De más
Brilliant, excellent, the best thing all week — "estar de más" turns an excess into a compliment. Elsewhere the same phrase means surplus to requirements.
Related lesson: Uruguayan Spanish: A Survival Guide.
Hear it in context
La fiesta estuvo de más, no me quería ir.
The party was brilliant, I didn't want to leave.
Ese lugar es de más para ir con los botijas.
That place is great for taking the kids to.
Me quedó de más el corte de pelo, gracias.
The haircut turned out great, thanks.
What It Actually Means
De más means excellent, great, top-drawer. Estuvo de más is the highest-frequency form of praise a Uruguayan has for an evening, a meal, a film or a person, and it is entirely positive: the excess is the point. It sits in the same slot as Argentina’s copado and zarpado, and Uruguayans reach for it more readily than either.
Where It Comes From
From the plain quantitative de más — in excess, over the required amount, as in me diste diez pesos de más. Rioplatense Spanish took the “more than necessary” reading and reversed its sign, exactly as English did with “too much” in that’s too much meaning outstanding. The literal quantitative sense is alive and well alongside it, which is where the trap comes from.
How Natives Use It
Overwhelmingly with estar and quedar, and overwhelmingly about experiences: estuvo de más, quedó de más, la pasamos de más. With ser it describes a thing rather than an event (ese disco es de más). It intensifies without an adverb — you do not need re de más — and it is neutral in register: teenagers and their parents both use it, though nobody writes it in a formal email.
Common Pitfall
This is the one to be careful with. In standard Spanish — and in Spain, Mexico and most of the language — estar de más means to be superfluous, unnecessary, in the way. Vos estás de más acá is a compliment in Montevideo and an eviction almost anywhere else. The related estar demás (one word) and sobrar carry that unwanted sense even in Uruguay, so read the spacing and the context before you decide whether you have been praised or dismissed.