How to say ”HELP!” in Spanish

When I was first studying abroad in Spain, I found myself for some reason watching all of the Saw horror movies with a young man about my age from my host family. Every other word was a screamed “socorro!” We didn’t have subtitles on, so I leaned over and asked him what that meant. “Help!” he replied. “I thought that ‘ayuda’ meant help?” I whispered back.

He explained to me that ayuda was one way of asking for assistance in Spanish, whereas ¡Auxilio! or ¡Socorro! convey a greater sense of urgency, and would be used in a life-or-death situation. This was when I realized that there are many different ways of asking for help in Spanish, and that different words can be used to communicate different levels of urgency.

We hope it never happens, but you might have to ask for help in Spanish sometime when you are traveling abroad. So that you don’t get stuck in a sticky situation, here are some common Spanish phrases that you can use to get help.

Remember, if you are in an emergency, such as a fire, medical issue, you are getting robbed, or otherwise require urgent assistance, shout any (or all) of the following: ¡Auxilio! Socorro! Ayúdenme! If you just need a bit of assistance in the store or finding something, try something else from the list.

By the way, asistir is a Spanish false cognate – it does not mean assist, so don’t use it when you’re asking for help. Asistir is more closely translated to “attend”, as in being present for a meeting or event. In some contexts, it can mean something close to help, as in “la enfermera asistió al paciente”. But this is understood to mean “the nurse attended to the patient. It would not be well understood if you were shouting it during an emergency or asking for help in a store.

Now that you know how to ask for help in Spanish, you might want to check out How to say “I don’t understand” in Spanish or How to ask where the bathroom is in Spanish. Thanks for reading!