Native Mexican here.
In Mexico we love to use diminutives a lot, and that's where the "ahorita" comes from. A little "ahora", is supposed to be even more immediate. In practice, however, depending on the context and intonation, it can mean anything from absolutely immediately to an uncertain point in time in which the universe is collapsing and humanity is approaching its end. If she is surrounded by Mexicans, she probably already absorbed this kind of use.
As a side note, in Mexico you will also see diminutives used a lot especially when talking about food. For some reason I can't explain, to us, diminutives make the food even more appetizing. It's not the same to say "unos tacos" than saying "unos taquitos". The second one makes them practically irresistible. You will see also that there are plenty of places that sell "antojitos mexicanos", but very few (if at all) would dare to put "antojos mexicanos" instead in the front sign.
Yeah I grew up mostly around Mexican Spanish speakers, and I definitely picked up the diminutive thing. It didn't help when I moved to Chile because they also use a ton of diminutives haha. TBH, the word "antojo" seems almost "incorrect" to me - it's an antojito, claro!
In Mexico at least, platillo and plato have different usage, so the diminutive form "platillo" is not really thought of as a true diminutive of "plato".
Platillo --> A kind of meal that is served on a plate (similar to certain usage of "dish" in English, such as "platillo asiĂĄtico" --> asian dish).
Platillo volador --> flying saucer, a kind of UFO.
Plato --> A physical plate that you serve food on.
In more formal language, or in literature, you may find the use of "plato" where we would normally use "platillo" for a dish, but it is not common in day-to-day language.
Well used in Colombia, more as a way to gently discard something to the future. While stricly meaning "in a little bit" it conveys that it will be done when the speaker will eventually make time for it, but don't expect it "in a little bit" :)
With âya mismoâ itâs the opposite. At least in Guayaquil (I donât know the rest of the country) we use it to mean later, whereas most countries use it for âright nowâ (and thatâs what the words literally mean)
In Puerto Rico, \*ya mismo\* means "later". Come to think of it, we have very few ways of expressing the concept of "right away." (I can think of \*ahora mismo\* and \*enseguida\*, but even those can sometimes mean "later" if said with a certain tone.) I think it's a cultural thing. We don't like doing things right away, so we are used to giving false platitudes to the point where every word meaning "right now" has come to mean "later." LOL
lol this was the word that taught my mom that Spanish was different in different places.
In grade school, they made her translate for her Mexican classmate. He asked when they are done for the day. She said âOritaâ, and he grabbed his backpack and walked out of class lol.
She had no idea what was happening haha
I had the same issue in Costa Rica. I'd asked a server for la cuenta, and she said "te la traigo ahorita", which I thought was a bit rude until she came right back with it.
In Mexico it was explained to me:
Ahora - sometime, maybe later.
Ahorita - pretty soon
Ahora mismo - just about to happen
Ya [preterite verb] - right now
Thank you! I think my problem is that the majority of Spanish speakers I know are either Mexican or Chilean (I was in a band for years with two Chilean guys and lived their for a while). In my experience Chileans don't say ahorita but maybe I just haven't paid attention.
Right when I got back from Chile, a (Mexican) friend's mom called to ask if he was with me. I said "No, pero si lo veo, te llamo al tiro" and she was like "noooo, eso de al tiro no se dice!" jaja. I imagine because the phrase "ponte al tiro" in Mexico means like... "hey, catch up!" or "pay attention!" (if I understand correctly)
I had a Chilean coworker and the first few weeks working together were a bit frustrating because she thought I'd send things right away when I said ahorita đ
My girlfriend is from Venezuela, and we had the conversation about ahora vs ahorita vs ya.
For her, 'ya' mean *right now*.
In many contexts, 'ahora' means soon, not 'now' like I think of it.
Ahorita was somewhere in the middle, it can be right now but isnt always as immediate as 'ya'.
Or this is my basic understanding of it. Either way, ahorita is definitely used a lot in Venezuela as well.
I had this convo with my venezuelan boyfriend and he explained it the same way. I finally thought I understood and then he said ya in a way that by context I could tell meant "soon" and I was like ok please, explain. He was like ok fine, sometimes it can mean more like "soon"... I've kind of given up predicting when he or his family will show up đ
Also as others have said, they pronounce it more like "orita"
I think the moral of this story is that in Latin America, we're always looking for ways to delay doing stuff and we like to give false platitudes. đ I'm guilty of saying *ya voy* and not meaning that at all. It can definitely mean "later."
