Voices en Español

I think if I were to do a poll of English speakers learning Spanish, their most frequently-used phrase would be “lo siento.” Coming in a very close second would probably be the phrase “no lo sé.”

You wouldn’t think that there would be that many ways to profess your ignorance, but guess what? There are! Here’s a list of phrases to tell another person that you don’t know something. I’ve broken them into three categories: Neutral, Empathetic and Testy.

Neutral: This category is good for all occasions, formal and informal. The conventional “no lo sé” heads the list for this category. Other neutral phrases include:

Lo siento, pero es que no sé nada. (Sorry, but the thing is I know nothing about it.)

Lo lamento, pero no estoy informado. (I regret to say that I’m uninformed, I don’t have that info.)

Siento decirte que no lo sé. (I’m sorry to tell you that I don’t know.)

Empathetic: Want to show a little solidarity? Use these phrases when you want to show that you’re in the same boat as the other person who is asking you the question. They don’t know and neither do you!

Tengo que admitir que no sé nada acerca de…. (I have to admit that I know nothing about….)

No tengo ni idea. (I haven’t got a clue.)

¡Ojalá lo supiera! or ¡Qué más quisiera yo que saberlo! (I wish I knew!)

¡Ojalá pudiera ayudarte! (I wish I could help you!)

Testy: Use these phrases when you want to make it clear how little you know or if you’re annoyed by the question (or perhaps the questioner). But use sparingly. Some of these phrases would fall in the category of “coarse language,”  while others will give the impression that you’re extremely annoyed or pissed off.

No tengo ni la más remota idea. (I haven’t got the faintest idea.)

¡Ni puta idea! or ¡No tengo ni puñetera idea! (No fucking idea.)

¡Ni me lo preguntes! (Don’t ask me!)

¿No has encontrado a nadie mejor para preguntárselo? (Couldn’t you find anyone better to ask?)

¿Y cómo quieres que yo lo sepa? (How do you expect me to know?)

Photos by Oscar Alonso