56 Expressing agreement, disagreement and indifference
This chapter explains and illustrates the ways in which Spanish speakers normally
express agreement, disagreement and indifference and how they ask others whether
they agree or disagree. As you will see from the examples below, the expressions
associated with these concepts vary greatly depending on the degree of formality of
the situation.
56.1 Expressing agreement
Most of the expressions used to express agreement are set words and phrases. Below is a
list of the most common.
sí‘yes’
de acuerdo‘OK’, ‘right’, ‘all right’
vale‘OK’, ‘all right’
bien‘very well’, ‘all right’, ‘OK’
bueno‘very well’, ‘all right’, ‘OK’
conforme‘OK’, ‘all right’
tener razón‘to be right’
eso es‘that’s right’
efectivamente‘indeed’, ‘exactly’
cierto‘of course’, ‘certainly’
desde luego‘of course’, ‘certainly’
seguro‘sure’
claro‘of course’, ‘obviously’
estar de acuerdo‘to agree’, ‘to be in agreement’
Most of these words and expressions can be used in informal and formal contexts.
The exceptions are¡vale!, which most people would regard as informal, and
¡efectivamente!, which is rather formal. Apart from sí, the most common expressions
seem to be de acuerdo, vale (used especially in Spain), bien, bueno, conforme, desde
luego. Others are used less often. The word¡claro! seems to be much more frequent
among Latin Americans, while the phrases tener razón and estar de acuerdo tend to be
used when one wants to be more emphatic. Note also that in these two phrases the
verbs tener and estar will change for person and tense, e.g. Tienes razón, ‘you’re right’.
The kind of agreement expressed by these words and phrases is not the same for all of
them. Some, like de acuerdo, vale, bien, bueno, conforme, are used to agree and
