Pata
Friend, mate — or just "some guy": the workhorse word for people in Peruvian Spanish.
Related lesson: Peruvian Spanish: A Survival Guide.
Hear it in context
Voy a jugar pichanga con mis patas del barrio.
I'm going to play a kickabout with my mates from the neighbourhood.
Un pata me dijo que esa combi te deja en la misma avenida.
Some guy told me that minibus drops you right on the avenue.
Es mi pata del jato, paramos juntos desde el colegio.
He's my close friend — we've hung out together since school.
What It Actually Means
Pata covers the ground between friend and guy. With a possessive — mi pata, mis patas — it is your mate; with an article — un pata, el pata ese — it is just some man, known or not. It is the highest-frequency people-word in Peruvian slang, one notch less intimate than causa.
Where It Comes From
Pata is the animal leg or paw in standard Spanish, and Peru walked it from limb to person along the same path English took with “leg man” and “right hand”. The feminine form covers women (mi pata can be a female friend too, though mi amiga competes), and the diminutive patita adds affection.
How Natives Use It
Everywhere below the formality line: patas del barrio, patas de la chamba, patas del colegio. The indefinite use is so routine that Peruvians narrate anonymous encounters with it — “un pata me chocó el carro” — where Spain would say un tío and Mexico un güey. Between the two uses, you can describe most of humanity.
Common Pitfall
Keep the possessive straight: mi pata is a friend, una pata is a duck or a leg, and la pata de la mesa is furniture. And do not confuse it with Spain’s colega register — in Peru, calling a stranger pata to his face (oye pata) reads as confrontational; the vocative slot belongs to causa and amigo.