If you learned Spanish in Mexico, or from a course built on Mexican Spanish, you will find differences in Guatemala. This page compares the two the way a dictionary would. The address system (vos versus tú) comes from the RAE’s Diccionario panhispánico de dudas. The word pairs come with the country marks printed in the Diccionario de la lengua española or ASALE’s Diccionario de americanismos. This is not a slang list. For the full Guatemalan glossary, see Guatemalan slang (chapinismos).

Quick summary: On grammar, the RAE’s Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (DPD) says that in Guatemala voseo is general across all social classes, and it calls Mexico a tuteante country (one that uses tú). The DPD also describes a three-way system, vos for familiar address, tú for intermediate formality, usted for the most formal, which it says schooled classes tend to use in el resto de los países citados, the rest of the countries it names (exact wording and its limits below). On vocabulary, the dictionaries mark patojo, chilero, canche, pajilla for Guatemala and goma for Central America. For the same meanings they mark chamaco, chido, güero, popote for Mexico. Four words, cuate, chamba, bolo and cruda, carry a Mexico mark in the DLE and a Guatemala or Central America mark too.

How this page was checked

All entries were read on 16 October 2026 in three academy dictionaries:

  • the Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (DPD), 2nd edition, entry voseo, for how each country says you;
  • the Diccionario de la lengua española (DLE), RAE-ASALE, Edición del Tricentenario. A sense marked Guat. is Guatemalan, Méx. is Mexican, Am. Cen. is Central American. El Salv., Hond., Nic. and C. Rica stand for El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica;
  • the Diccionario de americanismos (DA), ASALE, 2010. Here Gu is Guatemala, Mx Mexico, ES El Salvador, CR Costa Rica and RD the Dominican Republic.

Dictionary senses are quoted in Spanish exactly as printed, sense numbers included. English glosses are ours.

Vos vs tú: how each country says you

The DPD’s entry voseo puts Guatemala in a group with El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. For those countries it says “el voseo es un fenómeno general en todas las clases sociales”. Its section on Mexico opens differently: “México. Es un país tuteante”. It adds that vos survives there only in a corner of the south: “Solo en los estados surorientales de Tabasco y Chiapas se conservan formas voseantes en hablantes indígenas sin escolarizar”.

GuatemalaMexico
What the DPD saysvoseo general across all social classespaís tuteante
Where vos forms appearacross social classesonly Tabasco and Chiapas, among Indigenous speakers without schooling
Extra note in the DPDtuteo pronominal (the pronoun tú with voseo verb forms) frequentnone in the passages read

The three-way system the DPD describes

The DPD also describes a three-way system. Its wording is: “en el resto de los países citados las clases escolarizadas suelen utilizar un sistema ternario, en el que vos es el tratamiento familiar o de confianza, tú el tratamiento de formalidad intermedia y usted el tratamiento más formal”.

The sentence opens with el resto de los países citados, the rest of the countries named. The passage captured for this page does not include the list that phrase points back to, so this page does not say which countries the system covers, or whether it covers Guatemala. Suelen marks a tendency, not a fixed rule.

FormWhere the DPD places it
vosfamiliar or trusted address (familiar o de confianza)
túintermediate formality
ustedthe most formal

The DPD also notes “el tuteo pronominal frecuente en Guatemala y Honduras”. Tuteo pronominal is the pronoun tú combined with voseo verb forms, so it is not the same as Mexican-style tú. Writing about Central America in section 2.4.2, the DPD says of situations of intermediate formality: “El tuteo, en cambio, suele ser la norma de prestigio”. So, by the DPD’s account, a visitor who uses tú in those situations is using the prestige form. What changes is what you will hear.

The vos verb forms you will hear in Guatemala

The DPD’s conjugation table gives this row for Guatemala:

VerbPresentPreteriteSubjunctiveImperative
cantarcantáscantastescantéscantá
comercoméscomistescomáscomé
vivirvivísvivistesvivásviví

For Mexico, the DPD’s section mentions vos forms only in Tabasco and Chiapas, as quoted above.

Vocabulary pairs, with the dictionary marks

Each row gives a word a dictionary marks for Guatemala (or Central America) and, for the same meaning, a word it marks for Mexico.