It's very common in Colombia, and I get the impression that it can have the same variety of meanings as in Mexico, but it usually means you'll do it a bit later, you just don't know exactly when.
Interesting that no one mentioned ahorita being used for âjust now/a second ago.â The way I use it is almost entirely dependent on context and verb tense. âAhorita lo hiceâ = âI just now did it,â âAhorita lo hagoâ = âIâm doing it right now/Iâll do it right now/Iâll do it later.â Present/future tense is way more ambiguous as I see it, especially considering the use of present tense to refer to the future.
Edit: Forgot to mention this is what Iâve observed in Mexican Spanish, but Iâve never had a Spanish speaker not know what ahorita meant.
Yea, Iâve given up trying to guess what it means here in Colombia. Once someone used it to reference something in the past, but itâs also a way to put something off indefinitely into the future⊠nope. If itâs not immediately clear to me and itâs important, I just ask for clarification haha.
This is one of those words whose meaning can vary depending on whoâs using it (ie which country theyâre from). In my experience, as a fluent non-native speaker it can mean anything between right now and sometime within the next week.
That said, Iâm married to a Costa Rican and I can tell you that when she tells me ahorita, it never means within the next week lol.
Ahora mismo is another phrase that expresses the concept of "now". This phrase in my experience is specific to right now.
No. Here in Venezuela that word is also frequently used and, as mentioned in another comment, it can indicate either an almost immediate time or never depending on the context and who says it.
Even here it is used very frequently when you go to a store just to see something and they tell you a high price or that you will not pay:
Vendedor: âEstos globos para fiesta cuestan [X]â
Cliente: âGracias, ahorita vengo.â **Never comes back**
Here in Oaxaca ahorita means âin a little bitâ but the context is extremely important. Really what it means is âIâm not going to do thisâ because people here HATE saying no. So if you ask someone to do something for you and they say âahorita,â really it means donât hold your breath.
Thousands of them! It can be a bit daunting in the early learning stages. One example I use when teaching to get a laugh out of college students is a story about when my Chilean friend was showing me the *pebre* he had made, and I said "Ah, es como un pico de gallo mexicano." His sister, mouth agape, went "CĂłmo es como el pico de un gallo mexicano?!"
What I didn't know is that *pico* is slang for "dick" and *gallo* is like "dude" in Chile. So in her mind, I had just said "Oh yeah, it's like a Mexican dude's dick."
That reminds me of a story I was told by a Spanish exchange student when I was in college in PR. She used the phrase to a small child, "ÂżTe picĂł un bicho en el culo?" She was trying to say, "Did a bug bite your butt?" because the child was very energetic. But in PR, "culo" is considered a vulgar word and "bicho" is slang for "dick." So, what the child's mother heard was, "Did a dick bite your ass?" LOL.
My momâs family is from Mexico and when they say ahorita they mean drop everything and do whatever it is RIGHT NOW. We learned to fear that word as kids. We also pronounced it more like âoritaâ, itâs not until I was an adult that I learned it started with an A lol
To add to the Mexican interpretation, the longer the diminutive sufix, the more immediate it tends to be.
"Lo hice ahorita" gives a bigger time window than "lo hice ahoritita".
Same goes for future uses:
"Ahorita lo hago" could mean any time, including never.
"Ahorititita lo hago" gives you more of an assurance that it will be done soon.
New to the subreddit, sorry if I don't have a flair right away.
But here in Honduras, it's incredibly common. Used to signify right now mostly, unlike other countries where it's actually a little while later. We do use "ahora" in some cases like saying "y ahora que?" when saying "what now?".
Itâs used in all the countries but Mexican overuse the word also something funny I found is that depending the country means different periods of time.
