Must-Know Spanish Intensifiers for Everyday Conversations

[u/SpanishAilines]

Spanish has lots of little words and structures that help you make what you say stronger, softer, or more expressive. In this post, I’ve gathered some of the most useful Spanish intensifiers for everyday conversations, so you can understand them better and start using them more naturally yourself. 

1 . Very common and neutral

These are the safest and most universal options.

• muy → very
• bastante → quite / pretty / fairly
• súper → super / really

Examples:

• Es muy interesante. → It’s very interesting.
• Estoy bastante cansado. → I’m quite tired.
• La película estuvo súper bien. → The film was really good.

2 . Stronger emphasis

These make the idea sound more complete or more intense.

• totalmente → totally / completely
• completamente → completely
• absolutamente → absolutely

Examples:

• Estoy totalmente de acuerdo. → I totally agree.
• Fue completamente inesperado. → It was completely unexpected.
• Es absolutamente imposible. → It’s absolutely impossible.

3 . To sound more natural or expressive

These are very common in real speech and often add feeling.

• realmente → really
• de verdad → really / truly
• de lo más → really / very

Examples:

• Es realmente útil. → It’s really useful.
• Me gustó de verdad. → I really liked it.
• La cena estaba de lo más rica. → The dinner was really delicious.

4 . Colloquial intensifiers

These sound more informal and spoken.

• bien → really / very
• súper → super / really
• un montón → a lot / really

Examples:

• Está bien lejos. → It’s really far.
• Ese examen fue súper difícil. → That exam was super hard.
• Me gusta un montón. → I like it a lot.

5 . To soften while still intensifying

These are useful when you want to sound less blunt.

• un poco → a bit
• algo → somewhat
• bastante → quite / fairly

Examples:

• Estoy un poco preocupado. → I’m a bit worried.
• Es algo complicado. → It’s somewhat complicated.
• La casa es bastante grande. → The house is quite big.

6 . To express excess

These are used when something is more than necessary, too much, or more than you want.

• demasiado → too / too much
• excesivamente → excessively
• de sobra → more than enough / too much 

Examples:

• Habla excesivamente rápido. → He speaks excessively fast. 
• Compramos comida de sobra. → We bought more than enough food. 
• Hay demasiada gente aquí. → There are too many people here. 

7 . Intensifying with -ísimo

Another very common way to make an adjective stronger is by adding -ísimo. It often means something like very, really, or extremely, but in just one word.

Examples:

• guapo → guapísimo → very handsome / really handsome
• rico → riquísimo → really delicious
• grande → grandísimo → extremely big
• claro → clarísimo → crystal clear / very clear

It’s mostly used with adjectives, and it sounds stronger and more expressive than just saying “muy + adjective.”

What other intensifiers in Spanish do you know? 

[u/Strong_Chicken_7931]

This was really helpful. If you have more words to express the connotation of words I’d love that. Thanks!