocho cuartos.  If you're attempting to translate it literally, forget it - Not even 8 rooms.  Nope, makes no sense at all.  But it's actually not that hard to understand.

Keep calm?

No way, Colombia is playing today

Ni que nada and ni que ocho cuartos are synonyms, used in the same way.

Here are a few more examples.

Your 13 year old daughter says she wants a boyfriend:

Que novio, ni que ocho cuartos
 Boyfriend? That's not gonna happen

¡Qué fiesta ni que ocho cuartos, ¡te vas a quedar en casa!
Party my foot, you're staying at home!

And like ni que nada, this is a very common expression. Both of them place a lot of emphasis on the fact that something is being denied.

Here are few more examples:

¿Puedo salir a jugar?
Can I go out and play?

¡Qué jugar ni qué ocho cuartos! ¡A hacer la tarea!
Go out and play my foot.! Go do your homework!

¿Me dejas quedarme en la casa de Pedro?
Will you let me stay at Pedro's house?

¡Ni ocho cuartos!
Absolutely not!

Well that's it for today.  Take these expressions and impress your Spanish friends with your new found knowledge.

Here a few other posts of Mexican expressions that you might also like:

  1. ¿Que me ves?
  2. ¿Por qué no te echas un coyotito?
  3. Ahorita vengo

Lastly, don't forget you can follow the blog on Facebook!

¡Hasta la próxima!

Mandale un calambrón a mi esposa candy x ke se levanto tarde

Not too long ago, one my lectores (readers) asked me about the phrase "Te mando un calambrón...".  I had no idea what it meant, so I thought I'd take upon myself to find out.  I figured I'd learn something new and do a good deed at the same time.

I asked several Spanish speakers about this, some I knew, some I didn't. The ones I didn't know looked at me like I was crazy. My first breakthrough came when I was told that this expression is used in Nothern Mexico, but I still didn't have a definate translation.  But it was clear this expression is very Mexican.

A co-worker ended up asking her mom what it meant, and she got an answer within 10 minutes.  I had been looking for days.

Enough chit-chat, let's get on with it.

First of all, "calambrón" is augmentive form of calambre.  A calambre is a cramp, and calambrón is a big cramp.  At this point I could go on and on with my typical long winded explanations, but instead I'm going to post the explanation provided by my friends mother.  After all, it's good to give credit where credit is due.  Here's what she wrote:

To send someone a "calambron" is an Idiom.


There is no such word, can't really be translated.

Y mandale un calambron a mi esposa candy x ke se levanto tarde
Punch her in arm or something, put a little hurt, because she woke up late.

y ponle un calambron al Antonio prq esta bien dormido
Punch him, shake him up, because he's out cold. Or in a deep sleep.


Example of another idiom.


Pura madre. Translated is "pure mother"
But used as an idiom, means hell no!

Voy pura madre. Hell no I'm not going.

 You may have noticed you got a bonus expression, "Voy pura madre".  It was translated as "hell no", but I suspect it's probably stronger than that.  Anything involving the word madre usually is.  If you're really curious about bad words in Spanish, then check out my "No Seas Pelangoche" blog.

Now that we know what a calambrón is, let's revist our examples because there's a few things I want to point out.

Y mandale un calambrón a mi esposa candy x ke se levanto tarde
y ponle un calambrón al Antonio prq esta bien dormido

I'm sure you noticed the "x ke" and the "prq".  This is text speak in Spanish.  Like us, they too have an abbreviated language.  "X" is short for "por".  The ke, "que".  Putting them together gives you "porque".   "prq" in our second example is just a variation. 

I could dedicate an entire post to text speak in Spanish, and in fact, there are already many articles written on it.  Maybe one day I'll address this topic, but for those of you who are impatient or maybe you just need to know right now, go to http://www.google.com.mx/ and look up "diccionario sms" or "texteando". 

Don't be afraid to send a "calambrón" to someone who deserves it. 

¡Hasta la próxima!

Pan con lo mismo

"Bread with the same".

