Today’s Spanish word of the day is “vale”.
It’s an interjection that’s very common in Spain (but not so much in Latin America), and translates as “okay”.
Originally, “vale” was used as a way of saying goodbye. It comes from Latin vale, which meant something like “be healthy”. However, these days it’s almost always used to mean “okay” rather than “goodbye”.
“Vale” is also the present tense third person singular form of the “valer” (“to be worth”), which is used in phrases such as “vale la pena” (“it’s worth it”). It’s usually clear from the context whether the word “vale” is a conjugation of the verb “valer” or is being used to mean “okay”.
Example sentences
Vale, entiendo lo que dices.
Okay, I understand what you’re saying.
¿Vale? ¿Estamos de acuerdo?
Okay? Do we agree?
¿Quieres ir al cine esta noche? Vale.
Do you want to go to the cinema tonight? Okay.
Este libro cuesta diez euros, ¿vale?
This book costs ten euros, okay?
Vale, te llamaré más tarde.
Okay, I’ll call you later.
