Picture this: you wake up on a Sunday morning in Mexico City. Your head is pounding, your mouth feels like sandpaper, and you have vague memories of taking shots of mezcal at a rooftop bar in La Roma. You grab your phone, squinting at the bright screen, and see a text from your friend: "Ayer estabas anal."
If you translate that directly in your head using English slang, you might be a little confused. Were you being overly organized? Were you obsessing over how the bill was split? Not quite.
Welcome to the wild world of Mexican slang, where words rarely mean what you think they mean. Today we are breaking down estar anal, a phrase that will definitely earn you some street cred if you drop it at the right time (and get you some very weird looks if you use it at the wrong time).
What Does "Estar anal" Actually Mean?
Let's clear up the English false friend right away. In English, calling someone "anal" means they are a perfectionist, uptight, or overly obsessed with details.
In Mexican Spanish, estar anal means you are completely, utterly, undeniably wasted. Trashed. Drunk beyond belief.
If someone tells you that you were anal last night, you were probably the person singing off-key mariachi songs, hugging strangers, or falling asleep in the Uber. It is the absolute highest tier of intoxication. You aren't just a little tipsy; you have left the atmosphere.
Where Did This Come From?
You are probably wondering how a word associated with anatomy became the go-to term for drinking too much tequila.
Mexican slang has a long, proud tradition of taking vulgar or taboo words and repurposing them to describe extreme situations. When things reach their absolute limit—whether that's a situation going terribly wrong or someone getting incredibly drunk—the vocabulary tends to get a bit gritty.
Think of it as hitting rock bottom. When you are anal, your dignity has left the building. It is a raw, unfiltered way to describe a raw, unfiltered state of being. It's definitely not polite Spanish, and you won't find it in your traditional grammar textbooks. But hang out with a group of friends in their twenties or thirties on a Friday night, and you'll hear it thrown around without a second thought.
How to Use It in Real Life
To sound like a local, you need to know how to conjugate and apply it. You'll usually hear it used with the verbs estar (to be), andar (to walk/to be in a state of), or ponerse (to get/become).
Here are a few ways you might hear it in the wild:
"No manches, güey, ayer estabas anal. Ni siquiera podías caminar."
(No way, dude, yesterday you were wasted. You couldn't even walk.)
"Ya no me sirvas más tequila, ando bien anal."
(Don't pour me any more tequila, I'm really trashed.)
"Ese vato se puso anal en la boda y terminó vomitando en las plantas."
(That guy got totally wasted at the wedding and ended up throwing up in the plants.)
"Me tomé tres caguamas y ya estaba medio anal."
(I drank three large beers and I was already pretty wasted.)
Reading the Room: When NOT to Use It
Because this phrase sits firmly in the "vulgar slang" category, you need to read the room before you say it.
Do use it: With your close friends, at a house party, at a dive bar, or the morning after a crazy night out while eating greasy tacos to cure your hangover.
Do NOT use it: With your Mexican partner's parents, at a business dinner, or with anyone significantly older than you. If you are having Sunday lunch with your suegra (mother-in-law) and she asks why you look so tired, please do not tell her "es que ayer estaba anal." She might drop her spoon.
Other Ways to Say You're Wasted
If you feel like estar anal is a little too intense for the situation, Mexican Spanish has a massive buffet of expressions for being drunk. Here are a few alternatives to keep in your back pocket:
Estar pedo: The absolute classic. Literally "to be fart," but it just means to be drunk. It's the most common way to say it across Mexico. (Example: "Ando bien pedo.")
Andar hasta las chanclas: Literally "to be up to the flip-flops." It means you are completely submerged in alcohol.
Andar hasta atrás: "To be all the way in the back." Another colorful way to say you are black-out drunk.
Estar tomado: The polite, safe version. This is the one you use with your suegra. It just means "to have been drinking."
Of course, the best way to avoid having to use any of these phrases is to pace yourself when someone invites you out to grab a chela. But let's be honest, we've all misjudged the strength of a good mezcal margarita at least once.
Practice Makes Perfect
Learning slang from an article is great, but knowing exactly when and how to use it in a fast-paced conversation is a completely different skill. You have to get the rhythm right, and you need to know how locals react.
Want to practice using expressions like this in real conversations? Ahorita drops you into interactive stories where you'll use them naturally — like ordering at a taquería, navigating a night out, or chatting with locals. It's the perfect way to test out your street Spanish without the fear of accidentally insulting someone's grandma.
So next time you're out in Mexico and the shots start flowing, you'll know exactly how to describe the state of your friends the morning after. Just remember to drink some water, eat some chilaquiles for the hangover, and maybe keep your phone in your pocket when you start feeling a little too confident in your Spanish abilities at 2 AM.