That's the literal translation of today's phrase.  You may be tempted to think this is a handy phrase you can use the next time you're dining out at your favorite latin restaurant, but you'd be wrong.

So what does this mean?  Let's find out.

Have you ever had someone ask you "How's it going?" and then responded "Same as always"?  Well, this is where today's expression comes in handy. 

The next time someone asks you:

¿Cómo va todo?
How's everything going?

And if you have nothing new and exciting to tell them about, you can simply say:

Pan con lo mismo
The same as always

There are probably many ways to express this idea, but here's another one that's very Mexican:

Atole con lo mismo
The same as always

If you don't know what atole is, here's a picture:

Well, now you know what it looks like, but if you want an explanation of exactly what it is, you can read about it here, or if you prefer, here, in Spanish.  There is actually more than one recipe for atole, you can googlear it (yes, this is a real verb, te lo juro.  Click the link and see for yourself) and find quite a few.

I'm pretty sure Mexicans aren't the only one's who use this phrase, but you will definitely impress some people with this one.

If you want something a little less slangly and more universal, you can go with:

Lo mismo de siempre
The same as always

And there you have it.  We didn't talk about anything earth shattering, but these phrases will make you sound a little less like a gringo and more like a native speaker.

¡Hasta la próxima!

Ya llovió

I remember being an adolescente (teenager) living in Puerto Rico taking Spanish I & II. 

Ya llovió.

Despite having taken classes, I didn't really learn how to speak Spanish.  Fast forward 22 years later to 2005 and I started studying Spanish again.   

Ya llovió.

I also remember when I started this blog.  I had no idea what I was really going to blog about, nor how long I would keep it up. That was back in July of 2008.  

Ya llovió.

Despite how it sounds, this post isn't about the fact it took me forever to learn Spanish, so let me get down to business.

Ya llovió
It already rained.

While the literal translation is accurate, it doesn't apply here.  Ya llovió is also a colloquial expression that has another meaning. 

Ya llovió
That was a long time ago

This phrase is actually a shortened version of:

Ya llovió mucho desde entonces

"Desde entonces" means "since then".  Here's an example of how to use it:

Han pasado cuatro años desde entonces
It's been four years since then

Let's get back on track.

Ya llovió mucho desde entonces
It's rained a lot since then

I'm not sure what the connection is with rain and the passage of time, but this a colloquial way of saying:

Ya pasó bastante (mucho) tiempo

You may also see this phrase as:

Ya ha llovido desde entonces

That's it!  Whether you choose to say Ya llovió mucho desde entonces or simply Ya llovió, you'll sound like a native.


¡Hasta luego!

¿Cuando vas a dar a luz?

¿Cuando vas a dar a luz?
When are you going to give to the light?

Clearly a literal translation doesn't work here. So what does this mean?  Let me say it a different way:

¿Cuándo va a nacer el bebé?

Literally, "when is the baby going to be born", but a more natural translation would be "when is the baby due".  And that's exactly what our our phrase "dar a luz" means.

¿Cuando vas a dar a luz?
When are you going to have the baby?

There's another verb that's used to talk about giving birth, parir. 

Mi esposa va a parir
My wife is going to have the baby

However, ten cuidado (be careful) with this one.  Many spanish speakers reserve parir for talking about animal births.  It all depends on the country and the region, so I suggest you reserve this one for animals and use the other more standard options.

There's also another very common way to ask someone when their baby is due.

¿Para cuándo esperas?
When are you due?

You could also shorten this to:

¿Para cuándo?

Babies are always fun to talk about, and these phrases are great conversation starters, not to mention just being able to better communicate with your Spanish speaking friends. 

¡Hasta pronto!

Ve al grano y no te andes por las ramas

Ve al grano y no te andes por las ramas

This was another one of those expressions that stopped me dead in my tracks. Hopefully I can prevent the same thing from happening to you.

Let's make a literal translation, although it won't do us any good.

