dale

Dale is Spanish for "go ahead" or "come on," widely used in Latin American Spanish and increasingly in Spanglish. Popularised in reggaeton. Not concerning. If your kid uses it constantly, ask them where they first heard it, not to police their speech but to understand which online community they are in. Most slang of this kind moves through TikTok and group chats, so seeing it in your child's vocabulary just means they are plugged into normal teen internet culture.

Dale is a Spanish discourse marker meaning "go ahead," "come on," or "let's go," widely used in Latin American Spanish and adopted into English-speaking Latino communities. Use in Latino contexts. Formal equivalent: "go ahead," "come on." Common non-native mistake: confusing with the English name Dale or the English word dale (a valley). Pronounced "DAH-lay." Read or listen to the word in context several times before trying it yourself; the right register is harder to learn than the dictionary meaning.