listo

What it means

1. 1.

   OK; agreed; got it. The Colombian conversational workhorse — it accepts a proposal, acknowledges instructions, closes a phone call and fills a pause, often several times in one exchange.

2. 2.

   '¿Listo?' checks agreement rather than readiness: 'alright?', not 'are you ready?'.

3. 3.

   The dictionary senses — clever, and ready — are both live, so the word carries three unrelated jobs and tone decides between them.

Examples with translations

• Nos vemos a las ocho. — Listo.

  See you at eight. — Right you are.

• Listo, listo, ya voy.

  OK, OK, I'm coming.

• Le dejo el informe el martes, ¿listo?

  I'll get you the report on Tuesday, alright?

  Note: Perfectly acceptable at work — this one is not confined to the street.

Where it comes from

Standard Spanish listo, 'ready'. What is Colombian is the frequency and the discourse function: it has become a near-automatic acknowledgement token, comparable to Brazilian Portuguese beleza.

Other forms

Spellings and variants:

listico, listo pues

Similar terms:

dale, vale, de una