Ve al grano y no te andes por las ramas
Go to the grain and don't walk toward the branches

Ramas is literally the word for tree branches, and no te no andes comes from andar, which has many uses. In fact, I talked about several uses of andar which you can read about by clicking HERE.

So now that we know our literal translation is useless, exactly what does this mean?

Ve al grano y no te andes por las ramas
Get straight to the point and don't beat around the bush

Andarse por las ramas is an idiomatic expression. 

Here's a few more examples:

Te andas por las ramas
You're beating around the bush

Nunca me ando por las ramas
I never beat around the bush

Enjoy this one, I'm sure you will have many chances to use it, and something that's probably even more amazing, for once no me andé por las ramas - I didn't beat around the bush,  in one of my entradas (posts).

¡Que tengan un buen día!

¡Me dejaste plantado!

You left me planted!

Admittedly, in English this doesn't make any sense.  That's often the problem with literal translations, so let's get to the bottom of this.

First things first. If you don't know, dejar means to leave, as in leaving something behind.  Here are some examples.

If someone is giving you a ride:


Déjame en la esquina
Let me out at the corner

You forgot something:

Dejo mis llaves en casa.
I left my keys at home

You don't want to be bothered:

Déjame en paz
Leave me alone

Great, now let's get back to our expression.

In this case, ¡Me dejaste plantado! is an idiomatic expression. 

When  you dejar alguien plantado that means you've stood them up.

No me dejes plantado
Don't stand me up

¡Me dejaste plantado!
You stood me up

This expression can be pretty useful and is nice to have in your toolbox, especially if one of your friends isn't exactly the reliable type.

¡Hasta la próxima!

Voy a romper el chanchito

If you don't know what a chanchito is (I certainly didn't) then take a look at this photo:

Cute little devil isn't he?  A pig in Spanish is also known as cerdo, puerco, marrano, or cochino.  By the way, chancho is the proper form of chanchito, which is the diminutive form.  chanchito would translate to "little piggy" or "piglet" in English.

If you want to insult someone, you can use any of those terms except chancho.  I always use cochino, because that's what I learned from my Mexican amigos.  It all depends on who you talk to which one is most commonly used.  But rest assured they'll get the point.

Speaking of chanchos, there's also Los Tres Cerditos - The Three Little Pigs.  If you want to read this story to your kids or grandkids, or maybe even for yourself, just click on the link below.

Los Tres Cerditos

If you're like me, then you'll want to see the video.  Thank goodness for You Tube:

Un video de Los Tres Cerditos

Have fun with those.  Now it's time to get back to business.

Voy a romper el chanchito

I'm going to break the little piggy

Ouch!  Sounds a bit violent, don't you think?  Well, despite the fact it may sound like a wierd way of saying we're having bacon for breakfast, it's not.  I'm going to show you one more photo and then it will all make sense.

Chanchito is also a colloquial way of refering to a piggy bank.  The official term is alcancía.

So now we can accurately translate our sentence:

Voy a romper el chanchito
I'm going to break open the piggy bank

Yes, occassionally you have to resort to using all that loose change we've been stashing away.  And in these tough economic times, we may just have to romper el chanchito to get by.

¡Hasta pronto!

Tengo cosas en el tintero

Until I heard this phrase, I didn't know what a tintero was.  So why don't we start there.

Here's a picture of a tintero...

So now we know what a tintero is.  The little bottle that holds your ink.  Lucky for us the the ball point pen came along.

As usual, a literal translation won't work.  There aren't to many things (cosas) you can put into a tintero.  So let's just make our translation:

Tengo cosas en el tintero

I have some things on my mind

I happen to like this expression, don't ask me why.  And I learned this from a Peruvian friend, so I really have no idea how universal this is, but don't let that stop you from using this phrase.  If the people you're speaking to aren't familar with it, explain it.  I bet in return they tell you their version of the expression and it's a win win situation for everybody.

That's it for today, ¡hasta pronto!

Quiero quitarme la llantita

If you don't already know, llantita is the diminutive form of llanta, which means tire.  On it's own, it could be interpreted as a "little tire", but that's not the case in this context, so let's take a look at things and figure this out.

