What does “¿qué perdón ni qué nada?” mean in Spanish?
Disculpa a la abuelita por el desorden
A2 Spanish listening practice · Colombian Spanish · Picked for people who know a little
Ni qué nada is how Spanish brushes off an excuse or objection on the spot: tack it onto whatever the other person just said and you’re saying “don’t give me that” or “no way.” In the clip, a grandmother waves away an apology with ¿Qué perdón ni qué nada? — “What 'sorry'? Forget it” — before handing over the mop anyway. The pattern is ¿qué X ni qué nada?, where X is simply whatever word you want to dismiss.
The slot is flexible: ¿qué frío ni qué nada, abrígate! (“what cold, just put on a coat!”) or ¿qué cansado ni qué nada! (“tired, my foot!”) work the same way. A related but separate construction, ni que + subjunctive, adds sarcasm to a comparison — ni que fuera millonario, “as if I were a millionaire.” Both lean on ni qué to wave something away.
How common are the words?
How common are the words in this A2 Spanish listening practice video?
How common in written Spanish
How common in spoken Spanish
Harder words in this video
These words are harder than A2. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-ESP 2011 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.