Spanish · Joy & Hell-Yes
¡Qué padre!
keh PAH-dreh · /ke ˈpa.ðɾe/
How cool! / awesome!
1/5 Grandma-safe
mild, playful; fine on daytime TV
Literally
"How father(ly)"
Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.
How to use it
A delightful Mexican quirk: "padre" (father) means "cool," and "madre" (mother) means "worthless" — the family politics of Mexican slang in one pair. "Qué padre" is squeaky clean and enthusiastic; stack it to "qué padrísimo" for extra. Safe with absolutely anyone.
Heard in the wild
¿Te vas a Oaxaca? ¡Qué padre, me encanta!
You're going to Oaxaca? How cool, I love it there!
Where it lands
Mexico (universal)
Quick answers
- What does "¡Qué padre!" mean?
- In Spanish, "¡Qué padre!" means "How cool! / awesome!". Literally it's "How father(ly)". A delightful Mexican quirk: "padre" (father) means "cool," and "madre" (mother) means "worthless" — the family politics of Mexican slang in one pair. "Qué padre" is squeaky clean and enthusiastic; stack it to "qué padrísimo" for extra. Safe with absolutely anyone.
- Is "¡Qué padre!" offensive?
- It's on the mild end — 1/5 (Grandma-safe) on the Punch-o-Meter. mild, playful; fine on daytime TV.
- How do you pronounce "¡Qué padre!"?
- Say it "keh PAH-dreh" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: ke ˈpa.ðɾe.
Related in Spanish
Chido CHEE-doh Cool / awesome / great ¡Chingón! cheen-GOHN Badass / awesome / kickass De poca madre deh POH-kah MAH-dreh Freaking awesome / the best Cojonudo koh-hoh-NOO-doh Brilliant / fantastic (Spain) Me late meh LAH-teh I'm into it / sounds good / I've got a feeling Está cabrón ess-TAH kah-BROHN It's intense / rough / seriously impressive
The same idea, elsewhere
Via concepts like "That's awesome".
- French Ça déchire ! That rocks! / That's awesome!
- German Geil! Awesome! / Sick! / Hell yes!
- Greek ρε μαλάκα Hey man / dude / bro — the affectionate-insult greeting between friends.
- Italian Figo! Cool! / Awesome! / Sick!
- Japanese やばい Insane / crazy / no way — good OR bad, from context
- Korean 존나 Fucking / hella — the vulgar intensifier that goes in front of everything.
- Polish zajebisty Fucking awesome / badass — the great slang-POSITIVE of the jebać family.
- Portuguese Do caralho Fucking awesome — OR, with 'casa do', the middle of nowhere
Reviewed by native speakers. Rate it differently? Tell us what we got wrong.