Small talk with coworkers: Complaining about the weather or commute

💬 tardar means 'to take time'. Add how long right after it: tardé veinte minutos "it took me twenty minutes".

🇲🇽 Commutes of over an hour are common in Mexico City. Trading how long the trip took is a normal way to bond with coworkers, and nobody will hear it as whining.

💬 pesado literally means "heavy", but here it means tiresome or annoying. Said about a person, es muy pesado means he's unpleasant to deal with.

💬 Use en for how you travel: en metro, en carro, en camión "by bus". The exception is walking, which is a pie "on foot".

💬 venía describes how the train was the whole time you were riding it, not a single moment. Same pattern: venía lento "it was going slow".

💬 Putting no in front turns the question into one that expects you to agree, like English 'isn't it?'. Same pattern: ¿No hace frío? "Isn't it cold?"

💬 toda sudada ends in -a because a woman is speaking. A man would say todo sudado.

💬 Mexicans say en la tarde, while Spain prefers por la tarde. The same goes for en la mañana "in the morning" and en la noche "at night".

💬 Use va a plus a basic verb for what's about to happen: va a llover. Swap the verb: va a hacer frío "it's going to get cold".

🇲🇽 In Mexico City's rainy season, afternoon downpours are almost daily. Predicting the rain is a stock conversation topic at work.

💬 ojalá comes from Arabic and roughly means "if God wills". It's an everyday word, though, with no religious feel. It works alone as a reply, or before a wish: ojalá que llueva "I hope it rains".

💬 peor already means 'worse', so never add más to it. The same goes for mejor "better".

🇲🇽 Ni modo is very Mexican, a shrug for things you can't change, like traffic or rain. It's the natural way to wrap up a round of complaining.

💬 a plus a basic verb works as a quick 'let's go do it': ¡a comer! "let's eat!", ¡a dormir! "off to bed!".

🇲🇽 al rato is vague in Mexico. It can mean in a few minutes or much later in the day, so don't read it as a promise of timing.

💬 al rato means 'in a little while' in Mexico, so nos vemos al rato suggests later today. For another day, say nos vemos mañana "see you tomorrow".