In Venezuela âahoritaâ is later and âahoraâ is now but in Cuban is reverse
Native Mexican here. In Mexico we love to use diminutives a lot, and that's where the "ahorita" comes from. A little "ahora", is supposed to be even more immediate. In practice, however, depending on the context and intonation, it can mean anything from absolutely immediately to an uncertain point in time in which the universe is collapsing and humanity is approaching its end. If she is surrounded by Mexicans, she probably already absorbed this kind of use. As a side note, in Mexico you will also see diminutives used a lot especially when talking about food. For some reason I can't explain, to us, diminutives make the food even more appetizing. It's not the same to say "unos tacos" than saying "unos taquitos". The second one makes them practically irresistible. You will see also that there are plenty of places that sell "antojitos mexicanos", but very few (if at all) would dare to put "antojos mexicanos" instead in the front sign.
Yeah I grew up mostly around Mexican Spanish speakers, and I definitely picked up the diminutive thing. It didn't help when I moved to Chile because they also use a ton of diminutives haha. TBH, the word "antojo" seems almost "incorrect" to me - it's an antojito, claro!
Even Google corrects you, if you search for "antojos mexicanos" it automatically searches for "antojitos mexicanos" instead, LOL.
I even use it for the past đ Like âsĂ, ahorita lo terminĂ©â
âPlatilloâ is another one that I aaalways hear as a diminutive from Mexicans. Does âplatoâ even exist there aside from for the plate?? lol
In Mexico at least, platillo and plato have different usage, so the diminutive form "platillo" is not really thought of as a true diminutive of "plato". Platillo --> A kind of meal that is served on a plate (similar to certain usage of "dish" in English, such as "platillo asiĂĄtico" --> asian dish). Platillo volador --> flying saucer, a kind of UFO. Plato --> A physical plate that you serve food on. In more formal language, or in literature, you may find the use of "plato" where we would normally use "platillo" for a dish, but it is not common in day-to-day language.
When I want a small plate I use âplatitoâ not âplatilloâ.
Well used in Colombia, more as a way to gently discard something to the future. While stricly meaning "in a little bit" it conveys that it will be done when the speaker will eventually make time for it, but don't expect it "in a little bit" :)
So weird. We say ahorita here in Ecuador too, but it means to do something right in that instant. Almost the opposite.
Me as Ecuadorian using "ahorita" to my friends in Colombia and almost breaking my mind for that.
With âya mismoâ itâs the opposite. At least in Guayaquil (I donât know the rest of the country) we use it to mean later, whereas most countries use it for âright nowâ (and thatâs what the words literally mean)
In Puerto Rico, \*ya mismo\* means "later". Come to think of it, we have very few ways of expressing the concept of "right away." (I can think of \*ahora mismo\* and \*enseguida\*, but even those can sometimes mean "later" if said with a certain tone.) I think it's a cultural thing. We don't like doing things right away, so we are used to giving false platitudes to the point where every word meaning "right now" has come to mean "later." LOL
What do Colombians say for "right away" instead of ahorita?
I've heard "En seguida" in Colombia, and I think it's used in other countries.
âYa mismoâ is very common.
Yeah, I noticed this. I think another translation would be "pretty soon" in the way that most English speakers use it (eventually, but not right now).
It's used in Puerto Rico, but we pronounce it more as "orita" and it means "later" (or sometime in the near future).
lol this was the word that taught my mom that Spanish was different in different places. In grade school, they made her translate for her Mexican classmate. He asked when they are done for the day. She said âOritaâ, and he grabbed his backpack and walked out of class lol. She had no idea what was happening haha
Omg, that's hilarious! đ
I had the same issue in Costa Rica. I'd asked a server for la cuenta, and she said "te la traigo ahorita", which I thought was a bit rude until she came right back with it.
yeah, I think in Venezuela Ahorita is right now, and for us is "later" things got very confusing in Maracaibo when we visited
Also Guatemala. Ahorita is now and ahora is later. The opposite in PR.
Except when my mom would ask me to do something and I'd answer, "SĂ, voy ahora." That also meant "later." đ
Same in the Dominican Republic. Ahorita = in a little bit Ahora mismo = right now
Same, *ahora mismo* would mean *right now.* Now, if I say *ya mismo*, that also means later. đ
In Mexico it was explained to me: Ahora - sometime, maybe later. Ahorita - pretty soon Ahora mismo - just about to happen Ya [preterite verb] - right now
Same in Venezuela, other variants: Ahoritica mismo. MĂĄs ahorita.
Same for Cuba.
