Today we're going to talk about the expression "ni madres".
There are two meanings to this phrase that I know of, and that's what we're going to discuss today.
The first meaning is the most simple and straight-forward, not that either of these are complicated.
¡Ni Madres!
No fucking way
Not that ni madres actually translates to the F-word, but this is a pretty close approximation. The big thing to recognize here is that "ni madres" is a very rude way of saying "no way!". It's usage is the same as "no way", so we don't really need a lot of detail here.
Let's move on to our next example.
No le entiendo ni madres cuando habla
Ni madres takes on a completely different meaning in this example. It translates to something like "shit" or "jack shit".
No le entiendo ni madres cuando habla
I don't understand jack-shit when he talks
Here are a few more examples:
Mi telefono se chingó y ahora no veo ni madres en la pantalla
My phone is fucked up and now I can't see shit on the screen
No hice ni madres en el trabajo hoy
I didn't do jack-shit at work today
Pan comida, ¿verdad?
That's it for today, ¡hasta pronto!
Nice Post, but shouldn't it be understand in the second example?
ReplyDeleteYou're right! Thanks for pointing out!
ReplyDeleteA bit more detail on another usage of Ni Madres!:
ReplyDeleteNo Way; It's Hopeless; Oh, Well....
Literally, "Ni Madres" means "Not even Mothers".
In Hispanic Cultures, the mom is considered very able - "Mom can do anything" is the viewpoint.
So if something is so challenging that "not even moms" could do it or cope with it, they say "Ni Madres!" to emphasize that it is hopeless, so you might as well give up.
It's like saying "Oh well - why bother if not even moms could deal with that?"
Somewhere along the way it entered the realm of being considered "vulgar" - probably much the same was the the English reference to "Mother" as short for "Mother Fracker". Just saying "Oh, Mother!!!" as an interjection implies the F-Word.
I have heard "Ni Madres" used in both vulgar and non-vulgar contexts - Spanish is like many other languages in that the WAY it is used communicates much of the meaning.