A poco
Really? No way — Mexico's go-to expression of disbelief.
Hear it in context
—Renuncié a mi trabajo. —¿A poco? ¿Y ahora qué vas a hacer?
—I quit my job. —Really? So what are you going to do now?
¿A poco no está buenísima esta película?
This movie is great, isn't it?
¿A poco crees que te voy a esperar toda la noche?
Do you really think I'm going to wait for you all night?
—Va a venir Luis Miguel al pueblo. —¿A poco sí?
—Luis Miguel is coming to town. —Wait, seriously?
What It Actually Means
¿A poco? is Mexico’s “really?” or “no way” — the instant reaction to surprising news. Literally it’s “at little”, which makes no sense, so treat it as a fixed expression. It has a second life as a poco no + statement: a rhetorical tag that invites the listener to agree with you, like English “…right?”
Common Constructions
- ¿A poco? — standalone: “seriously?”, “no way”.
- ¿A poco sí? — “wait, really?”, when the surprise is welcome.
- A poco no… — “isn’t it true that…”: “A poco no está padre la casa.” The natural reply is an emphatic “¡Sí!”
- ¿A poco crees que…? — a skeptical challenge: “do you really think…?”
Where Textbooks Get It Wrong
Textbooks teach ¿de verdad? and ¿en serio?, and Mexicans do use both. But ¿a poco? is the distinctly Mexican reflex — sprinkling it into conversation as a listener is one of the cheapest ways to sound engaged and local at the same time.
Common Pitfall
Don’t confuse it with poco a poco (“little by little”) — completely unrelated. And remember that a poco no expects agreement: answering it with a flat “no” is possible, but it reads as deliberate, playful contradiction.