Quitarse means "to take off", and is a quite a useful verb, but maybe we'll discuss quitarse at a later time in more detail. 

Llantita is a colloquial way of refering to what we like to call a "spare tire", and not the kind you keep in the trunk of your car.  Yes, I'm refering to the ever annoying roll of fat that lives around our waist and can be nearly impossible to get rid of. 

Now we're ready to make our translation...

Quiero quitarme la llantita
I want to get rid of my spare tire

You could also refer to your spare tire as a "llanta", or "michelines". 

Another way to talk to about losing your spare tire is to use the verbs eliminar or bajar.

Pan comido, right?

I'm sure none of us like talking about our spare tires, but if you have to, you can now talk about them in Spanish!

Que codo eres!

Que codo eres!

If we interpret that literally, you've just told someone what an elbow they are, because codo means elbow.

But this is another one of those times where a literal translation falls short.

In Spanish, when you call someone codo, you're calling them cheap. So if we revisit our translation...

Que codo eres
You're so cheap

Codo is one of several ways to call someone cheap in Spanish.  There's also tocaño or tocaña although that probably translates more like stingy.

And surprisingly, you can call someone cheap without saying a word.  I think you ladies will appreciate this one. When that guy at the bar refuses to buy you a drink, you can just glance over at your girlfriend and tap your elbow, and she'll get the message.  And so will he, if he's looking.  Keep in mind that when you talk about a third party, you need to say "Que codo es".

Now guys, don't think I've sold you out.  If someone calls you codo, you can reply with...

No soy codo, sino ahorritivo
I'm not cheap, I'm thrifty

Lastly I'll leave you with a tiny bit of culture and a chiste (joke).

In Mexico, people from Monterrey (for whatever reason) are famous for being codo.  So with that bit of information, I think you can appreciate this joke...

¿Qué pasaría si se inunda Monterrey?
What will happen if Monterrey floods?


Se haría una inmensa sopa de coditos.
It'll make a huge elbow soup

Captaste el chiste?
Did you get the joke?

I hope you found this useful and maybe even entertaining.  I've had the fortune (misfortune?) of being called codo, and having this little of information made the situation even more humorous and memorable. 

¡Hasta la proxima!

Traes mucho pegue

Sometimes literal translations just don't work, and this is one of those times, so we won't even try.

Let's start with "traes".  The verb is traer, which means "to bring".  Sometimes traer can be used as a synonym of tener.   I discussed this in a previous post, and you can read about it here if you like.  With that in mind, we can translate "traes" as something to the effect of "you bring" or "you have".

"Mucho" should need no translation, unless you're an absolute newbie to Spanish, but just in case, it means " a lot".

"pegue" comes from pegar, meaning to hit.  But since the literal translation doesn't work in this case, just file that bit of information away for some other time.

In this case, we have to look at "pegue" in combination with tener or traer.   So the key to understanding this phrase lies in understanding the phrase "tener pegue" or "traer pegue".  We're going to talk about "tener pegue", because that's actually the phrase, just keep in mind that you may also hear "traer pegue".

OK, I've drawn this out long enough, let's get to the point.  (ir al grano)

"Tener pegue" means   to have sex appeal, or charm if you like.  It means you've got a way with the opposite sex.

So if someone tells you "Tienes mucho pegue", well, lift your head up high and smile, because they just gave you a very nice compliment.  Especially if it comes from a person you're trying to "ligar" (hook up)  with.

Tienes (traes) mucho pegue
You got a lot of sex appeal

I've yet to hear this phrase directed at me, but perhaps you all have better luck and more "pegue" than me.

If you want some extra credit, or perhaps a little advice on how improve your sex appeal, check out the link below to get some consejos (advice).

http://guilleybruno.guateblogger.com/2009/10/tips-para-tener-pegue.html

¡Hasta la próxima!

Como la palma de la mano

I can't say that I would have known what this expression meant if I hadn't been looking directly at the person using it. 

