vaya
Spanish, noun/ˈbaʝa/
vaya is spelled V-A-Y-A (4 letters) and appears 123 times per million words in written Spanish, the 704th most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Vaya is a Spanish feminine noun meaning “joke; taunt” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a first/third-person singular present subjunctive.
What does vaya mean in English?
interjection
- 1
expresses surprise: wow!, why, oh!, whoa!, well!, man!, boy!
- 2
expresses dismay, worry, indignation or frustration: gee!, jeez!, gosh!, why, man!, oh dear!
- 3
what a ...
¡Vaya coche que tiene tu hermana!
- 4
colloquialyou know, like, y'know
No me gustan las gambas, las almejas... El marisco, vaya.
- 5
go!, leave!, go away! (technically an imperative but can function as an interjection in this sense)
noun
- 1
femininejoke; taunt
verb
- 1
first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- 2
third-person singular imperative
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
interjection: 1. Indica sorpresa, admiración o disgusto.
adjective: 1. Antepuesta a un sustantivo, intensifica las cualidades de dicho sustantivo.
The definition in the Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), in Spanish.
Source: Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of vaya
- vayas plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce vaya?
- /ˈbaʝa/
- [ˈba.ʝa]
- [ˈbaʝa]
Sources: English Wiktionary, Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to vaya
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is vaya in Spanish?
vaya appears 123 times per million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).