Easy methods to Flirt in Spanish: 75 Romantic Phrases and Pet Names for Charming Your Crush

¿De dónde eres?
(Where are you from?)

You can respond with:

Soy de los Estados Unidos / de Inglaterra / de Canadá etc.
(I’m from the USA/England/Canada etc.)

If you get bored of answering the above question (I know I do), just lie:

Soy de aquí.
(I’m from right here.)

Follow it with:

Te lo juro, ¡soy de aquí!
(I swear, I’m really from here!)

Tengo un acento un poco raro porque un mono me enseñó a hablar.
(My accent is a little strange because a monkey taught me to speak.)

Scenario 2: Offering to buy them a drink

You see that handsome person sipping a drink and you want to approach them. But what should you say?

You could try: 

¿Qué estás tomando?
(What are you drinking?)

The smoothest, dream answer is:

Lo mismo que tú.
(The same as you.)

The more likely answer is something like:

Cerveza o vodka con cola
(Beer or vodka and coke)

In the worst-case scenario, they simply ignore you or say:

No es asunto tuyo.
(It’s none of your business.)

Scenario 3: Talking about the weather

In the next scenario, the person of your dreams catches your eye on a bus or train, and you want to talk to them but don’t know how.

In this case, you should probably start with a classic line about the weather:

¡Qué calor / frío / lluvia!
(It’s so hot/cold/rainy!)

It’s not terribly exciting but will do nicely. Then you can ask them:

¿A dónde vas?
(Where are you going?)

Just hope they don’t say:

Lejos de ti.
(Far away from you.)

Scenario 4: Asking if you know them already

Another sneaky way to get someone talking in either situation is to go for the “Do I know you?” approach:

¿Te conozco de antes?
(Do I know you?)

If you want to go really cheesy, and if they say “no,” you can reply with: 

Debo haber soñado contigo entonces.
(Then I must have been dreaming of you.)

You can also check out this guide if want more pick-up lines.

How to Flirt in Spanish Online

Let’s say that you decide to go the online route instead. 

A note for you boys, who are generally expected to start conversations: Don’t use just ¡Hola! (Hello!) to start a conversation on Tinder or dating sites—say something specific!

This is a huge pet peeve of my Spanish-speaking amigas (friends) who are on such apps. Show you have something smart to say or something in common.

For example:

Again, if you don’t have natural wit or charm, you can blame this on the language barrier:

¡Soy muy chistoso / chistosa en inglés!
(I’m really funny in English!) 

There are a few other possible phrases to get things moving. This one is a good way to get anyone talking:

¿Qué te gusta hacer en tu tiempo libre?
(What do you like doing in your free time?) 

Once they tell you what they like doing, you can suggest doing the said activity together by asking: 

¿Puedo acompañarte?
(Can I come with you?)

These can help you move things to the dance floor:

¿Sabes bailar?
(Do you know how to dance?)

¿Quieres bailar?
(Do you want to dance?)

If you’d like to try a more direct approach that’s straight to the point, you could say:

¿Te gustaría salir conmigo?
(Would you like to go out with me?)

Other come-ons include:

¿Vamos a un lugar más tranquilo?
(Shall we go somewhere quieter?)

¿Quieres subir a tomar un café conmigo?
(Would you like to come up for a coffee?) 

Only use the last two if you’re in (a) a noisy place or (b) outside your apartment, respectively. Saying these while you’re having a romantic picnic in the park will only make you look weird.

How to Express Your Desires in Spanish

Another important caveat is that you should be clear about what you’re looking for (just as you should be in any other form of dating or meeting people) so as not to lead anyone on.

Here’s some vocabulary to help you be upfront about your intentions:

The answer, of course, is estar!

That foxy devil already knows that they are (ser) a beautiful person in the more permanent sense, what they want to hear is that they are (estar) looking fabulous tonight!

How to say “you’re beautiful/handsome” largely depends on where your Spanish speaker is from.

So you have:

Estás guapo / guapa.
(You look beautiful — used in Spain).

Estás lindo / linda.
(You look beautiful — very much used in Latin America, but sounds a bit soap opera-y in Spain).

You can also go down the cheesy route and say:

Podría perderme en tus ojos.
(I could lose myself in your eyes.) 

Me encantan tus ojos.
(I love your eyes.)

If you’re already serious, then you can say:

Te quiero.
(I love you.)

Note that it really does suggest love, and not “I want you” (even though the verb querer also means to want, and with a strongly suggestive tone you might be able to make this mean “I want you” in the more physical sense).

If you’d rather express carnal “wanting,” this phrase will do the trick:

Me excitas mucho.
(You turn me on.)

Hopefully, you were told to in some Spanish class be wary of the verb excitar, as it doesn’t indicate our (overused!) Anglo emotion of “to be excited.”

But now that you’ve met that sexy someone, you can finally use excitar.

So things are moving along! Here’s how you can recount your romantic adventures to your buddies in Spanish.

Here the exact extent of the romantic activity is unclear but gets the point across:

Nos enrollamos.
(We hooked up. — used in Spain)

Ligamos anoche.
(We hooked up last night.)

If you have some other type of relationship status, you can use:

Salimos juntos.
(We’re going out together.)

Somos novios.
(We’re boyfriend/girlfriend — this one is usually pretty serious and sometimes also means fiancés.)

Pololo / Polola
(Chile) (Boyfriend/girlfriend)

Somos amantes.
(We’re lovers.)

Estamos casados.
(We’re married — it seems strange, but this info is delivered with that indicator of short-term states, estar!)

Es mi ex.
(He/she is my ex.)

Estamos divorciados.
(We’re divorced.)

Tenemos una relación abierta.
(We’re in an open relationship.)

Somos amigovios.
(We’re friends with benefits, or kind of friends, but kind of dating.)

In Chile, there’s a system for recounting the “grade” of sexual activity you have achieved with someone, somewhat like the American allusion to baseball (“she got to second base last night!”).

Note that the stages are divided up differently, though (and remember, this is only for Chile):

Grado uno
(Grade one — kissing, with perhaps mildly intimate touching) 

Grado dos
(Grade two — kissing with lots of intimate touching)

Grado tres
(Grade three — sex)

Grado cuatro
(Grade four — some sort of hyperbole for kinky sex. Hilariously, Chileans themselves never seem to know quite what this means.)

How to Solve Dating Problems in Spanish

Even if you’ve done all of the above, potential problems can soon arise.

Maybe you went out for a while, but now things just aren’t working, or maybe you’ve realized you’re just too different and would rather just be friends.

Here’s what to do in the following scenarios.

Problem 1: Things are going too fast

You feel like the relationship is racing along at breakneck speed. You’ve already met the whole family, there’s talk of taking a trip together and it’s just all too much.

When they say to you: