What does “recontra” mean in Spanish?

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B2 Spanish listening practice · Andean Spanish · Picked for people who know more

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recontra
South American intensifier
“super / really / extremely,” bolted onto an adjective

Spanish loves to crank up an adjective with the prefix re-: bueno → rebueno (“really good”). recontra is the next gear up. Stack it in front and you get “super,” “really,” “extremely”: recontra megadifíciles means “super mega difficult.” It’s informal, spoken, and unmistakably South American, so recontra signals emphasis and attitude at once — the speaker isn’t just describing something hard, they’re insisting on it.

You’ll hear recontra across South America, especially in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, and in Andean speech (Peru, Ecuador). It attaches to adjectives, adverbs and even verbs: estoy recontra cansado (“I’m absolutely wiped”). Think of it as the loud cousin of re-: where rebueno is “really good,” recontrabueno is “unbelievably good.” Keep it for casual conversation, not formal writing.

How common are the words?

How common are the words in this B2 Spanish listening practice video?

89.1%
of words are in the top 2,000 most common Spanish words
Most of the words in this video are common Spanish words.

How common in written Spanish

82.8%
Top 1,000
89.1%
Top 2,000
97.7%
Top 5,000

How common in spoken Spanish

94.3%
Top 1,000
98.1%
Top 2,000
100%
Top 5,000
👄 Words for talking
This video uses words people often say in Spanish.

Harder words in this video

These words are harder than B2. Here is what they mean.

champ
6×
Not in top 5,000
to chew noisily (slang)

Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-ESP 2011 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.

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