Meaning (our gloss)Guatemala sideMarksMexico sideMarks
kid, youngsterpatojoDLE: Guat. y Hond.chamacoDLE: Ant., El Salv., Hond., Méx. y Nic. (no Guat.)
nice, prettychileroDLE: coloq. Guat.chidoDLE: coloq. Méx.
blondcancheDA: Gu, ES (not in the DLE)güeroDLE: Méx.
hangovergomaDLE: Am. Cen.crudaDLE: Méx.; also Guat., Hond. y Méx.
drinking strawpajillaDA: Gu, CR, RDpopoteDA: Mx, RD

Guatemalan words with no Mexico-marked counterpart in these entries

WordOur glossMarksWhat the entries checked show
pistomoneyDLE: El Salv., Guat., Hond. y Nic.The DLE’s money sense of lana carries no country mark, so it is not a Mexican counterpart on dictionary authority
chumpashort jacketDLE: El Salv., Guat., Hond. y Nic.The DLE’s chamarra entry has no Mexican sense

What each entry says

  • patojo (DLE): “2. m. y f. Guat. y Hond. Niño, muchacho”, a child or youngster. chamaco (DLE): “1. m. y f. Ant., El Salv., Hond., Méx. y Nic. Niño o adolescente”. The list includes Mexico and leaves out Guatemala.
  • chilero (DLE): “1. adj. coloq. Guat. Bonito, elegante”, pretty or elegant. chido (DLE) has two Mexican senses: “1. adj. coloq. Méx. bonito (‖ lindo)” and “2. adj. coloq. Méx. Muy bueno” (very good).
  • canche (DA): “adj/sust. Gu, ES. Referido a persona, de pelo rubio y piel blanca”, a person with blond hair and white skin. The DLE page reads “La palabra «canche» no está en el Diccionario”. güero (DLE): “1. adj. Méx. Dicho de una persona: Que tiene los cabellos rubios”.
  • goma (DLE): “9. f. Am. Cen. resaca (‖ malestar por haber bebido en exceso)”, a hangover. cruda (DLE) has a Mexican adjective sense, “15. adj. Méx. Dicho de una persona: Que tiene resaca al día siguiente de una borrachera”. It also has a noun sense marked for three countries: “16. f. Guat., Hond. y Méx. resaca (‖ malestar por haber bebido en exceso)”. So cruda is not only Mexican by the DLE’s marks.
  • pajilla (DA): “f. Gu, CR, RD. Paja para sorber líquidos”. popote (DA): “m. Mx, RD. Tubo estrecho que sirve para sorber líquidos”.
  • pisto (DLE): “4. m. El Salv., Guat., Hond. y Nic. dinero”, money. The DLE also lists lana for money, “6. f. coloq. dinero (‖ moneda corriente)”, but gives that sense no country mark. This page does not treat lana as a Mexican word.
  • chumpa (DLE): “1. f. El Salv., Guat., Hond. y Nic. cazadora (‖ chaqueta corta y ajustada a la cadera)”, a short jacket fitted at the hip. The DLE’s chamarra entry has no Mexican sense; its sense 1 reads “1. f. Vestidura de jerga o paño burdo, parecida a la zamarra”. So this page pairs chumpa with no Mexican word.

Words Guatemala and Mexico share

These words carry a Mexico mark in the DLE and also a Guatemala or Central America mark. By those marks, they are not a difference between the two countries:

WordOur glossDLE sense
cuateclose friend“3. m. y f. El Salv., Guat., Hond. y Méx. Camarada, amigo íntimo”
chambajob, work“2. f. coloq. Am. Cen., Ec. y Méx. Empleo, trabajo”
bolodrunk“1. adj. C. Rica, El Salv., Guat., Hond., Méx. y Nic. ebrio (‖ embriagado por la bebida)”
crudahangover“16. f. Guat., Hond. y Méx. resaca (‖ malestar por haber bebido en exceso)”

The Guatemala angle: the marks are Central American

Count the words on this page that carry an explicit Guatemala mark (Guat. in the DLE, Gu in the DA). There are twelve: patojo, chilero, canche, pajilla, pisto, chumpa, cuate, bolo, cruda (sense 16), plus chapín, shuco and chunche below. Only one, chilero, is marked for Guatemala alone. Every other one also carries at least one other country’s mark, and each of those lists includes another Central American country. Two more words on this page, goma and chamba, carry no Guatemala mark of their own; the DLE marks them Am. Cen., Central America as a whole. These counts are ours, from the marks quoted on this page. On grammar, the DPD likewise puts Guatemala’s voseo in one group with El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Three more words with Central American marks, none of them marked for Mexico in the senses quoted here:

  • chapín (DLE): “1. adj. C. Rica, El Salv., Guat., Hond. y Nic. guatemalteco”. It means Guatemalan.
  • shuco (DA): marked Gu, ES, with the gloss chuco, sucio (dirty).
  • chunche (DLE): “1. m. C. Rica, Guat., Hond., Nic. y Pan. Objeto cuyo nombre se desconoce o no se quiere mencionar”. It means a thing whose name you do not know or would rather not say.

