Te late
¿Te late? is an informal way of asking if someone likes a proposal. ¿Te late la idea de ir por un helado más al rato? Are you up for getting an ice cream later?
- ¿Te late si nos vemos mañana en la parque para ...? How about if we meet tomorrow in the park for ....
- No me late la idea. That sounds like a bad plan to me. Or I'm not interested in participating.
- ¿Te laten los tríos? Are you into threesomes?
- (Eso) no me late. I'm not into that. I'll pass. That doesn't sound like an appealing idea. That doesn't interest me.
- Pues la neta, a mí no me late. To tell you the truth, I'm not crazy about the idea.
- ¿Te late? — Órale. What do you think (of the plan)? — Sounds good. (I agree to it.)
- ¿Les late? Okay? Does that work for your guys? (the proposal just made)
As with gustar, when the grammatical subject is a person, we may be talking about physical attraction. Sí, me latió. Yeah, I thought he was attractive (the guy I met at that party). However, I heard a mother say no me late to express disapproval of a boy her daughter was hanging out with: Ese chavo no me late. I don't really like that boy. He's a bad influence on my daughter. Me da mala espina. I have a bad feeling about him.
Latería
Me late apparently comes from latir, meaning beat (the heart) — and perhaps things that te laten are things that make your heart race a bit. However, note that for some reason the e from the stem is conserved when forming the conditional. So we have ¿Te latería venir? Would you like to come? — rather than the expected ¿Te latiría venir? Weird, I know.
Me late que
Me late que can express suspicion rather than interest. Note that the dependent clause uses indicative.
- Me late que ese wey es gay. That guy sets off my gaydar.
- A mí me late que ya se la dio. I bet she already gave it to her.
- Me late que trae lana. Judging from the way she looks, I bet she's carrying cash (movie dialogue)
In each of these cases, the speaker drawing a conclusion based on the limited evidence they have, but without being certain.