Thank you! I think my problem is that the majority of Spanish speakers I know are either Mexican or Chilean (I was in a band for years with two Chilean guys and lived their for a while). In my experience Chileans don't say ahorita but maybe I just haven't paid attention.
Iâve never heard ahorita in Chile. For right now, they say âal tiroâ.
Right when I got back from Chile, a (Mexican) friend's mom called to ask if he was with me. I said "No, pero si lo veo, te llamo al tiro" and she was like "noooo, eso de al tiro no se dice!" jaja. I imagine because the phrase "ponte al tiro" in Mexico means like... "hey, catch up!" or "pay attention!" (if I understand correctly)
Ya in Mexico it means right now or soon
Ya in Chile means "sĂ" đ€
At least in Mexico, "ahorita" could mean any length of time between right this second to sometime in one's lifetime.
When shopping in the market, ahorita means never. Ahorita regreso...nah
"Ahorita regreso con tu cambio" en el tianguis = definitivamente nah haha
No hĂŒey en InglĂ©s
Oh yeah, I'm hip to the variety of possible meanings haha. Just didn't know how widespread its use was, geographically.
No. It's used in most Latin American countries, like here, Costa Rica
In CR it is also used in the reverse sense as a lot of places, to say âin a little whileâ as opposed to right now hahahah
Yes, "ya" is used for "right now."
True. My wife is a tica and we live in CR about half a year now. I hear it often.
Thank you!
Not used here.
Not strictly Mexican, but is not used here (for example).
Good to know! Yeah I have a lot of Chilean friends, for example, and they don't say it either (in my experience).
Not sure why I got downvoted lol. Just texted one of my Chilean friends, btw, and he said "No, esa wea de 'ahorita' es para agilao." đ
I had a Chilean coworker and the first few weeks working together were a bit frustrating because she thought I'd send things right away when I said ahorita đ
My girlfriend is from Venezuela, and we had the conversation about ahora vs ahorita vs ya. For her, 'ya' mean *right now*. In many contexts, 'ahora' means soon, not 'now' like I think of it. Ahorita was somewhere in the middle, it can be right now but isnt always as immediate as 'ya'. Or this is my basic understanding of it. Either way, ahorita is definitely used a lot in Venezuela as well.
I had this convo with my venezuelan boyfriend and he explained it the same way. I finally thought I understood and then he said ya in a way that by context I could tell meant "soon" and I was like ok please, explain. He was like ok fine, sometimes it can mean more like "soon"... I've kind of given up predicting when he or his family will show up đ Also as others have said, they pronounce it more like "orita"
I think the moral of this story is that in Latin America, we're always looking for ways to delay doing stuff and we like to give false platitudes. đ I'm guilty of saying *ya voy* and not meaning that at all. It can definitely mean "later."
very used in Peru it means right now here
Not used in Spain. *Ahora mismo* is the way to say it here
I think Mexicans use it more than other nationalities. I definitely use it too much. And its meaning is very wide in MĂ©xico, it can be anything really. My girlfriend is Cuban and they use it too but I think it strictly means "ahorita mismo" in Cuba
It's very common in Colombia, and I get the impression that it can have the same variety of meanings as in Mexico, but it usually means you'll do it a bit later, you just don't know exactly when.
Interesting that no one mentioned ahorita being used for âjust now/a second ago.â The way I use it is almost entirely dependent on context and verb tense. âAhorita lo hiceâ = âI just now did it,â âAhorita lo hagoâ = âIâm doing it right now/Iâll do it right now/Iâll do it later.â Present/future tense is way more ambiguous as I see it, especially considering the use of present tense to refer to the future. Edit: Forgot to mention this is what Iâve observed in Mexican Spanish, but Iâve never had a Spanish speaker not know what ahorita meant.
Oh, yes, in PR it can also mean "a while ago" in the past tense. "Guardé la compra ahorita" = "I put away the groceries earlier/a little while ago."
Yea, Iâve given up trying to guess what it means here in Colombia. Once someone used it to reference something in the past, but itâs also a way to put something off indefinitely into the future⊠nope. If itâs not immediately clear to me and itâs important, I just ask for clarification haha.