The complete phrase is "conocer algo/alguien como la palma de la mano" .  It means to know something, or someone, like the back of one's hand.


The only reason I was able to figure it out (and consequently act like I knew more Spanish than I did) is because they were talking about the city they lived in and pointing to the palm of their hand -- "la palma de la mano".  

Here are some examples:

Conozco Miami como la palma de la mano
I know Miami like the back of my hand

Lo conozco como la palma de la mano

I know him like the back of my hand


This phrase works exactly the same in English as it does in Spanish, so you can start using this right away. 

¡Espero que te sirva¡

vete tú a saber

I actually like this nifty little phrase.  Sometimes I ask myself where these things come from, and who makes them up?  ¿Quien sabe? (Who knows?)

Actually, I just told you what today's bit of Spanish means -- Who knows?

It's a colloquial way of saying "Quien sabe". 

Since I've learned this bit of Spanish, I've heard it on several occassions, so it's something you'll want to put in your Spanish toolbox. 

You can use it in the exact same way we use "who knows" in English.

As usual, let's look at some examples:

¿Cuál es el sentido de la vida?  Vete tú a saber.
What's the meaning of life?  Who knows.

¿Cuál es el sentido de la vida? Quien sabe.
What's the meaning of life? Who knows.

Just remember that "quien sabe" is a bit more proper, while vete tú a saber is more informal, but other than that, use which ever one you like!

¡Hasta la próxima!

Me cuesta un ojo de la cara

When something is expensive in English, we say it costs an arm and a leg.  In Spanish it will cost you an eye "from the face" .  I'm not sure where else an eye would come from, but hey, we're not here to criticize.

"Cuesta" is the verb costar, meaning to cost.  Aside from costing you money or an arm and leg (or an eye) costar has another use.

If you say "me cuesta"  it can mean that something is hard for you.  Let's look at it in context:

A:  Hola, ¿cómo estás?
B: Muy bien, ¿y tu?

A:  ¡Que sorpresa!  ¿Hablas español?
B: Si, hablo mucho, pero todavía estoy aprendiendo.

A:  ¿Te cuesta?
B: Si, a veces me cuesta mucho, pero vale la pena.

Let's take a quick look our key phrases...

¿Te cuesta?
Is it hard for you?

Me cuesta mucho.
It's really hard for me.

Ya!  That's it.  After I heard this the first time, I started hearing it everywhere.  This is something you'll want to have in your Spanish toolbox.

¡Hasta la próxima!

Tienes una cara

Literally, this translates to "you have a face". Well, doesn't everybody?

But of course, if you've studied Spanish long enough, you know that you can't translate everything literally. So with that in mind, what does this mean?

Well, the expression "Tienes una cara" is used when someone has a look on their face as if something might be wrong, maybe they have something on their mind, they just don't look like they normally do.

This brings us to a very similar expression "por qué esa cara?" - "Why the long face?" might be a good translation. You use it when you see someone is clearly bothered by something. You might also follow up this question with another one..."qué tienes?" - What's wrong?

But let's get back to our discussion of caras.

It turns out there are many different types of caras.

Tienes cara de enojo/enojada/enfadado.
You look angry.

Tienes cara de sueño.
You look sleepy.

¿Por qué tienes esa cara de niño con juegete nuevo?
Why do you look like a kid with a new toy?

¿Por qué tienes esa cara de felicidad?
Why do you look so happy?

Tienes cara de sorpresa.
You look surprised.

There are many, many more types of faces in Spanish, and this is just short list to help you get started talking about them.

¡Hasta la proxima!

Tener la maña de

Bad habits...we all have them, and at some point we're going to have to fess up to them.

That's where the phrase "tener la maña de..." comes in.

A maña is a bad habit. A person with a lot of bad habits is a mañoso or mañosa.

OK, time to learn how to make those confessions...

Tengo la maña de morderme las uñas - I have a bad habit of biting my nails.

Tengo la maña de moverla pierna - I have a bad habit of shaking my leg.

