In conversation, it’s necessary to affirm the other person and to indicate you’re following the discussion. In English, we do this without thinking: “Oh, no, not again!”, “That’s great!”, “What did you say then?” In Spanish, we’re tongue-tied for lack of appropriate responses.

After relying for years on “!Que bueno!” in conversations, I finally made a cheat sheet of words that show approval or empathy. Now I choose from: excelente, fabuloso, maravilloso, fantástico, sabroso, rico, chistoso. In bad situations, I exclaim, ““¡Que lástima!” or “¡Que pena!”, and, for every happy occasion, I rely on the congratulations word “felicitaciones.”