Spanish · Exclamations (You Dropped Your Phone)
¡Puta madre!
POO-tah MAH-dreh · /ˈpu.ta ˈma.ðɾe/
Goddammit! / fucking hell!
4/5 Fighting words
aimed at a person, will start something
Literally
"Whore mother"
Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.
How to use it
A heavy exclamation of rage or, in Spain, sometimes delight ("de puta madre" = fucking great). At the world it's venting; aimed at a person ("tu puta madre") it insults the mother and jumps to fighting words. Very common in Spain, strong in Mexico. Not a word for the office anywhere.
Heard in the wild
¡Puta madre, se canceló el vuelo!
Goddammit, the flight got cancelled!
Where it lands
Spain (very common); Mexico (strong)
Quick answers
- What does "¡Puta madre!" mean?
- In Spanish, "¡Puta madre!" means "Goddammit! / fucking hell!". Literally it's "Whore mother". A heavy exclamation of rage or, in Spain, sometimes delight ("de puta madre" = fucking great). At the world it's venting; aimed at a person ("tu puta madre") it insults the mother and jumps to fighting words. Very common in Spain, strong in Mexico. Not a word for the office anywhere.
- Is "¡Puta madre!" offensive?
- Yes — very. It rates 4/5 on the Punch-o-Meter (Fighting words). aimed at a person, will start something. Read the usage note before you even think about it.
- How do you pronounce "¡Puta madre!"?
- Say it "POO-tah MAH-dreh" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: ˈpu.ta ˈma.ðɾe.
Related in Spanish
Hijo de la chingada EE-hoh deh lah cheen-GAH-dah Son of a bitch (the heavy Mexican version) ¡Chin! CHEEN Darn! / Shoot! ¡Carajo! kah-RAH-hoh Damn it! / hell ¡Mierda! MYEHR-dah Shit! / crap ¡Me lleva la chingada! meh YEH-bah lah cheen-GAH-dah I'm so screwed! / For fuck's sake! ¡Joder! hoh-DEHR Fuck! / damn it! (the Spain default)
The same idea, elsewhere
Via concepts like "Damn".
- French Putain ! Damn! / F***! / The all-purpose intensifier — punctuation, really
- German Scheiße! Shit! / Damn! — the all-purpose German expletive
- Greek γαμώτο Damn it! / Dammit!
- Italian Cazzo! Fuck! / Damn! / The all-purpose Italian curse.
- Japanese くそ Damn! / Crap! / Shit!
- Korean 씨발 Fuck / fucking hell — the load-bearing Korean curse.
- Polish kurwa Fuck / damn / shit — the load-bearing word of Polish, and its most common comma.
- Portuguese Porra! Damn! / Fuck! — but mostly used as pure punctuation
Reviewed by native speakers. Rate it differently? Tell us what we got wrong.