Checked and left out

These entries were checked, but the captured entries do not support a Guatemala mark, so this page does not use them:

  • camioneta as a bus: the DLE’s sense, “2. f. coloq. Autobús que presta sus servicios en algunos barrios”, has no country mark. The DA entry has no Guatemalan bus sense.
  • chucho as a dog: the DA entry has no Guatemalan dog sense.
  • pacha / mamila (baby bottle): the DLE’s baby-bottle sense of pacha is marked for El Salvador and Nicaragua only, and its mamila entry has no Mexican sense.
  • Pronunciation: the research for this page found no academy source to cite, so it is not compared here.

If you learned Mexican Spanish: what to adjust

  1. Learn to recognise the vos forms. The DPD’s Guatemala row gives cantás, comés, vivís in the present and cantá, comé, viví in the imperative.
  2. Keep usted for formal situations.
  3. Keep using tú where it fits. In section 2.4.2 the DPD calls tuteo the prestige norm in Central America in situations of intermediate formality.
  4. Learn the Guatemalan and Central American counterparts of words you already know: patojo for chamaco, chilero for chido, canche for güero, pajilla for popote, and goma (Central America) alongside cruda. Add pisto for money and chumpa for a short jacket, which have no Mexico-marked counterpart in the entries checked.
  5. Do not drop the shared words. Cuate, bolo and cruda carry a Guatemala mark in the DLE, and chamba a Central America mark.
  6. Go to the full glossary for everything else: Guatemalan slang (chapinismos).

Sources

All fetched on 16 October 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do Guatemalan and Mexican Spanish differ on vos and tú?

The RAE’s Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (entry voseo) groups Guatemala with El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica and says voseo is general across all social classes there. It calls Mexico a tuteante country, one that uses tú. It says vos forms survive in Mexico only in Tabasco and Chiapas, among Indigenous speakers who have not been to school.

Do Guatemalans say vos or tú?

The DPD says voseo is general across all social classes in Guatemala. It also notes that tuteo pronominal is frequent in Guatemala and Honduras: the pronoun tú combined with voseo verb forms, not ordinary tú use. Separately, it describes a three-way system (vos for familiar or trusted address, tú for intermediate formality, usted for the most formal) that schooled classes tend to use in el resto de los países citados, the rest of the countries it names. The passage captured for this page does not include the list that phrase refers back to, so this page does not say which countries the system covers.

Is it wrong to use tú in Guatemala if I learned Mexican Spanish?

No. Writing about Central America in section 2.4.2, the DPD says tuteo is the prestige norm in situations of intermediate formality. In the three-way system the DPD describes, tú is the form of intermediate formality and usted the most formal.

How do you say kid and cool in Guatemala compared with Mexico?

For a child, the Diccionario de la lengua española marks patojo for Guatemala and Honduras and chamaco for Mexico and other countries, but not Guatemala. For nice or pretty, it marks chilero as colloquial Guatemalan and chido as colloquial Mexican.

What is the Guatemalan counterpart of güero?

Canche. ASALE’s Diccionario de americanismos marks canche for Guatemala and El Salvador: a person with blond hair and white skin. The Diccionario de la lengua española does not include canche, and it marks güero, blond-haired, for Mexico.

Are cuate, chamba and bolo Mexican or Guatemalan?

Both. The Diccionario de la lengua española marks cuate (close friend) for El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. It marks chamba (job) for Central America, Ecuador and Mexico, and bolo (drunk) for six countries including Guatemala and Mexico. It also marks cruda (hangover) for Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.

Does Mexico use vos at all?

Only in a small area, according to the DPD. Its section on Mexico calls the country tuteante. It says vos forms survive only in the southeastern states of Tabasco and Chiapas, among Indigenous speakers who have not been to school.