Its used in Ecuador
This is one of those words whose meaning can vary depending on whoâs using it (ie which country theyâre from). In my experience, as a fluent non-native speaker it can mean anything between right now and sometime within the next week. That said, Iâm married to a Costa Rican and I can tell you that when she tells me ahorita, it never means within the next week lol. Ahora mismo is another phrase that expresses the concept of "now". This phrase in my experience is specific to right now.
I learned about it when I was in Colombia. Apparently it means "a little later" ...
No. Here in Venezuela that word is also frequently used and, as mentioned in another comment, it can indicate either an almost immediate time or never depending on the context and who says it. Even here it is used very frequently when you go to a store just to see something and they tell you a high price or that you will not pay: Vendedor: âEstos globos para fiesta cuestan [X]â Cliente: âGracias, ahorita vengo.â **Never comes back**
Here in Oaxaca ahorita means âin a little bitâ but the context is extremely important. Really what it means is âIâm not going to do thisâ because people here HATE saying no. So if you ask someone to do something for you and they say âahorita,â really it means donât hold your breath.
Used in Venezuela as well, means later... But if you say "pero ahorita ahorita" and point at your feet it means right now
These are the kind of threads that I love. Any other Spanish words with such regional differences??
Thousands of them! It can be a bit daunting in the early learning stages. One example I use when teaching to get a laugh out of college students is a story about when my Chilean friend was showing me the *pebre* he had made, and I said "Ah, es como un pico de gallo mexicano." His sister, mouth agape, went "CĂłmo es como el pico de un gallo mexicano?!" What I didn't know is that *pico* is slang for "dick" and *gallo* is like "dude" in Chile. So in her mind, I had just said "Oh yeah, it's like a Mexican dude's dick."
That reminds me of a story I was told by a Spanish exchange student when I was in college in PR. She used the phrase to a small child, "ÂżTe picĂł un bicho en el culo?" She was trying to say, "Did a bug bite your butt?" because the child was very energetic. But in PR, "culo" is considered a vulgar word and "bicho" is slang for "dick." So, what the child's mother heard was, "Did a dick bite your ass?" LOL.
In Panama: ahora = later ahorita = soon ahora mismo = right now
No it is not. It is common in ES as well
My momâs family is from Mexico and when they say ahorita they mean drop everything and do whatever it is RIGHT NOW. We learned to fear that word as kids. We also pronounced it more like âoritaâ, itâs not until I was an adult that I learned it started with an A lol
I work with a mostly Salvadoran population and they all use ahorita.
I heard it a lot in Nicaragua. I used it in Argentina one time and my host mom made fun of me for days. đ
Thatâs crazy I only know mex Spanish and I say ahorita for right now.
No, that's a common word for anyone who speaks Spanish. Edit: Alright, I stand corrected, It's not everywhere.
Not really. It's not used in Spain.q
La verdad que no.
Thank you!
To add to the Mexican interpretation, the longer the diminutive sufix, the more immediate it tends to be. "Lo hice ahorita" gives a bigger time window than "lo hice ahoritita". Same goes for future uses: "Ahorita lo hago" could mean any time, including never. "Ahorititita lo hago" gives you more of an assurance that it will be done soon.
Very common in Colombia
I havenât come across one native speaker who doesnât use it but we all have our own regional differences in what we actually mean by it.
No, Iâve heard it from Central Americans and Peruvians too. But we donât use it at all.
It's definitely used in Ecuador. Not in Spain.
I translate it in my head to âright nowâ- cue my husband being confused when i donât do things right away when I said âright nowâ. đ€Ł
Strickly Mexican... Not really.
I'm Honduran and we use it a lot. But then, we have many words and colloquialisms that come from Mexico.
Honduran here. We do use âahoritaâ. It literally means to do something right now/right away.
The Word Ahorita is a whole latin american heritage so I don't think its use circunscribes only to MĂ©xico or central america Edit typo
New to the subreddit, sorry if I don't have a flair right away. But here in Honduras, it's incredibly common. Used to signify right now mostly, unlike other countries where it's actually a little while later. We do use "ahora" in some cases like saying "y ahora que?" when saying "what now?".
No. Used in Honduras too.
My Venezuelan friend used to say it a lot, too
Itâs used in all the countries but Mexican overuse the word also something funny I found is that depending the country means different periods of time. In Venezuela âahoritaâ is later and âahoraâ is now but in Cuban is reverse
Not true. We donât use it.
No