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¡Apúrate!
From no te tardes to de volada and ahoritita mismo: how to get someone moving, gently or not.
You are standing by the door with your keys. The taxi is outside. Someone upstairs says they just need five more minutes.
Five minutes ago, they also needed five more minutes.
This is a good moment for ¡Apúrate!—“Hurry up!” But Spanish gives you plenty of other options, depending on whether you want to sound friendly, urgent, or completely out of patience.
Apúrate
In Mexico and much of Latin America, apúrate is a common, everyday way to tell someone to hurry up.
Apúrate, que ya vamos tarde.
Hurry up. We’re already running late.
It comes from apurarse, “to hurry.” You can use the verb without giving an order, too:
Me tengo que apurar.
I need to hurry.
Depending on your voice, apúrate can sound like a simple reminder or an irritated command. Adding por favor helps, but saying it through clenched teeth rather cancels out the politeness.
Useful expressions and what they sound like
| Expression | Meaning and tone |
|---|---|
| ¡Apúrate! | Hurry up! Direct and ordinary in Mexican Spanish. |
| ¡Apúrale! | Get a move on! A very conversational Mexican alternative. |
| ¡Date prisa! | Hurry up! Especially familiar in Spain; understood elsewhere. It is not inherently formal or polite. |
| ¡Apresúrate! | Hurry up! Standard Spanish, though it can sound more formal than apúrate in everyday Mexican conversation. |
| ¡Rápido! / ¡Rapidito! | Quick! / Nice and quick! Rapidito can sound lighter or friendlier, but it still asks for speed. |
| De volada (Mexico) | Quickly; right away; in no time. Informal and conversational. Hazlo de volada means “Do it quickly,” while voy de volada means “I’ll come right away” or “I’m heading over quickly,” depending on context. |
| ¡Ándale! | Come on! In Mexico, it can encourage someone to get moving. It has other meanings in other situations. |
| ¡Córrele! | Hurry! Get moving! A lively Mexican expression, sometimes literally telling someone to run. |
| ¡Muévete! | Move! Get moving! Blunt; it can sound annoyed or rude. |
| No te tardes. | Don’t take too long. Often a gentler reminder rather than a demand to speed up immediately. |
| ¡Ahoritita mismo! | Right this very minute! Insists on doing or starting something immediately, not just doing it faster. |
| Es para hoy. | It’s for today. Literally a deadline; with a pointed tone, a sarcastic “Any time today would be nice.” |
Rapidito does not mean “a little fast”
In rapidito, the ending -ito does not necessarily reduce the urgency. It can make the request sound friendlier or suggest that something will take only a moment.
Ven rapidito, necesito enseñarte algo.
Come here quickly. I need to show you something.
Hazlo rapidito y nos vamos.
Do it quickly, and then we’ll leave.
A smiling “Rapidito, por favor” can be gentle. A parent calling “¡Rapidito!” from the doorway may have very little patience left.
Ahoritita mismo: not in five minutes
Ahoritita mismo is about immediacy. The speaker wants something done now—or at least started now.
Guarda el teléfono y ven ahoritita mismo.
Put away the phone and come here right this minute.
In Mexican conversation, ahorita can be flexible. Depending on the situation, it may mean right now or a little later. Adding the extra diminutive and mismo makes the intention more emphatic.
Of course, “Ahoritita mismo voy” is still a promise. Whether the person actually gets up is another question.
No te tardes: a softer approach
If someone is leaving to buy something, get dressed, or make a quick call, no te tardes is often a better fit than shouting apúrate.
—Voy a la tienda.
—Está bien, pero no te tardes.
“I’m going to the store.”
“Okay, but don’t take too long.”
You are setting an expectation about how long they will take. You are not necessarily telling them to rush down the street.
Where does apremiar fit?
Apremiar belongs to the same general idea, but it is not the usual verb you shout from the front door. It means to press or urge someone to act promptly, and it often sounds more formal.
El cliente nos apremia para que terminemos hoy.
The client is pressing us to finish today.
A useful expression is el tiempo apremia: time is pressing, or there is little time left.
El tiempo apremia; tenemos que decidir.
Time is running short. We need to decide.
The difference is simple: me apuro means I hurry; me apremian means someone is putting pressure on me to act.
One person—or everybody?
The commands above mostly address one person informally. If you are speaking to a group, use forms such as apúrense, apresúrense, or no se tarden.
Apúrense, que ya llegó el taxi.
Hurry up, everyone. The
