Giving your condolences in Spanish

Tarde o temprano (sooner or later) the time will come when you need to give someone your condolences in Spanish.   Thankfully it hasn’t been something that I’ve needed to do often, but not having the words to do it makes that situation even more uncomfortable, so today I’m going to share with you some of the basic vocabulary and phrases you’ll need to pay your respects.

Let’s jump right into it.

The word you’re going to need is pésame and the expression is dar el pésame.

Te doy mi más sentido pésame
You have my deepest condolences

There’s also the word condolencias which also means condolences.

Pésame and condolencias synonyms, but I always hear pésame so that’s the one I use.

Mis más sentidas condolencias
You have my deepest condolences

Here are a few more examples.

Dale mis condolencias
Give him my condolences

Vamos a dar el pésame
Let’s go give our condolences

Mi mas sentido pésame
I’m sorry for your loss

If you’re wondering about how pésame all of sudden translates to “loss” in the above example instead of “condolences”, don’t.   Translation is not always an exact science and that’s how you would express “I’m sorry for your loss” in Spanish.  Think of it as an equivalent more so than a direct translation.

Here’s one last example using pésame.

Déle mi más sentido pésame a su familia
Give my condolences to your family

Let’s look at some other vocabulary you should know for these occasions.

Estar de luto means to be in mourning.

La mamá de Susana estuvo de luto por la muerte de su hijo
Susan’s mom was in morning because of the death of her child

Funeral is exactly the same in Spanish, just remember to use your Spanish pronunciation.

El funeral es mañana
The funeral is tomorrow

Velorio is the word for wake.

Ayer fui al velorio de Miguel, la familia estaba destrozada
I went to Miguel’s wake yesterday, the family was devastated

El velorio de Miguel es en el centro de la ciudad
Miguel’s wake is downtown

El velorio será en la funeraria Jardines Eternos
The wake will be at the Eternal Gardens Funeral home

To hold a wake is hacer el velorio.

¿Dónde van a hacer el velorio?
Where are they going to hold the wake?

You can also use the verb velar to talk about holding a wake.

Al Sr. Pérez lo van a velar en la funeraria Jardines Eternos
They’re going to hold the wake for Mr. Pérez at the Eternal Gardens funeral home

I’m going to wrap things up with the Spanish equivalents of the expression “Rest in Peace”.

Qué en paz descansa
Rest in peace

You may also see this as:

Qué descansa en paz

And just like in English, Spanish has an acronym (siglas) for the expression rest in peace.

QEPD – Qué en paz descansa

Sometimes you’ll see it written without the “qué”

DEP – Descansa en paz

And that’s it.   While this wasn’t an exhaustive treatment on the subject, it should be enough to help you get by.

And if you have a hard time remembering these phrases, then you can also get them on your Android phone with the My Spanish Phrasebook app.

Developed by me, it has 2,000 useful phrases for expats, travelers and Spanish learners for everyday situations.   It can be hard to remember all that Spanish floating around in your head, so this is the perfect tool to help you remember those Spanish phrases when you need them the most.