There you go! Turns out talking about bad habits in Spanish is just as easy as picking them up.

¡Hasta la próxima!

Dar la gana

It's recommended that you read a lot when you're learning Spanish. Or any language for that matter. I think that's good advice. In fact, that's how I came across this little gem - ¡Puedes hacer lo que te dé la gana!

Before we translate this sentence, let's talk about a nifty little expression...Dar la gana.

Dar la gana means to feel like doing something. Let's look at some examples...

¿A dónde vas? ----- A donde me da la gana.
Where are you going? ------ Wherever I feel like.

No me da la gana hacer eso ----- I don't feel like (want to) do that.

Haz lo que te de la gana ---- Do whatever you feel like

¿Que vas a hacer? ----- Lo que me de la gana.
What are you going to do? ---- Whatever I feel like.

Now let's get back to our original sentence:

¡Puedes hacer lo que te dé la gana! ----- You can do whatever you feel like.

Antes de que se me olivido (before I forget), una cosita más. The dar in Dar la gana of course has to be conjugated, and there's a very interesting thread in WordReference that discusses the correct conjugations when using this phrase. Click here to read it. It's in Spanish, but I think a good read if you're able or up for the challenge.

I think this falls into that category of useful Spanish that I promised to occassionally touch on. Hopefully my explanation and the examples have given you enough to understand and start using this phrase.

¡Saludos!

Haber (A Ver) cuando

Since I'm the only one of my friends who speak Spanish, it's not uncommon for one of them to ask me to translate the occassional text message, and usually this is not a problem. Usually. But this time they sent me one that had me stumped...

Saludos, haber cuando vienes a Tijuana

I kinda figured the message meant something to the effect of "when are you coming to Tijuana". But I had absolutely no idea what haber cuando meant, so it was time to bring in the big guns. I called my profesora, and she gave me a wonderful explanation.

In fact, her explanation is so good that I'm not even going to bother to attempt to explain it myself, I'm just going to post her reply verbatum.

Here it is:

I know things like this tend to be kinda complicated.

1st of all....HABER es un verbo auxiliar - to have.....

which doesn't help to answer your question...obviously.

It's just one of those crazy ways to say things.... in your case... it translates like this...

Greetings, let's see when (hope that..) you come to Tijuana.
Meaning---- when are you coming to mexico? I want to see you.


Ejemplo. If I tell you. When are we having a class at the river? (It's a nice place- therefore I wanna go)

I could say....

Haber cuando tenemos una clase en el rio....

SO....some possible answers could be ......

No, no me gusta el rio.....
Tal vez la semana que viene....
Claro, tengamos la clase del sabado en el rio....
Etc.....

In Mexico is very common that people invite for dinner (because we're just cool like that) lol ....and they would say....

Haber cuando vienes a cenar con nosotros.
Haber cuando vienes a la casa a cenar con la familia.....

Also, since you like dancing...your friends or you might say....

Haber cuando vamos a bailar, tengo ganas de bailar salsa.

Traveling....

Haber cuando vamos a las Piramides de teTeotihuacan
Haber cuando vamos al Castillo de Chapultepec

Conclusion....

It can mean different things....such as....
.....hope that...(you, we,etc) do something or go somewhere....
.....we should go to......
......I like (something) let's do something....


Hope I was a little clear.... ;-)

In your case you could say.....

Gracias por los saludos....
Si me gustaria ir a Tijuana, tal vez vaya en unos meses.....
etc...

Here... the person meant...hoping that...you come to Tijuana...

So there you have it. A (relatively) short explanation with several good examples. Although our good friends at WordReference had one more thing to add: The correct expression is a ver, not haber. The confusion happens because they sound the same in spoken language. You can read about it yourself in this thread.

From a more practical standpoint, it's obvious that haber cuando is heavily used, and therefore we need to know what it means and how to use it, even if the correct grammatical expression is a ver cuando.

I hope you find this piece of Spanish as interesting as I did.

¡Cuidense!