El Jefe
Run a meeting, give a status update, and set a deadline — in spoken Spanish.
In a Mexican office the meeting isn't la reunión, it's la junta — and in Argentina it shrinks to la reu. Scheduling one is a verb everyone uses: agendar, as in te agendo para el martes. The status question that opens every standup in Mexico is ¿cómo vamos?, and the deadline phrase that closes it is para el viernes a más tardar — by Friday at the latest. With managers and clients, stay in usted and soften requests with ¿podría…? or ¿sería posible…?
Below: the meeting, project and budget vocabulary that runs an office day, the money slang each country uses — and a way to rehearse the standup out loud before you're the one giving the update.
The warm-up pack
What actually gets said in the meeting — scheduling it, running it, and asking where things stand.
01 · Setting the meeting and the deadline in one breath
Agendemos una reunión para el viernes.
Let's schedule a meeting for Friday.
Agendar as a verb — 'to agenda' something — is completely normal office Spanish, not the awkward anglicism it looks like.
02 · The standup question
¿Cuál es el estado?
What's the status?
Four words, and it's exactly what gets asked in a standup — no need to dress it up further.
03 · Asking without over-explaining
Necesito aprobación.
I need approval.
Two words carry the whole request — you don't need to justify it in the same sentence.
04 · Steering the meeting back to money
Revisemos el presupuesto.
Let's review the budget.
This is the line that turns a meandering meeting back toward a decision.
05 · The greeting that isn't stiff
¿Qué onda, jefe?
What's up, boss?
In Mexico, jefe gets used almost affectionately — it's not the distant, formal address it sounds like in English.
06 · Confirming when, not just that
Te agendo para el martes.
I'll pencil you in for Tuesday.
This is how a scheduling confirmation actually sounds — brief, and it closes the loop without more back-and-forth.
07 · Naming your workload honestly
Tengo varios pendientes.
I've got several things pending.
Pendientes is what people say instead of listing every task — it's a normal, honest way to say you're stretched.
08 · Explaining why you're behind
Estamos a tope con el proyecto.
We're completely swamped with the project.
A tope means 'maxed out' — it lands as an honest status update, not an excuse.
09 · Asking about money without sounding stiff
¿Cuánta plata hay en el presupuesto?
How much money is in the budget?
Plata is the word for money across most of Latin America — far more common in speech than dinero.
10 · The shorthand version of 'what's the status'
¿Cómo vamos?
How are we doing?
This is the version people actually say in a standup — ¿cuál es el estado? is correct, but ¿cómo vamos? is what you'll hear.
11 · Delegating clearly
¿Puedes preparar el reporte para el viernes?
Can you prepare the report by Friday?
Naming the who, the what, and the when in one line is what makes a request land instead of getting lost.
FLUENT
Finally, someone to talk to in Spanish.
Ten-minute spoken lessons. A teacher who answers back — and gently fixes what you got wrong.
First 10 lessons freeandbefluent.com/spanish/el-jefeRegional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
| English | Mexico | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
| the meeting | la junta | la reu |
| money (informal) | la lana | la guita |
| el correo | el mail | |
| the boss | el patrón | el jefe |
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Olivia
Your vocabulary teacher for this pack
Meetings don't wait for you to finish a flashcard deck. In the El Jefe lessons, Olivia hands you the room: you lead the team standup — yesterday's progress, today's priorities, the blockers — keeping each update to status, blocker, next step. Then you're making the case to a manager for a budget approval, justifying the cost out loud, and closing a video call by assigning tasks with real deadlines: who, what, and para el viernes. You practice saying the words in the meeting, because that's where you'll need them.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 6 lessons and El Jefe is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
Agendemos una reunión — let's schedule a meeting — or the everyday verb form: te agendo para el martes. In Mexico, expect to hear the meeting itself called la junta; in casual Argentine office talk, la reu.
The neutral form is ¿cuál es el estado? In Mexican standups it's simply ¿cómo vamos? — how are we doing? — and in Spain, ¿cómo va eso? Keep your own answer tight: status, blocker, next step.
La fecha límite — though in multinationals the anglicism la deadline competes with it. To set one out loud, name the day: para el viernes, or the emphatic version every Latin American office runs on, para el viernes a más tardar.
Necesito aprobación states it plainly; soften it for a manager with ¿sería posible…? In Colombia you'll hear the charming me regalas la aprobación — literally 'gift me the approval', nothing is actually being gifted.
Formally it's el presupuesto (budget). Informally, every country has its own: la lana or la feria in Mexico, la guita in Argentina, la plata in Colombia, la pasta in Spain. One more trap: cost is el costo in Latin America but el coste in Spain.
