¡Que buena (mala) onda!

There are actually a few phrases in Mexican Spanish involving the word "onda".  Today we're going to talk about a few of them.

I've already discussed one very important phrase "Que onda", so click here if you missed it.

So let's move right along and get straight to the point (ir al grano), "Que buena onda" is the equivalent of "cool" or "that's awesome".

When would you use this phrase? Well, it 's really straight-forward.  If someone tells you they just got a big raise. You can reply "¡Que buena onda!"

Or maybe your friend just got free concert tickets..."¡Que buena onda!"

I'm sure you get the drift, so let's talk about "Que mala onda".

"Que mala onda" is the opposite of "Que buena onda". This translates to something like "bummer" or "that sucks".

If your friend lost his free concert tickets, you could say "Que mala onda".   This is easy stuff, I think you get the idea, so let's talk about the last usage I'm going to cover.

You can also use the word "onda" to describe people...

Maria es buena onda
Marie is cool/nice

Maria es mala onda
Maria is not nice/cool

I'm sure that the word "onda" can be used in a variety of other ways, but these usages are practically staples of Mexican Spanish, so they're worth learning.
 
¡Hasta la próxima!