In short – ‘Dar el avión’ is an extremely common Mexican idiomatic expression. It literally translates as ‘to give the plane’ (huh?!), but it really means ‘to ignore’ or ‘to blow (someone) off’.
You’ll basically hear people using it when they want to ignore or dismiss someone –
Pedro – Cada vez que le hablo a mi mamá sobre firmar el testamento, me dice que sí … pero no veo claro.
Dante – Pues creo que solo te está dando el avión.
Pedro – Every time I talk to my mom about writing her will, she says she’ll do it … but I don’t see it actually happening.
Dante – Well, I reckon she’s just blowing you off.
Uses / Meaning of ‘dar el avión’ in Mexican Spanish
‘Dar el avión’ can be used in the following ways –
- As a synonym of ‘to blow someone off’
- As a synonym of ‘to ignore’
As a synonym of ‘to blow someone off’
‘Dar el avión’ is often used much in the same way as the English expression ‘to blow someone off’.
¡Ojo! (Watch out!) – ‘dar el avión’ is ALWAYS used with an indirect object pronoun (‘me’, ‘te’, ‘le’, ‘nos’, ‘les’) either before or after the conjugated verb.
This is to indicate who exactly is being blown off!
Karen – El vecino siempre me invita a salir pero no me gusta nada.
Paulina – Pues mejor sé honesta y no le* des el avión.
Karen – The neighbor is always asking me out, but I don’t like him at all.
Paulina – Well, you should be honest with him instead of just blowing him off.
Juan – Ayer le pedí a mi profesora una sesión privada pero solo me escribió “ok”.
Teresa – Creo que te dio el avión.
Juan – Yesterday I asked my teacher for a private session, but she just texted back “ok”.
Teresa – I think she blew you off.
*Erika´s top tip – remember that ‘le’ is the indirect object pronoun for 3rd person singular.
DON´T get it confused with ‘se’ (which has a TON of other uses, but ISN´T an indirect object pronoun)!
As a synonym of ‘to ignore’
Have you ever said ‘right’, ‘uh-huh’ or ‘yeah’ because you had absolutely no clue what else to say?
Or maybe you just couldn´t be bothered to elaborate?
If so, you were probably ‘dando el avión’ to the person you were speaking to …
Marco – ¡Oye qué bonita es esa pirámide! Qué lugar tan chévere, ¿no crees?
Fernanda – Sí …
Marco – ¡No me des el avión!
Marco – What a beautiful pyramid! This is such an incredible place, don’t you think?
Fernanda – Yeah …
Marco – Don´t ignore me!
Eduardo – ¿Sabías que Gabriel García Márquez escribió ‘Cien años de soledad’?
Helena – Uh-huh.
Eduardo – Mmmm, ¿en serio o sólo me das el avión?
Eduardo – Did you know that Gabriel García Márquez wrote “One hundred years of solitude”?
Helena – Uh-huh.
Eduardo – Umm, really or are you just ignoring me?
When someone is telling a very tall story, the person they´re speaking to may also be tempted to just ‘darle el avion’ –
Oscar – Ayer conocí al Chapo, ¿por qué no me crees?
Roberto – Ya conozco tus cuentos, así que solo te doy el avión.
Oscar – Yesterday I met El Chapo. Why don’t you believe me?
Roberto – I know how you like to spin a yarn, so I´ll just ignore you.
‘Dar el avión’ pronunciation
‘Dar’ is said like ‘dahr’, and ‘el’ like ‘ehl’.
‘Avión’ is said like ‘ah-byohn’.
/ dahr ehl ah-byohn /
Final thoughts
Hopefully this article has cleared up any doubts you had about ‘dar el avión’.
Just remember that it’s an idiomatic expression and, although it’s not at all offensive, it´s only really appropriate for more informal situations.
Make sure to whip it out with your Pinnochio-esque friend, roomie, or colleague the next time they tell you a rather “tall” tale!
Oh, and definitely mosey on down to our article on ‘te pasas’ if you wanna learn more Mexican slang!
¡Hasta pronto!